war as a plot device
Nov. 7th, 2021 05:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marycatelliAh, retelling Sleeping Beauty and getting to the war.
(You don't remember a war in Sleeping Beauty? Quick, read this and cover that up. It's near the end. . . .)
Anyway, that works in a fairy tale, having the entire war dismissed in a sentence with more attention being paid to the arrangements for the kingdom to be ruled in his absence. (Because that's the time in which the queen strikes.) Also, it doesn't have the war last long, which is necessary for the plot, as the villainess does not let the grass grow under her feet.
BUT -- it's a bit odd for the king to just declare war and not even mention why. Especially when readers do not think "Because I want to go to war" is a good casus belli.
I ponder whether I really need this war. There are other reasons why kings leave -- to go hunting, to go on state visits -- but I need one where he would not bring his wife and sons. The world-building has already decreed that wives are perfectly acceptable on both. Possibly required for the state visit. She might not like either, but she and he both are aware of the danger, so there has to be a powerful enough reason for her to not go.
(And here I thought the problem was devising some incidences while she's in service. It doesn't need them.)
Perhaps a threat that is frightened off by his forces? It might be ogres for unity. . . hmm. . . .
(You don't remember a war in Sleeping Beauty? Quick, read this and cover that up. It's near the end. . . .)
Anyway, that works in a fairy tale, having the entire war dismissed in a sentence with more attention being paid to the arrangements for the kingdom to be ruled in his absence. (Because that's the time in which the queen strikes.) Also, it doesn't have the war last long, which is necessary for the plot, as the villainess does not let the grass grow under her feet.
BUT -- it's a bit odd for the king to just declare war and not even mention why. Especially when readers do not think "Because I want to go to war" is a good casus belli.
I ponder whether I really need this war. There are other reasons why kings leave -- to go hunting, to go on state visits -- but I need one where he would not bring his wife and sons. The world-building has already decreed that wives are perfectly acceptable on both. Possibly required for the state visit. She might not like either, but she and he both are aware of the danger, so there has to be a powerful enough reason for her to not go.
(And here I thought the problem was devising some incidences while she's in service. It doesn't need them.)
Perhaps a threat that is frightened off by his forces? It might be ogres for unity. . . hmm. . . .