1. lady_augusta

    lady_augusta New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 7, 2019
    Messages:
    17
    Likes Received:
    10

    How Does a Crusader Heiress Get What She Wants? (and what does she want?)

    Discussion in 'Plot Development' started by lady_augusta, Mar 22, 2019.

    hi, all.

    I've been working on the plot to my story for a long time now, and I'm happy with the progress I've made from a setting and then character idea to an actual skeletal plot structure. I'm really happy with my characters (for the most part.) But there are some issues I haven't been able to get behind.

    a quick(ish) summary: it's 1130, in the Crusader county of Edessa. Acetta is a lordship on the border between Edessa and the Seljuk Turkish sultanate, and is home to its lord, Frankish Crusader, his wife, an Armenian noblewoman, and their four daughters, the eldest of whom is Joveta, the MC.
    Joveta is the heiress to the lordship, her parents having no surviving sons, and her father has raised her as a capable successor to him; she is also completely devoted to Acetta. Her whole world is the lordship, which she knows like the back of her hand, and her family/household, who are loving and close. However, her father is determined to marry Joveta to a man capable of holding her inheritance for her, and Joveta dreads this, fearing the inevitable loss of control over Acetta that will come when she is married off. Aside from desiring to rule Acetta herself, Joveta hates and fears change and wants to remain with her family and friends as they are, forever.
    However, she is forced to face the fact that life goes on and things inevitably will change; first when her best friend decides to marry to get out from under her mother's thumb; and her sister decides to waive her father's promise not to marry off any of his daughters until they are sixteen and marries her father's cousin, a Frankish lord, going back to Francia with him and never seeing her family again. While this happens, Joveta is forced to contend with a potential suitor, a fever that sweeps across the land, intrigue at the Royal court of Jerusalem, and finally, a siege by a Seljuk principality that drags on through the summer while her father is away fighting in Kaysun with most of his knights.

    I've already accepted that this story is going to be mainly character driven; there isn't a 'villain', despite the constant war that comes with living on the border; my friend who is familiar with my idea described it as 'Little Women in the Crusades' (I've never read LW but I get her drift.) But I know I need something to tie together all the events of the story—a goal for Joveta, or rather, steps she needs to take to achieve her motivation, which would be to maintain her control of Acetta and not get pushed aside by a husband. But I don't really have any ideas for what she can do to achieve that goal. For a while I was like: I have a goal why isn't my story going anywhere? And then I realized that I was confusing her goal and her motivation, and while her motivations are clear and strong and a huge part of her character, her actual GOAL is nowhere to be found. And I'm kind of at a loss because this has all been turning over in my head for so long and I really have no ideas. So I was wondering if any of the talented users here had any input?

    If you want to augment your ideas to stuff that would be 100% historically accurate, more power to you, but also don't worry about that if not. I just would really like to hear ANYTHING because my brain has been coming up completely blank.

    so if anyone has any combination of words they'd like to throw at me, I will take it gratefully. Thank you for reading my super long rant/question!
     
  2. XRD_author

    XRD_author Banned

    Joined:
    Feb 19, 2019
    Messages:
    902
    Likes Received:
    953
    I see three ways for her to achieve her goal of being the ruler of the land, instead of letting her husband be it:
    1. Prove herself to him, so that he at least accepts her as an equal
    2. Marry someone else who won't be a problem
    3. Marry him, bear an heir, bump him off, and be too inconsolable to entertain suiters afterwards.
    Does she look good in widow's weeds?
     
    Last edited: Mar 22, 2019
    lady_augusta likes this.
  3. ChickenFreak

    ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    Mar 9, 2010
    Messages:
    15,262
    Likes Received:
    13,084
    I was assuming, as I read your summary, that her father was going to choose a husband for her and her goal was going to be avoiding the marriage. If her father is determined to force her to marry, and that's her greatest fear, then it seems to me that it needs to happen or it'll feel like you're avoiding the main plotline of the book.

