What is a Red Herring? How to Mislead Readers Without Cheating Them

Every reader is a detective. A great red herring lets them follow their instincts, chase the wrong clues, and still love you for tricking them.

A well-placed red herring doesn't just deceive readers. It makes the eventual reveal more satisfying, the story more re-readable, and the whole experience more fun. But how can you create false clues and keep readers guessing without being too obvious?

In this post, we'll explore examples of red herrings, why they work, and how to plant them in your own fiction so readers never see the real answer coming.

What is a red herring?

A red herring is a story element, such as a character, clue, subplot, or detail, meant to mislead the reader into expecting a false outcome, diverting their attention from the story's true direction.

The term comes from an old practice of using pungent smoked fish to train hunting dogs, or to throw them off a scent trail. In fiction, the principle is the same: you lay a false trail compelling enough that readers follow it eagerly, right up until the moment you reveal where the story was actually going.

Crucially, red herrings are intentional. They're not accidental confusion or loose threads, but carefully constructed misdirection. And the best ones walk a fine line: plausible enough that readers genuinely believe them, but fair enough that, on reflection, readers can see they were never the real answer.

Mystery writer Agatha Christie was a master of this technique. In And Then There Were None, she makes nearly every character an equally plausible suspect, loading each with motive and opportunity, so that the true killer's identity remains genuinely shocking until the final pages.

Red herrings aren't just for mysteries, either. Any story that builds toward a surprise—a thriller, a literary novel with a twist, even a romance with a hidden secret—can benefit from smart misdirection.

Types of red herrings in literature

Red herrings come in several forms, and understanding the different types helps you choose the right approach for your story.

Characters

The most common type, especially in mystery novels and thrillers. A character red herring is someone who appears guilty, suspicious, or significant, but ultimately isn't responsible for the central mystery or conflict.

The key to a good character red herring is giving them real secrets. Not the secret at the heart of your plot, but a secret; something that explains their suspicious behavior without implicating them in the main crime or conflict. In Gone Girl, Desi Collings, while not the culprit, is an unsettling ex-boyfriend with a genuinely disturbing history with Amy, which makes him a believable threat. His secrets are real. They're just not the secrets that matter.

Clues

A clue red herring is a piece of evidence, an object, or a piece of information that seems significant but leads to a dead end, or to the wrong conclusion entirely.

The best clue red herrings have a logical (if incorrect) interpretation baked in. In the Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle, the supernatural folklore surrounding the hound is so atmospheric and compelling that readers, along with Watson, focus on the wrong explanation entirely. The terror feels real. It just isn't pointing where they think it is.

Plotlines

A plot red herring is a subplot, event, or narrative thread that seems central to the story but ultimately isn't. It's the false goal, the misleading arc, the story that appears to unfold while the real story develops beneath it.

The most famous example might be The Sixth Sense: the film appears to be about a psychologist helping a troubled boy, and that story is emotionally engaging and thematically rich. It's just not the whole story. The false plot works because it's genuinely compelling on its own terms, which is always the standard a plot red herring needs to meet.

Red herrings vs. other techniques

Writers sometimes confuse this literary device with related techniques. Here's how they differ.

Foreshadowing: Foreshadowing hints at the true outcome; red herrings point away from it. A sophisticated story uses both. Foreshadowing plants seeds for the real answer while red herrings distract readers from those seeds. Both require subtlety and plausibility to work.

Plot twists: A plot twist is the revelation itself; a red herring is one tool used to make that revelation surprising. Not every twist requires a red herring. Some work simply by concealing information rather than misdirecting.

Chekhov's Gun: Chekhov's Gun holds that every element introduced must pay off. Red herrings seem to violate this, but a well-crafted red herring does pay off: its payoff is being revealed as false. The suspicious character gets cleared. The misleading clue gets explained. The resolution of a red herring is still a resolution, it just isn't the one readers expected.

How to write effective red herrings

Make them plausible

This is the foundation everything else rests on. If readers can see through your misdirection, it fails. A character red herring needs a real motive and real opportunity. A clue red herring needs a logical, if incorrect, interpretation. The test is simple: would a reasonable reader genuinely consider this the answer? If not, it won't mislead anyone.

Plant fair clues to the real answer

Here's the part that separates misdirection from cheating: while you're leading readers astray, you also need to be quietly laying the groundwork for the truth.

The best red herrings create a "reread experience," or the moment where readers go back through the story and find all the clues they missed because they were too busy chasing the false trail. Agatha Christie does this in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, where the narrator's careful word choices never technically lie, but misdirect brilliantly. The clues to his guilt are present throughout. The red herrings just distract the audience so effectively that most readers never notice them on a first read.

Create a resolution

A red herring that simply disappears becomes a plot hole. Readers will notice the suspicious character who was never cleared, or the significant-seeming clue that was never explained within the story. You don't need an elaborate resolution, just an acknowledged one. The character's innocence is revealed (along with whatever secret they were hiding). The misleading clue gets its real explanation. Even a brief moment of closure keeps the story airtight.

Use them strategically

Each red herring should feel organic to the story, not like an obstacle you've thrown in the path of confused readers. Layer them purposefully, vary the types, and make sure each one fits naturally into the world you've built. Too many and the story becomes exhausting; the right number and it becomes a page-turner.

Time your misdirection carefully

Introduce them early enough that readers genuinely invest in the false clue. A red herring that appears in chapter fifteen and disappears by chapter seventeen hasn't had time to stick. Resolve them before the climax so the true answer has space to land cleanly.

A useful technique: use red herrings in waves. Resolve one false lead, introduce another. This maintains tension across the middle of your story while preventing any single red herring from being too easily forgotten or too obviously planted.

Ready to plant your own red herrings?

At their best, red herrings surprise readers and keep them turning pages. They invite readers to play an active game, to theorize, to suspect, to feel clever, and then reward the active engagement with a reveal that surprises and satisfies them at once.

Build those false leads carefully, give them real roots in your story, and plant your genuine clues quietly alongside them. When you get it right, readers will love you for it!