juggling plot threads, continued

[marycatelli]

Of course, there are times when it is easy to drop one thread and move to the next.  That is, when the thread hasn't caught on fire.

So I sit staring at the sheet of paper trying to figure what any of them are doing.  Even when all -- let's see, both sets of knights, the royal official and his men, the sorceress/thief and the band of sorceresses, and the cultists -- six factions all started out with clearly defined motives that are passionately desired.

Fortunately what this story smells of is dramatic irony, so I have the prompt:  who could woefully mistake what someone else is up to?  And the side-issue of keeping all six of them yoked together into the same story helps.  And that I know there are two more factions involved, so I can herd them all toward where they can hook up with that one.

Comments

[fairyrevel.livejournal.com]

who could woefully mistake what someone else is up to?

Writers don't ask this kind of question often enough. The right kind of misunderstanding (as in, not a contrived one) can lead to all kinds of interesting and unexpected results.

[marycatelli]

You often need multi-POV to pull it off. On account of how difficult it is to use one POV to convey both the real truth and the mistake.