I’m currently in Hobart, Tasmania for the RWA national conference as I’m presenting a wokshop: Art of Deception.
I’m really excited about this workshop and hope attendees get a lot out of it. My workshop explores how to write a killer plot twist – examining illusionists’ techniques, exploring tools such as Red Herrings, MacGuffins and Checkhov’s Gun and the rules to follow to create a story that readers remember.
The trick behind red herrings (without giving too much away) is to do with cognitive bias. I find the way our brains work to be fascinating, so I thought I’d share the science behind time lapse. While not part of my presentation, time lapse is essentially still a trick of the brain.
Think about when you drive to the grocey store or to work. Have you ever arrived at your destination and thought, I don’t remember driving here. Sometimes that can just be because you were day dreaming or trying to remember if you have eough milk…this is a distraction for your brain, so it focuses more on those things than the drive.
But the reason it does this, and the reason you don’t remember, even if you weren’t distracted, is because you have driven that road a hundred times before. Your brain takes that information and then goes, I’ve filed information about this drive all these times before, I don’t need to keep the memory of this drive because nothing different happened and it is the same as all these other memories I’ve banked. It tosses the memory.
This is also why as you age, time goes faster. When you are a child, you have a hundred new experiences every day. Your brain is busy trying to file all those memories, so it has to work harder and time feels slow. As you get older, you have less and less new experiences, so your brain doesn’t need to slow down to do the filing work…time goes faster.
Have you experienced this?
August 22, 2025 at 12:41 pm
Yes, Time does seem to be speeding up – August already? My birthday in two weeks? I don’t drive, though, and spend half the week with Mum, looking after her, which is a different experience every day. I hope your panel goes well.
August 23, 2025 at 11:02 pm
Happy birthday 🎂 for 2 weeks, Sue. Are you doing anything special?
August 23, 2025 at 11:04 pm
Yes, I’m being taken out for dinner by a friend. We are going to a very nice Russian restaurant we have been to for another birthday.
August 29, 2025 at 5:40 pm
How was your dinner? I’ve never had Russian (don’t think we have one in Canberra).
August 23, 2025 at 12:29 am
I’ve had this time lapse thing happen a few times before! Usually after a long shift in retail and driving home late at night (or after pulling a double and driving home at 6am instead of 11pm) or when I was sick and driving home from school lol
August 23, 2025 at 11:04 pm
I’m sure a tired brain would make it even more of a struggle, T. At least, I’d rather blame that than my age 😂
August 23, 2025 at 12:34 pm
This morning, actually. I barely remember my drive. And then I was at work, and I was early (even though I left late), and it was like, how did I get here?
August 23, 2025 at 11:06 pm
Sounds like you scored a heap of green lights on your drive. It’s disconcerting, isn’t it?!
August 29, 2025 at 5:43 pm
My dinner is next Wednesday, we have been to this place before, on my birth two years ago. When they asked the occasion and I told them, the waitresses popped a candle on my dessert and sang happy birthday to me. 😂 I quite like Russian food.
August 29, 2025 at 6:18 pm
Well, happy birthday for next week. I hope you enjoy the dinner as much as last time (and that you get the chance to tell them it’s your birthday).
August 29, 2025 at 6:18 pm
Thanks! I’m looking forward to it.