About halfway through my plot, one of my characters is framed for a crime she didn't commit. About a quarter of the book on from that (where I'm editing now) it's revealed that she was framed. I don't want the reader to sympathise with her before this revelation; I want everyone to believe that she was a traitor. But the manner in which she got locked up is important to the plot, for a variety of reasons (foreshadowing, clues, red herrings, etc). This is because she's incarcerated by an underground vigilante group (my MCs) and they don't use regular prison systems. However, no POV character knows what their leader actually did with her. So I'm revealing that, too. At the moment, I've got her sitting in a cell and flashing back to what happened, but I'm not sure (and this is where you guys come in) if there's a better way of doing it? I mean, I can't pick up from where I left her story off, can I? Two weeks have passed since she was framed. Would a flashback stilt the story at this point, or would it be interesting as the reader would (presumably) be wondering what had happened to her?
I don't like flashbacks for revelation. Flashbacks can work well to raise new questions or doubts, but revelations should be uncovered in story time. I'd have her loudly and somewhat obnoxiously protesting her innocense, so no one, including the reader, believes her. The revelation can come whaen the person who frames her lets slip something only the real traitor would know, in a way that no one other than a sharp-eyed reader will notice. Your scapegoat can be the person who realizes who framed her, but still no one will listen to her.
Hmmm, good idea! I really didn't like the flashback thing, myself, but I was mind-blanking when it came to other thinking of other options Ooh, and you've given me a great new idea as to how I might be able to intensify things later on Thanks Cog!
You should be able to build the suspense into the story, maybe confuse the reader a little - but not as much that they get too confused and throw the book across the room. Give some false red herrings, and it'll make it all the more exciting when you actually reveal it.
