Here is an interesting question in my email. “I have a character who is naïve. When a friend she believes is a ‘good person’ does something totally out of character, it devastates her.” She went on to ask, is it okay for the reader to be as shocked as the character? The question she’s actually asking is, do I have to be honest with my readers? The answer to that is yes! You can’t have a character who you have detailed as being thoughtful, kind, and so on suddenly turn into a psychopathic killer without warning. You will lose your readers for various reasons, but most importantly, they will not trust you as a storyteller. A reader must trust you.
You also know you can’t have a character who’s about to be killed suddenly wake up, and the whole story was a dream. If, on the other hand, the character outwits the villain and escapes. You have the story people will want to continue to read if you have prepared them by showing the hero is clever and always thinking ahead.
Back to the question – you need to know a bit more. The author wanted the character to be absolutely devastated when the villain acts out in a totally unexpected way. Her purpose is to show the reader and her character how strong and resourceful she is. I made my reply, and she basically asked this question in her reply “How honest do I have to be?” This author needed the shock value for the story to work.
Here is where you get to be sneaky and mischievous but all above board. You want a reader to look back and say, “I should’ve seen that.” As rule of thumb, I always plant at least three clues. Here are three such clues. First clue: The heroine’s friend loses a pet, and the story’s creep doesn’t react properly. He might say, “that’s nice.” Second clue: The heroine takes the creep on a shopping trip to find a gift for a friend. You can do many things here, but making him bored is the easiest. The third clue: The heroine and creep watch a video together. The creep makes comments that are out of character for a kind and caring person.
Don’t lie to your readers. However, enjoy the fun of deceiving them.
