What secret is your character keeping? Why are they safeguarding it? What’s at stake if it’s discovered? Does it need to come out at some point, or should it remain hidden?
This is some of the important information you need to know about your character’s secrets—and they will have secrets, because everyone does. They’re thorny little time bombs composed of fear, deceit, stress, and conflict that, when detonated, threaten to destroy everything the character holds dear.
So, of course, you should assemble them. And we can’t wait to help.
This thesaurus provides brainstorming fodder for a host of secrets that could plague your character. Use it to explore possible secrets, their underlying causes, how they might play into the overall story, and how to realistically write a character who is hiding them—all while establishing reader empathy and interest.
For instance, let’s see what it might look like if your character…
Is Hiding the Truth about their Family
ABOUT THIS SECRET: Families can be the source of many dark secrets: criminal activity (drugs, trafficking, terrorism), a cover-up, incest or abuse, nefarious ancestors, or something else. A character with these kinds of skeletons in the closet might feel obliged to keep them secret to protect the family name, avoid prosecution, achieve certain goals, or keep loved ones safe.
SPECIFIC FEARS THAT MAY DRIVE THE NEED FOR SECRECY: Becoming What One Hates, Being Attacked, Being Judged, Being Labeled, Being Returned to an Abusive Environment, Being Separated from Loved Ones, Being Unable to Achieve a Dream, Being Unsafe, Being Watched, Betrayal, Conditional Love, Humiliation, Isolation, Letting Others Down, Losing Autonomy, Losing One’s Social Standing, Losing the Respect of Others, Not Being Believed, Persecution, Rejection, Repeating a Cycle of Abuse
HOW THIS SECRET COULD HOLD THE CHARACTER BACK
Taking on the sins of the family as their own and being burdened with guilt and shame
Struggling with internal dissonance because they want to protect the family but they also want to be honest
Isolating themselves to avoid humiliation
Feeling like they can’t trust anyone
BEHAVIORS OR HABITS THAT HELP HIDE THIS SECRET
Lying about the family business
Pretending a particular relative is dead or lives far away
Misdirecting people who wander too close to the truth
Constantly monitoring family members who know the truth to be sure they’re keeping things quiet
ACTIVITIES OR TENDENCIES THAT MAY RAISE SUSPICIONS
The family’s activities (or history) making the news
The character becoming agitated when pressed for information about the family
Frequent fights behind closed doors with relatives
Relatives having different stories about the family’s history or certain events
SITUATIONS THAT MAKE KEEPING THIS SECRET A CHALLENGE
Having to attend a family gathering
A love interest wanting to meet the character’s family
A journalist becoming interested in the family
Incriminating evidence being aired
Other Secret Thesaurus entries can be found here.
Need More Descriptive Help?
While this thesaurus is still being developed, the rest of our descriptive collection (18 unique thesauri and growing) is accessible through the One Stop for Writers THESAURUS database.
If you like, swing by and check out the video walkthrough for this site, then give our Free Trial a spin.
Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and its sequels. Her books are available in five languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.
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