What Makes A Good Mystery

The best kept secret is the one that doesn't really exist.

Let them keep looking for it...

The end to a mystery that never was.

Keep them wondering and chances are their imagination will do all the job.

Oh...the social world and its own paranoid mind

Twisting it all up and missing what's in plain sight.

The truth lies wherever the majority decides

Isn't that nice?

Reviews

[PhoenixDown]

I don't see much if anything to be criticized about here. I think this is a sharp, clever write. & I think you're right.

[hypochondrita]

Thank you!

[PhoenixDown]

People on here think poetry has to follow some standard format. Sorry to rant, just reading these 2 other reviews infuriates me. People haven't heard of prose I suppose. I will digress. Utter stupidity to me. Find something better to complain about. Everyone is a critic...

[PhoenixDown]

you're welcome

[hypochondrita]

Oh that's fine! Rant as you may...

[barleygirl]

I like your premise, as stated in the first line. The rest of your message TELLS us about how this manifests with a good amount of imagination. This could be improved by SHOWING us how it goes . . . details make writing come alive. For example, instead of saying: "keep them wondering and chances are their imagination will do all the job (which nicely piques our interest) . . . it would be even better to pick a specific example and let your vividly painted scenario SHOW us how this same idea plays out. Not a recommendation to rip up this particular message, but just an idea to consider for future writing . . .

[hypochondrita]

I understand what you mean and will keep that in mind for the future. I just feel like since this piece talks about how to let other people's imagination run wild in your favor I should actually leave a blank space for it to develop. Anyways, thanks for the heads up!

[JayG]

I'm at a loss as to what would make this a poem, as against an opinion piece chopped into lines.

That aside, the first line, "The best kept secret is the one that doesn't really exist." is a contradiction in terms. A secret that isn't real isn't a secret.

[hypochondrita]

Yes, I'm aware of the contradiction. It's actually the whole point of it. To show the relativity of the truth. It doesn't necessarily takes a secret happening for one to pop up in people's minds. Their idea that a secret is going on is enough to make it actually seem like there's one. And the absence of one original secret in the first place can actually be seen as a whole new secret for itself.

[JayG]

But while that was your intent, it's not what you said. Never forget that intent dribbles off at the keyboard. Your reader is someone with a different background and cultural assumptions, age group and perhaps gender, so what the words mean to you is probably not a 1:1 match with them. And to that reader it's what the words suggest based on THEIR experience, culture, and background.

Getting it right is a b***h. But that's why they pay us big bucks ;-)