Secrets are a big part of story tension, both for internal and external conflict. One might argue that stories themselves are secrets that unravel as we read them, but that idea is probably a blog post all by itself. On a smaller level, secrets are the things that keep us reading and wanting to know what happens next, and the secrets a story keeps matters quite a bit to the reader, whether they realize it or not.
Ever been halfway through a book and known something since page 5? Then the author makes it this “big reveal” on page 200, and you’re, like, “everyone and their dog saw that coming a mile away.” You might finish the book because you’ve gotten this far, but that “big reveal” has probably tainted the overall reading experience. 3 stars on Goodreads and on to the next author, never to look back.
If you’ve read any amount of my blog posts by now, you’ve likely figured out that my number one rule for writers is “keep readers interested, both in individual stories and in you as a creator.” After all, interest means sales, and sales means money, and money means the ability to continue creating because you have the capital to support doing so.
And so I bring you the latest tool in my box of things that will keep readers interested: Don’t string them along on something they already know and then make that thing a “big reveal.”
There are two ways to do this.
- Rewrite the story so the “big reveal” is less obvious
- Change what the “big reveal” is
Today, we’re focusing on the second one—choosing what secrets to keep so the “big reveal” is, well, big. Something else you may have noticed if you’ve read my blog posts is that I love to use movies and books as examples, and to talk about secrets, let’s dissect how the recent Power Rangers: Once and Always handled a “secret” very well.
**SPOILERS** The rest of this post contains spoilers for the movie, which is available on Netflix, if you are so inclined.
Power Rangers, Secrets, and “Big Reveals”
Real quick, Power Rangers: Once and Always is a movie love letter to the mid-90s TV series that brings back some of the original rangers, as well as some later faces. In a search for the essence of Zordon (the interdimensional being who mentored the Rangers for years), Billy (original blue ranger) accidentally brings back Rita Repulsa (original baddy), allowing her to seek revenge on the Rangers for destroying her 30 years ago. The movie’s opening sequence contains the Rangers (now 30 years older) fighting Rita, only to have Trini (yellow ranger) take a blast to save Billy and be killed. What follows is an emotional discussion where Billy and Zack (black ranger) debate whether or not to tell Trini’s teenage daughter Minh her mom’s true identity, which Minh overhears, thus forcing Billy and Zack to reveal everything.
Okay, maybe that wasn’t so quick… (sorry, geek moment)
Anyway, after the opening sequence, the movie picks up a year later with Rita putting her evil plan into motion—capturing some of the rangers and leaving Billy, Zack, and some old friends to save the day. Minh wants to avenge her mom but is told to stand down because she isn’t a ranger and doesn’t have the power to fight Rita’s goons.
Right, so, if you’ve ever told a teenager not to do something (or absorbed any type of media in which someone tells a teenager not to do something), you are likely aware that this never results in the teenager not doing the thing in question. Minh, determined to avenge her mother’s death, takes Trini’s power morpher and storms Angel Grove center, ready to morph and take out Rita’s goons.
Let’s pause here. It was crystal clear to me the moment I found out Trini had a daughter that said daughter was going to follow in her mother’s yellow ranger legacy. Thus, as a viewer, I would have been very put out if the movie had spun its wheels for 55 minutes trying to make it a “big reveal” that Minh would be the next yellow ranger.
And so I was very glad when it did not.
Instead, Minh tried to use Trini’s yellow morpher pretty early on with no success. Instead of a poorly disguised plotline of “whoever could the next yellow ranger be? Could it possibly be the very obvious daughter of the original yellow ranger?”, it became a story of Minh learning the difference between revenge and justice. Of learning selflessness. And only then, was she able to call upon the yellow ranger power and help save the day. A much more satisfying 55 minutes, in my opinion.
Admittedly, when I think of exquisite storytelling, Power Rangers is not the first thing that comes to mind. But even campy superhero movies based on even more campy superhero TV shows from the 90s can teach us something about storytelling.
And so the point is, keep the secrets that will keep your readers wondering and turning pages. Even if the movie had tried to make Minh as the next yellow ranger a “big reveal,” I would have finished Power Rangers: Once and Always because it was a nostalgic movie for me (and because it was only 55 minutes long). But if it had been a movie from a franchise that hadn’t shaped my childhood, you can bet I wouldn’t have wasted 55 minutes of my life to learn the “big reveal” that I figured out from the short description on the Netflix movie page.
Instead, the movie became about the journey, rather than the destination. It kept me wondering how Minh was going to grow as a person, what exact events would lead to her becoming worthy of the yellow ranger power.
So, what were those events? That’s a secret I’ll let this story keep.
Hey, if you, like me, are a Power Rangers geek at heart, I think you’ll love DracoGuard, my tale of five unwitting theater kids who receive the power of nature in order to stop a spoiled evil heiress from destroying Earth to irritate her father. Sound like you’re thing? Then click below to subscribe to the Seeing Pool, my author newsletter, to make sure you get updates as DracoGuard’s release date gets closer. (Bonus, you’ll get a free story from the world of Grimmfay, my fairy-tale circus.)
Cool post!