Oh, I adore using hidden motives. All my books have several hidden motives in play for the MCs: old secrets, vows they made to themselves, multiple agendas & more.

However, I'm not so hyped abt using unreliable narrators. (Mostly that's a skill issue.)

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Yep~ A lot of it is trying to figure out the secrets under the surface, both in the present and the past. Sometimes the characters think they know the truth, but don't.

And some of the enemies play with this--like with Orkus taunting Emily about what he knows about her past,

I prefer hidden motives less as a trick and more as a source of pressure.

In QUEEN FOR A DAY, silence can protect people, preserve an ally’s judgment, or keep a frightened realm from tearing itself apart. We see the cost of Cobeah’s choices before they know why she made them.
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In Shadow Cursed, it's easy because it's first person. Until Kellem knows what's up, the reader doesn't know. Biases, assumptions, stubbornness are some of the drivers of the suspense and secrecy.

It's also a murder mystery. I am intentionally subverting things.🧵

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#Sustember Hmm...sorta-kinda. You know 50% of it, not enough to understand the real meaning of it. Sometimes the reader knows but the characters don't. Most of the WIP has a some of my MC superheroes trying to get my MC vampire killed, but they also work together.

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I don't use anything. My characters though... they come up with the wildest stuff. 🤣

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Everybody has a hidden motive. Some don't even know it. That's true in "Hell Is Work" too.

I prefer biased narrators to unreliable ones. Everything is real, but their *perception* leads to a certain interpretation.

Mick and Virgil are both biased narrators.

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#Sustember Absolutely! The motivations behind The Witch of Eden Hollow’s antagonist are muddied, with different characters knowing different pieces. And it takes a bit for these pieces to be revealed/come forward. When it all comes together, it blows all the characters’ minds (for the worse)

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I have the opposite, masked men that want to rip their masks off the first moment they can,
A blabber mouth character (Cole) who takes carnal pleasure from nearly leaking the bands secret identity and blowing the whole thing several times.

Amon does it absolute best to be a spooky

Absolutely! My novels generally have large casts, so you'd expect not everyone is going to be wholly honest about their intentions. Although I often clue the audience in eventually so they know what's coming while our MC remains unaware.

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My #Sustember answer

I love unreliable narrators when they're done well. Sometimes I'll hide a character's motives, but never a POV character.

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Do you use hidden motives in your work?

Unreliable narrators, buried leads, secrets that stop a character's tongue? 👀

Tell us!

A little late on this.
Book 4 of the Resist Series.
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Here's one of the suspense seeds I planted in No Sky Like Midnight, establishing that Leo has no real place to go in case of disaster.

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Book 3 is called Wayward Stars, soooo... I had to go with a snippet from that >.>~