Well, not necessarily my plot. The plot itself is farely conveluted (ignore my spelling ) as my novels is a thriller with mystery elements and its supposed to be somewhat confusing until the end of the novel. But the "clues" leading that lead towards solving the overlying mystery seem a little bit too simple to me. Is this necessarily bad or is it alright to have simple clues as long as the story itself is good? Thanks in advance for any responses.
For me I like to read a story with some simple clues and some more complicated clues. Clues that make you go, "oh!" But since this is your story I cannot really tell you how to write it. I'm sure simple clues should be fine, but don't make them to simple that the reader can figure it out to quickly.
no one can answer this definitively, as the answer depends on how well one has written the story... a good writer can make anything work well and a poor one can't make even the best ideas work well... in between lies a vast amount of 'maybe/maybe nots'...
Simple clues Clues, simple or complex, are only good if they picked up and CORRECTLY deciphered. "In the struggle, the killer dropped his business card." Simple clue, if it's found next to the body, then that is probably is a little too easy. What if it's kicked under some furniture or picked up by an unknowing passer by? Of course don't make the clue too tough. I like putting clues in my scripts to challenge viewers to notice them. Something in the background unnoticed by the MC. I wouldn't stress out on it. Write your novel and then you can go back and tweek your clues. Maybe as your novel progresses you'll find better ways to present them or even come up with new clues. Either way, good luck.
Thats probably whats going to end up happening. A lot of the novel doesn't make sense now and I know I'm going to have to change stuff around, but I figure it'll be easier once I've finished the story. Then I can go back and edit these things.
I suppose "confuse" isn't the best word. Think of it like the body of the novel is like a puzzle not yet assembled and the pieces aren't put together until the end of the novel.
character... I'm a character driven reader... even with thrillers simple or complex, if I really like the protagonist or the anti-hero or whom ever is the lead in the book, then it makes all the difference. Though there have been a few exceptions. There was an Agatha Christi novel that I read and all I could remember was that I wasn't exactly sure how the murder happened during the dinner without any one seeing the guy get poisoned. I don't even remember the novel name or the characters just that I didn't know how the murder was committed even after getting to the end of the book. Does that answer or help? I hope so.
You will want to drop wrong clues as well every so often, so the reader has a few different guesses. If all the clues are from one suspect / weapon then the reader may be able to assume what's happening correctly with ease.
Better yet, some clues that point to the correct suspect (subtly), but on the surface appear to point toward someone else. Also, clues that correctly point to someone else, but the clue itself is not as relevant to the actual crime as it seems, but connects to some other secret.
I would prefer some clues which have hidden meanings, some false clues and some bluntly obvious clues. The clues which have hidden meanings can be slowly unraveled. While the false clues can make the reader get confused and want to continue with the rest of the story. The bluntly obvious clues can be lead from the beginning until the end.
