anthorn
Well-Known Member
Long time dead here.
So I've got a character who is going to marry the King of the country in order to strengthen ties between the two nations. The woman isn't nobility or royalty, just has a lot of money, which is what counts in the end, right.
In truth, she's been hired by a resistance group who want to overthrow the King and various other orders which still hold to archaic laws. I.E: Magic is illegal, anyone who practices lesser magic like fortune telling or stuff what would fall under what we know as illusionists and pulling bunnies from hats. They promise to protect her from her father's debtors and find her sister that was kidnapped years earlier. All she has to do is kill the King on their wedding night.
Of course this is supposed to be a secret. From the honour guard and from the potential readers. All they know is she's getting married. The only other person who knows the truth is her Myeshi bodyguard.
Trouble is. I don't want this to seem like it comes out of left field plot twist land. I also want it to be a surprise. And I don't think it's reasonable to be in her POV and not reference what she's going to do. Because she's not stupid and she's never killed before, I doubt it would be realistic for her to skirt the issue by simply wondering if she could do it.
I also fear that she might appear as a woman without agency, which she isn't.
So I have two theories.
Be overt about what she is doing and keep her as a P.O.V.
Lose her as a P.O.V and use conversations with her bodyguard and her honour guards to subtly raise doubts. Using simple questions like asking a soldier if he'd killed someone and how does he live with himself afterwards. Her not being in a hurry to get there. Add interludes to slowly reveal relationship between her and her sister, the meeting with the resistance. (without mention the whole killing thing) Then in Book 2 give her a P.O.V and explore her motives.
So I've got a character who is going to marry the King of the country in order to strengthen ties between the two nations. The woman isn't nobility or royalty, just has a lot of money, which is what counts in the end, right.
In truth, she's been hired by a resistance group who want to overthrow the King and various other orders which still hold to archaic laws. I.E: Magic is illegal, anyone who practices lesser magic like fortune telling or stuff what would fall under what we know as illusionists and pulling bunnies from hats. They promise to protect her from her father's debtors and find her sister that was kidnapped years earlier. All she has to do is kill the King on their wedding night.
Of course this is supposed to be a secret. From the honour guard and from the potential readers. All they know is she's getting married. The only other person who knows the truth is her Myeshi bodyguard.
Trouble is. I don't want this to seem like it comes out of left field plot twist land. I also want it to be a surprise. And I don't think it's reasonable to be in her POV and not reference what she's going to do. Because she's not stupid and she's never killed before, I doubt it would be realistic for her to skirt the issue by simply wondering if she could do it.
I also fear that she might appear as a woman without agency, which she isn't.
So I have two theories.
Be overt about what she is doing and keep her as a P.O.V.
Lose her as a P.O.V and use conversations with her bodyguard and her honour guards to subtly raise doubts. Using simple questions like asking a soldier if he'd killed someone and how does he live with himself afterwards. Her not being in a hurry to get there. Add interludes to slowly reveal relationship between her and her sister, the meeting with the resistance. (without mention the whole killing thing) Then in Book 2 give her a P.O.V and explore her motives.