Mastering the Art of Withholding Information for Engaging Fiction Writing

Withholding info is an art form, whether you’re trying to build suspense, create big, shocking twists, or you’re just following a main character who is missing a lot of information themselves. It sounds simple—just don’t share certain details until they become necessary—but a lack of context or explanation can very quickly tip over from “I’m excited to learn more” into boredom, confusion, or easy distraction. Which is when readers DNF.

I learned this the hard way with my last iteration of A Traitor Among Tyrants when my beta readers had a lot of questions about why characters were making certain choices or why certain plot elements were happening. Basically, I did everything wrong in this last revision.

And then I had to fix it.

Here are some of the ways that helped me withhold information for more engaging fiction out the dreaded "second book in a series".

The Role of Withholding Information in Storytelling

Have you ever picked up a novel and in the first chapter, they tell you who the villain is, the main character's back story and motivation, laid out all the upcoming plot points, and all the reasons why the MC will defeat the Big Bad?

Even just writing that question made me feel bored. Withholding information well adds suspense, tension, and intrigue. It's the thing that keeps pages turning because we're forcing the reader to ask, "But what next?"

A book without tension and mystery is just a series of concurrent events (and not the fun kind by Lemony Snicket).

This also helps to build your plot to The End. Each new piece of information learned adds to the overall storyline, ultimately creating a satisfying ending.

Techniques for Withholding Information in an Engaging Way

There are plenty of ways to ensure that information is being doled out in an interesting way, but here are a few of my favourites:

Point of View

One of the easiest ways to control information is simply by whose eyes we get to see through. Are we reading from one person only? Do we get to see into everyone's minds? Are different chapters focused on different characters?

When I was first writing A Thief Among Liars, the whole book was told through Ceylon's POV. It wasn't until the third or fourth draft that I realized we needed just a bit more. Ceylon was so convinced of her truth that it was clouding the overall narrative. We needed a bit more information from an external perspective to counter Ceylon's truth. This led to a much more interesting story, where conflicting viewpoints enhanced the reader's experience and added tension.

We only know what the characters know.

Unreliable Narrators

Similar to controlling POV, we can use unreliable narrators to get the same ideas across. Just as we only know what the characters know, sometimes we only know what the character's want to believe.

In Seiber, Aspen is a headstrong, do-it-yourself kind of girl. And she has a very harsh view of herself and how she interacts with the world - often to the point of detriment or harm to those around her.

For this reason, her perspective and flawed viewpoint created the perfect opportunity to force certain misdirection onto the reader. I could share only what Aspen believed, even if it wasn't true of the world around her. This, in turn, created interesting conflict when she is later forced to accept reality as it is, not as she sees it.

Fragmented Information

Sometimes, the characters are also unaware of the things they need to know. This opens up a "finding information" plot. How do they learn what they need? Does there need to be a heist? Is there something they can intercept?

There are so many options to create space for the characters to build up to certain ideas. This also primes the reader for things they need to know - because there's nothing worse than a convoluted info-dump we weren't expecting.

Red Herrings

It is really fun to lead readers in the wrong direction, as well. Placing information and characters strategically offers comfort for the reader which we can subvert in later acts. Maybe they think someone in their party is leading them astray when it was really the person they trusted the most. Maybe they intercept a letter with incorrect directions to the treasure they need, only to land them directly in a trap.

Balancing Withholding and Clarity

It's important to mention that, although we want to control what readers know, we want to make sure we give them enough. Information should be a consistent flow throughout the novel. It should come at regular intervals and build toward the third act. We need to prime the reader for what's to come so we can offer that pay off.

It should also remain logical. While there are times to sprinkle conflicting information for tension's sake, we also need to make sure we're not confusing the reader to the point of DNF. Fiction is a constant cycle of objective and reward. We can't offer the reward if we don't set the stage for it first. This builds trust, which is ultimately what will keep readers coming back.

On the flip side, we want to make sure that we're not spoon-feeding. We want to be sprinkling just enough to maintain that clarity of purpose without overwhelming the reader with obvious conclusions. Readers are smart. We can let them fill in the gaps once the information reward has been offered.

Practical Applications for Drafting

If this all sounds a bit overwhelming, one of the biggest things that's helped me is to start with a draft that overshares. It's easier to cut back and revise areas where there's too much information undermining that tension, versus trying to add and add to give the reader clarity in the first place. If we know where the story is going and what needs to be shared, once the first draft has been written, we can go back and find places where we can take a little bit out, move it around, or rephrase to make it a bit more subtle.

It can also help to write an outline just for information. This outline doesn't need to have all the plot elements, it can just hold space for what the characters need to know at what points throughout the novel. This way, we can also see what's already known when and how we might build more tension.

While withholding information well is an ongoing learning process, I hope that this helped to add some clarity with how to incorporate it into your next book! If you're interested in learning more about writing techniques or publishing, you can check out my other blog posts here.

Happy writing,

Erin