forum Help with Plot
Started by chava
tune

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chava

Hello,
So I'm planning a novel, and I was wondering if you have any ideas for the middle of the story.
A girl was cursed with obedience as a young girl when her brother was granted a wish and wished that his sister would listen to him.
I'm still trying to work out if she has obedience to everyone or only to him, (I'm leaning towards just who he decides, which is usually just her family)
Because of her curse, she is the servant/slave in the family. She has no friends because she doesn't want anyone to discover her secret.
She is forced to go to the coronation of a new king to kill him, and gets caught after she assasinates him. Her brother takes the position of the crown, and he wants to get rid of her so she can't reveal that he was behind the assasination.
Meanwhile, she is in prison and makes a friend. This, unbeknownst to her, reverses her curse.
She is called before the king, who is also her brother and he is expecting her to still have the curse of obedience towards him. Except she's no longer cursed and now he is cursed to listen to her.
And she asks if he forced her and he admits it… and so on from there.

What can go on in prison? Why does she begin trusting people? And what can be her plan to get her out of this mess?

Thank you for taking the time to read this!

@steeeeeee

Ooohhh. First off, you have a very compelling plot. Depending on in the plot above is primarily exposition/ background or written to lead into the prison setting, you could try a prison breakout. In that setting, I'd definitely see your main character as a liability to the "team". At the same time, her curse is some sort of blessing in disguise. The way I see it, why expend so much effort in securing a prisoner you know can't break the rules. It might get tricky with how you choose to flesh out the curse (obedient to all or just the brother), but her circumstances may lead to people in the prison (both guards and inmates) trusting her more. Perhaps in teaming up and defying her brother, she's able to disable the circumstances of their relationship and lead a better life.

@Miz

Your plot reminds me of the movie Ella Enchanted, which is a pretty awesome story! I would recommend watching it if you haven't already! It might be beneficial to see an example of how others employed a similar concept!

As for advice or plot suggestions, I think what you have already is super interesting, and steeeeeee brought up a good point about her curse being a blessing in disguise. Perhaps the catalyst for her beginning to trust others is people giving her a choice. Even something that seems insignificant, like telling her she doesn't have to answer a question if she doesn't want to, could be an important detail for her, whether or not she has to obey just her brother or everyone!

chava

Ooohhh. First off, you have a very compelling plot. Depending on in the plot above is primarily exposition/ background or written to lead into the prison setting, you could try a prison breakout. In that setting, I'd definitely see your main character as a liability to the "team". At the same time, her curse is some sort of blessing in disguise. The way I see it, why expend so much effort in securing a prisoner you know can't break the rules. It might get tricky with how you choose to flesh out the curse (obedient to all or just the brother), but her circumstances may lead to people in the prison (both guards and inmates) trusting her more. Perhaps in teaming up and defying her brother, she's able to disable the circumstances of their relationship and lead a better life.

Thank you so much for your idea. Can you clarify a few things?
"Depending on in the plot above… prison setting" What do you mean by this?
Disable the circumstances as in they'll now have a good relationship, or completely break up?

chava

As for advice or plot suggestions, I think what you have already is super interesting, and steeeeeee brought up a good point about her curse being a blessing in disguise. Perhaps the catalyst for her beginning to trust others is people giving her a choice. Even something that seems insignificant, like telling her she doesn't have to answer a question if she doesn't want to, could be an important detail for her, whether or not she has to obey just her brother or everyone!

Who would be giving her a choice?
If I would go with she has to listen to everyone, i would make it unknown to them, and they would discover it somehow. My concern with going with everyone is that it does take out part of the empathy if everything she does it decided for her, and she can't rebel or anything. I want the way to break her curse to be by building relationships and trust, except she doesnt know that until it happens.

I hope that gives a little more clarity…

@Miz

Who would be giving her a choice?

That's entirely up to you, but I originally responded with the assumption that they would be her friend in prison, like you mentioned in your first post! Sorry if this isn't super helpful lol

chava

Who would be giving her a choice?

That's entirely up to you, but I originally responded with the assumption that they would be her friend in prison, like you mentioned in your first post! Sorry if this isn't super helpful lol

got it.
Thank you! It was a help