There is a Narrative Trick in this Story

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【Narrative Trick】

A trick used in the composition of mystery novels to cause the reader to misread. For example, a character’s gender or age, or even the chronology of events are purposely covered up. Like that, the reader uses their precognitions to misunderstand the truth, creating an unexpected reveal.

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この小説には叙述トリックが含まれています。
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  1. Novels I personally like (2)
  2. novels that just reels me in like a fish
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  4. beautiful oneshot stories
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12 Reviews sorted by


literal
literal rated it
February 14, 2017
Status: short story
The title straight up tells you "I'm hiding the truth in plain sight the whole time." Or, well, just out of sight due to lack of information.

Even knowing you're being tricked, paying special attention to the information you're being given, and letting your mind race down many thought paths... I think there's still a good chance you won't see the truth until you've already been tricked! That is because it is hard to forsake the information you've been given to examine what has not been said, and the author does... more>> a wonderful job at misdirecting you as well.

This was truly an enjoyable read - gentle and slow paced, but also a bit of a rollercoaster due to trying to figure out the mystery. The way I read into it, it also touches a bit on how people outside of gender norms/binary are their own normal. That is, that we may be surprised by who/how they are, but that's only due to our own bias ahead of time. (Merely my personal opinion/analysis; does not necessarily reflect the story's content/plot or views.)

A small hint (that might just be more confusing?) for those who want it:

Spoiler

the author gives you one example of the character aspect they applied the trick to

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GDLiZy
GDLiZy rated it
August 18, 2019
Status: short story
It's more of an experiment that demonstrated the easy and old trick of the detective genre than a short story.

Not very impressive to the eyes of the veteran readers, but can be praised as clever for the newer readers of the genre. It's a trick that withdrew the crucial information from the readers then revealing it at the end to make the readers goes "wow that detective so smart".

To put it more severely, it's a trick to ensure that the readers can't guess the mystery before the reveal.
2 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
The Lazy Slug
The Lazy Slug rated it
April 18, 2017
Status: short story
Actually, I was expecting quite more than what I got. It was still interesting, but the ending wasn't really that surprising. Idk. Maybe because it was just a oneshot so the misdirection was too obvious to be ignored.

Idk if it's just me but... I've always thought that it's an unwritten law in narrative tricks and mystery novels of one is enough and the rest are misdirections kinda thing. Maybe a few occasional repeat of hints at the middle is okay too. Sparsely spaced so it blends naturally and reader can... more>> easily ignore it, but it's there. In fact, imo, they are there not just to reinforce the evidence later on but also to make reader feel more s*upid when the trick is revealed. HAHAHA

Then again, for me, study in scarlet is enough. Once should be enough. And this one would be a breeze.

Despite that though, even if you've seen through it at the middle, it's still fun. It's not really the narrative trick that's interesting for me after all. More like the story tone, the character definition, how they interact. The body reveals a lot of things, as they say. And this is a narrative trick. Where else to hide the trick than its narrative? :> <<less
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rdawv
rdawv rated it
June 22, 2016
Status: --
A short story about two people talking to each other in quite a technical manner, discussing the ways how authors can trick their readers by manipulating the text in certain ways.

If you ever want to improve your own writing style, read this. It's almost like a lecture.
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ChronoH0
ChronoH0 rated it
November 6, 2020
Status: short story
Pretty interesting topic. I mean it has been used by some authors to make the story interesting. Course this short story is knew example where they try to see if you can get the clues or you are tricked just like the Narrative Trick is supposed to do.

I think I learned a little today.
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aninomica
aninomica rated it
September 25, 2019
Status: --
Hmm, I was going to review, when I read GDLiZy's review and gave it another read. I have to say, there were actually quite a few passages foreshadowing the reveal

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Spoiler

Their conversation itself just sounds like its between adults. The fact that they bring up Age and Gender tricks, and then rule out gender, making age the only option. How Izumi is wearing a plain white shirt in winter, which isn't a part of a winter school uniform, meaning she probably isn't a student. The fact that Izumi is there 20 mins before school begins for classes that only begin in the afternoon, actually the fact they're both twenty minutes so early to supplementary school in the first place. Izumi even states 'That's my field, ' which makes it pretty clear she's not a student. The second part of the reveal is also hinted at with how mindful he is of surrounding eyes. If he's not at 'that age', then there's probably some reason they shouldn't be seeing one another.

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At the very least, it wasn't just a m'fing boomerang. Any perceptive reader could have figured it out five paragraphs in. There were plenty of clues, and I don't think it's wrong to ask a reader to fill in the gaps. But yeah, despite all this, I did not find the story particularly interesting. <<less
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trippy-chan
trippy-chan rated it
August 17, 2017
Status: --
It's really like a story written to give the reader writing tips lol. Not to say that it isn't amusing, it just seems to give a more didactic than entertaining impression. I figured out the trick right before I got to the final paragraph haha.
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Tachi Works
Biah_belle rated it
June 22, 2016
Status: --
Spoiler

Pretty funny, I completely fell for the plot twist at the end. Even while they were explaining how word tricks are done to trick the reader XDD

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Shadowdrop
Shadowdrop rated it
January 21, 2018
Status: short story
I was a bit too suspecting so I figured it out early on, but they were talking so ambiguously that I kept thinking that there is something else, so it can be said that I was tricked after all XD
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oblueknighto
oblueknighto rated it
October 7, 2017
Status: short story
It was a pretty interesting discussion by the end
Spoiler

but as soon as they mentioned childhood friend I could already see the ending. Seriously, they emphasized it way too much in the first paragraph. The school, childhood friend, winter break.

I would have never guessed it if the title didn't give it away though. So it was still a great interesting read.

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LifeFrog
LifeFrog rated it
August 11, 2017
Status: --
Ha ha that was a fun read ~ Kind of like a riddle

Spoiler

was able to figure out the trick XD

I feel like the trick would have been harder to pick up in Japanese though. Because Japanese doesn't use gendered pronouns as much, which would have been more misleading. Seeing as the translator had to use 'she' and 'he' in English it was easier to rule out that 'their genders were different than expected' as the trick.

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0 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
ninjaerrant
ninjaerrant rated it
June 22, 2016
Status: c1
Clever, philosophical, and entertaining.
0 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
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