Shh, I Have a Secret! Guest Post By Shana Galen

One of my favorite things about little girls is how they love to tell secrets. There's nothing as much fun as lying around with a bunch of little girls, who whisper secrets in your ear with bubblegum-scented breath. The secret is usually something like, "Hi" or "You're nice," and of course these aren't secrets at all. I suppose that, even from a young age, something about secrets appeals to us, though. It's fun to have a secret no one but you knows.

Unless, of course, your life depends on keeping that secret.

When Brooklyn Ann invited me to blog, she mentioned secrets as a possible topic. I hadn't really thought about how often I write characters who keep secrets from one another, but when I started thinking about this blog, I realized it's almost a theme in my work. In The Making of a Duchess, Sarah is a spy masquerading as the fiancee of a duke in order to discover whether or not he's passing valuable information to the French. Getting caught could mean her life, but when the duke catches her, she realizes he has secrets as well.

In The Making of a Gentleman, the hero Armand has been in prison for 12 years. He doesn't speak, and Felicity is hired to tutor him. What she discovers is that Armand has a reason for keeping silent. He carries an dangerous secret inside him. Felicity has secrets of her own, and they prove equally dangerous.

In Lord and Lady Spy, Adrian and Sophia have been married for five years. They're also elite spies for the Barbican group, and their identities are so closely guarded they've kept their secret identities even from one another.

Finally, in my most recent release, The Rogue Pirate's Bride, Raeven's secret is that she is the daughter of a British admiral. Bastien is a pirate who has had more than his share of run-ins with the British navy, so when she ends up stranded on his ship, the revelation of her true identity is not welcome news.

Why do I keep coming back to characters who keep secrets from one another? Because secrets add suspense and keep the reader turning pages. Most of us want to read books that are fast-paced. One element that quickens the pace is when one or both characters have secrets from the other. The reader is left wondering, at the end of every chapter, when the secret will be revealed and what the reaction will be.

This strategy is only effective if the reader also knows the secret. Have you ever been reading a book where, out of nowhere, a character reveals some deep, dark secret? It stops you, may make you flip back in the book to look for clues, and makes you question the character's reliability. How is it he or she had this deep dark secret and you, the reader, who has been in his or her head for X number of pages never realized it? You feel tricked, and justifiably so.

So the first rule in writing a book where one or more characters have secrets is that you have to let the reader in on the secret. You don't have to do this on the first page. You can hint at it and build up to it, but the secret must be revealed to the reader reasonably early in the novel.

The second rule is that the character must have a good reason to keep the secret a secret. This rule becomes increasingly important the longer the character keeps the secret. Of course, if the writer doesn't reveal the secret until the end of the book, this means more and more suspense for the reader. But it also means the hero and heroine have been through a lot together and have, presumably, developed an intimacy. The intimacy will be questioned with the revelation of the big secret, so the reason for keeping it must be life-threatening.

In The Making of a Gentleman, Armand does not tell the heroine or his family why he has refused to speak for so long until the last quarter of the novel. Felicity reveals her secret even later, but both characters have extremely good reasons for keeping their secrets. Armand is trying to protect his family and Felicity from the evil men trying to get to him because he holds valuable information they want. Felicity is trying to protect Armand from the life-altering machinations of a man from her past. Note in both cases, the secrets are kept to protect others. And in both cases, the character fears for his or her life or the life of others he or she cares about. The less serious the secret, the sooner it needs to be revealed.

Finally, the last rule when writing about characters who have secrets is that the reaction when the secret is revealed must make sense. In The Rogue Pirate's Bride, the pirate Bastien wants Raeven off his ship as soon as he discovers who she is. It doesn't matter that he's attracted to her. The threat of the British navy is bigger than his attraction. In Lord and Lady Spy, Adrian and Sophia are married and more or less stuck with one another, despite their secrets. They have to learn to work out their trust issues and come to know one another in a new way. The reaction to the revelation of the secret, and the consequences of the secret, cannot be glossed over. The writer must deal with the fall-out from the secret in a way that satisfies the reader.

Do you enjoy reading books where one or more characters has a secret? Have you ever read a book where the author handled a character's secret either very badly or very well? I'm offering two copies of my new release, The Rogue Pirate's Bride, to two people who comment (open internationally). Thanks again to Brooklyn Ann for hosting me today!

Shana Galen is the author of numerous fast-paced adventurous Regency historical romances, including the Rita-nominated Blackthorne’s Bride. Her books have been sold worldwide, including Japan, Brazil, Russia, Spain, Turkey, and the Netherlands, and have been featured in the Rhapsody and Doubleday Book Clubs. A former English teacher in Houston’s inner city, Shana now writes full time. She’s a wife, a mother, and an expert multi-tasker. She loves to hear from readers: visit her website at www.shanagalen.com or see what she’s up to daily on Facebook and Twitter.