    Once that's onstage, then it seems to me that you need to complicate it beyond her protesting and her father dictating, so that her goal becomes shutting down this whole marriage threat forever. My first thought was that she figures out a way to find an apparently marriageable man who can't rule, she marries him, and if you declare that divorce isn't allowed, that's that. Maybe there are laws about the ruler's religion. Or legitimacy. Or noble rank. Or criminal convictions. Or previous married state. The protagonist and her intended husband successfully hide the problem during the pre-marriage vetting.

    (I remind myself of the whole "broadcasting" defense to takeover in Working Girl.)

    Which leads to, who's he? Why is he interested in this scheme? What does he get out of it? You may have a second plot based on HIS goal.

    You could tie in your subplots as complications. Maybe a suitor that she doesn't want, because he would rule, is essential for the war that her father's fighting--he's a neighboring noble with a big army or something. Maybe she's actually in love with somebody, but she still wants to be the ruler.

    Edited to add (I thought I added this before): Maybe she arranges for Guy With Big Army to fall in love with her sister, so her father gets the army and the protagonist still doesn't have to get married.
     
    Last edited: Mar 22, 2019
    lady_augusta and Reece like this.
  4. lady_augusta

    lady_augusta New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 7, 2019
    Messages:
    17
    Likes Received:
    10
    Thank you for your response! The first two seem more feasible to me, just because A) she's pretty religious and probably couldn't conscience murder and B) there was such a high nobleman turnover rate in the Crusader states that most women married more than once and its pretty expected that she not be without a husband for too long.
    I think the proving herself thing carries the most potential for a plot, personally, I wonder if I could somehow weave it with the second, like she has to prove herself to her father so he will marry her to someone who won't be a problem...
    Thank you! :)
     
  5. lady_augusta

    lady_augusta New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 7, 2019
    Messages:
    17
    Likes Received:
    10
    Thanks for your response! I have been having a lot of trouble with the man that she will eventually marry (or at least at some point she was supposed to marry him. Idk what's going on now.) Originally he was supposed to be a love interest and they fall in love over the course of the book, but between me never being able to breathe any life into his character and me revising to make the outline more historically sound and less panderingly YA, that kind of fell by the wayside.

    I agree, though, I think she'll see that as long as she's unmarried she can be married to anyone, and the only solution to that is to marry someone. Hmmm. Thanks again :)
     
  6. XRD_author

    XRD_author Banned

    Joined:
    Feb 19, 2019
    Messages:
    902
    Likes Received:
    953
    Ah, then it will have to be her nanny, who loved her like her own child and can't stand to see her married off to some abusive pig, who kills the fiancee.
    And when the princess finds out ... that will be hard on her. What to do? She loves her nanny, but she can't countenance murder ... even a murder that saved her from a terrible fate ... or can she?
    Gotta keep turning the pages to find out.

    Just trying to keep the hope alive for the murder scenario.
    It's 1130 AD after, all. :)
     
    lady_augusta likes this.
  7. lady_augusta

    lady_augusta New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 7, 2019
    Messages:
    17
    Likes Received:
    10
    Oh, I do love those sort of devoted governess-charge relationships, they're in like 70% of what I do...while they've only turned to murder once in that ;) this story hasn't got one but I can see her best friend doing it for her.
    At least one of her potential suitors is going to die, definitely. Whether it is by her hand, or a hand, might be a little far fetched just for my circumstances, but, you know, stuff happens. It's the twelfth century. What can you do.
     
  8. XRD_author

    XRD_author Banned

    Joined:
    Feb 19, 2019
    Messages:
    902
    Likes Received:
    953
    I sort of wish I was writing a story like yours now. Discovering that a beloved friend committed murder for your sake might be harder than doing it yourself, especially if you're in an esteemed public position in a highly religious society. Finding a way to avoid scandal, and maybe spare your friend's life, that'd be tough. If she covers the murder up, can she stand the guilt, and does it doom her immortal soul?

    Oh, I just must find a way to work this kind of dilemma into my WIP. Maybe not murder of a fiancee, but my MC has a close friend who might go a little overboard on her behalf ... :)
     

Share This Page

  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
    Dismiss Notice