Secrets Thesaurus: Knowing Death Is Coming for Someone

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…

Knows Death Is Coming for Someone

ABOUT THIS SECRET: Knowing someone is going to die is a heavy burden to bear, especially if the character cares for the person and can’t do anything to help. Whether because of precognition, being part of an organization who called for the death, or because they ordered it themselves, the character may feel personally responsible and experience great emotional distress as a result. But keeping the secret may be the only way to prevent a worse consequence to their loved ones or themselves.

SPECIFIC FEARS THAT MAY DRIVE THE NEED FOR SECRECY:
Being Attacked, Being Labeled, Being Unsafe, Betrayal, Change, Conflict, Death, Failure, Government, Hope, Letting Others Down, Losing Financial Security, Losing One’s Social Standing, Losing the Respect of Others, Not Being Believed

HOW THIS SECRET COULD HOLD THE CHARACTER BACK
Becoming anxious or depressed, resulting in physical or emotional issues
Becoming desensitized to the horror or trauma of the experience or the value of the lives that will end (if this happens often)
Struggling with the ethics of hiding their knowledge versus revealing it, causing inner turmoil and performance issues

BEHAVIORS OR HABITS THAT HELP HIDE THIS SECRET
Bribing or coercing into silence anyone who find out about the upcoming death
Rationalizing the character’s death as part of the greater good or for a higher purpose
Feigning ignorance or innocence when confronted about the person’s death

ACTIVITIES OR TENDENCIES THAT MAY RAISE SUSPICIONS
Being evasive when discussing future plans with the person marked for death
Becoming obviously depressed, anxious, avoidant, or distressed, especially when the person is present or being discussed
Overreacting to innocuous situations regarding the person; going overboard to protect them (accompanying them everywhere, not allowing them to travel, etc.)

SITUATIONS THAT MAKE KEEPING THIS SECRET A CHALLENGE 
Being forced to witness or be part of events that lead to the person’s death
Being questioned by the person marked for death, who suspects something
Being recruited as an ally by someone trying to protect the person
Having their own well-being threatened because of the secret

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.

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