So, here's the prompt for you all. Scenario A Your protagonist had spent the whole book hiding a lie from the others, fearing their actions should the protagonist be found out. In what could have possibly been the worst moment, the others now know that your protagonist had lied and are confronting him/her. What was the lie? How does your protagonist handle the fallout? How do the others deal with your protagonist? If you'd like, make up a situation and put them in the worst moment possible. Scenario B Same as above, only this time, your protagonist is part of the group that just found out someone else they had trusted had been lying the whole time. How does your protagonist deal with it? Is he/she close to the liar? Enjoy! Your goal is to do the above without resorting to the clichés of the lie/reveal scenes we've seen time after time again. I'll do mine when I can think up of one.
"Cassie, we need to talk." Lionel said. "Sure!" I followed him to a secluded spot. "What's up?" "I know the truth." "What do you mean?" I asked, confused. He shrugged. "About your brother." I looked away. "How did you find out?" He shuffled his feet. "Martha told everyone." I suppressed a sob. "I guess that means we can't be friends anymore." I whispered. Lionel looked at me. "Why not?" "My brother. He'll be back soon." I sighed. "It's okay. I understand." Lionel took my hand as I turned away. "Stop." I turned back to him, tears in my eyes. "What?" "You're my best friend. Who cares about your brother? So he's a jerk. We can get through this." I shook my head. "He'll be angry. He might hurt you." "He can't control your life. You have to show him that. Besides, if he does do anything, he'll just get sent back to juvie." "I'm sorry for lying to you. I should have told you that he beat up Jack. I shouldn't have kept that from you." Lionel hugged me. "No problem hun." He ruffled my hair. "You can't get rid of me that easily."
Don't know if its cliched or not, but this is good practice for the actual lie/reveal scene I have to write for my novel. --- Warning: Profane Content "What are we doing here, Walker?" She looked at me with a measured smile, her hands hanging down by her sides. Nothing about her demeanor was defensive, not a single muscle taut and not a hint of nervousness on her bright face. I wanted to believe that she was just as human as any other person I had encountered all through my life. And all the evidence to the contrary was carefully contrived lies, mysterious myths spoken into my ear one late slumber which had crept into consciousness. So maybe it was futile, this confrontation, this conversation which had no basis except a figment of my imagination--who knew, whether even she was real or not. If my memories with her were thoughts, or tangible testimony the Earth had gathered, or just a dream, a really long and bittersweet dream. "Walker? You said it was urgent?" "Y-yes," I muttered, "I have some new information...on the case." Her posture tightened, but the pleasant countenance didn't leave her. She nodded, beckoning me to continue. But I struggled with myself, not sure if I knew real from fiction anymore. "I always...I always knew, you were hiding something. From me. Tania." She didn't flinch, simply staring through me as I stammered further. "I thought...I thought you were protecting your husband. Anyone in your position, would've done that. But I didn't realize...you were protecting someone, far more important." She brought her hands together over her stomach, blinking at me. I could hear her think of how I was a hopeless fool, a dismissive pawn of her chess game. How this was a laughing matter for her, and she was probably basking in the amusement right there and then, even though her face showed nothing of it. Nothing of the sadistic pleasures or the fretful guilt. Because she was not human. Not like everyone else. "And far more dangerous." I felt the cold of metal against my clammy, quavering hand. I tightened my grip around it, latching onto the last tenets of reality that still made sense, still seemed in one piece. I was shaking now, from top to bottom, and my heartbeat resounded in my ears. My head pounded with excruciating pain, because the turmoil in me had finally spilled over. Friend or foe, truth or falsehood. Nothing persisted in the face of her betrayal. I saw someone, whom I knew to be myself, raise the gun to her. Finally, at last, she stepped back, her eyes wide and lips dropped down. She gulped and took a deep breath, her jaw clenched. "Dylan...Dylan, what are you doing?" She whispered gently, in her seductive, syrupy voice. The same voice that beckoned me into her bedroom even though I had a woman waiting for me back home. The same voice which was the last many a men heard, before... "You were protecting yourself! You psychotic bitch! It was all you! You! All fucking you!" I was shouting now, the gun shaking, my aim so erroneous that I could have hit anything from her head to the floor. She shook her head, her eyes brimming with tears. All lies. Contrived lies. "You made me think...you made me love...someone like you..." I sobbed, unable to sound angry, even though I wanted to frighten her, terrorize her to the core of her being. Instead, she frightened me. With her gentle, soft eyes, behind whom lurked the eyes of predator, she crippled me. "Say it, Walker." I heard a stern command above the screaming voices in my head. I blinked and looked at her, a completely different person from before. She had let out the predator, let it out to play with what remained of my sanity. "Someone like what?" I gulped. "The Black Widow. You, Tania Frederick nee Paul, are and always have been, the Black Widow." --- Think I'll stop here, I feel like I'm out of juice.
Ooh. I'll admit, being a supernatural fan, I thought she was a siren or something, but this is so much better. I actually got tense while I read it. Good work!
