Introducing a plot-critical hallucinogen partway through a mystery?
This is a sort of act related question. I have an important drug that causes the protagonist to encounter people and things he normally wouldn't, and it is the foundation of a convoluted plan by the antagonist. The drug is fantastical, causing others to experience what the protag hallucinates, essentially making it real as more and more people believe it is. Otherwise, the world is 'real life.'
Do I need to introduce the fantasy concepts in the first act outright, or is hinting at their existence sufficient? I want the reveal that he's been poisoned to come out of nowhere at the end of the story and turn it all around, but even suggesting such a drug could exist in acts 1 and 2 would instantly tip the audience off that the mystery isn't genuine.
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Describing a psychedelic experience is inherently difficult. You might try weaving in some behavioral changes seeming out of place as your hints something is amiss. If you wait to the reveal, you'll miss out on the fantastical and spiritual elements accompanying hallucinosis. Does your character know where he's getting his visions from? Is he receiving commands via auditory hallucinations? Whose commands? God's? You get the picture.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/24393. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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My feeling is that you should hint at it, so that it doesn't feel like a deus ex machina, but write your story and show it to some beta readers asking about that in particular. If you hint too strongly, it becomes obvious, but if you don't mention anything about this drug until the protagonist receives it, it shatters the suspension of disbelief.
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