Quote:
Originally Posted by haguruma
Actually in Japan it's a SEVERELY loved trick! It's called Jojutsu-Trick or Description-Trick and uses the narrative perspective or style to trick the reader.
The question is, is it really LYING if it is a trick that is to be expected in the genre?! Yes, in the West, especially with the trend towards hard boiled mysteries, we have a tendency towards more realistic mysteries, and playing around with perspectives and using basically meta-tricks isn't considered fair-play...mostly because "it couldn't occur if this was real".
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That sounds rather fun. I wish that more Japanese mysteries of that type would be translated. Maybe I should hit up the mystery/literature thread here for recommendations.
I think that the worst sort of trick an author can play is the one where the detective receives vital information which they use to solve the case and which it can't be solved without, but you don't get to see what it is until they're explaining what happened.
Quote:
Originally Posted by haguruma
Let me use an example:
A man and a woman is entering a mansion-like building, the entrance hall is richly decorated and a woman beckons them into separate rooms in the back of the building. They pass through their individual doorway and he takes a seat, glances into the mirror and wonders what went wrong this day. He turns around and hopes for a little relaxation, while looking towards the mountain scenery, a crane flying above the snow-topped peak.
Suddenly the birds eye twinkles and the man stops his movement. He grips his chest and topples over, falls down dead. When they find him 20 minutes later, they find him shot, but the floor is clean.
Who was the culprit and how was he killed?  |
This is the Umineko forum, so of course: a witch did it.
The crane grew into a magical death bird torpedo with flaming wings, and dived down through the man's chest at the witch's command.
Or maybe someone shot him, and then left the room, or maybe they shot him from outside the room. Or he shot himself and someone else took the gun away. Or he had already been shot at an earlier time and maybe he died from something else. I'm surprisingly curious about this, please enlighten me!
