1. rktho

    rktho Contributor Contributor

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    Logistics of this reveal

    Discussion in 'Plot Development' started by rktho, Dec 7, 2018.

    For anyone new here, all my characters are dragons.

    So I have a fair amount of intrigue going on in my WIP. Zarakharn, the emperor (main antagonist; a secret dark wizard,) has had a precious stone stolen from him and subsequently lost. He knows his enemies (also wizards) are behind this, and from what little information he has managed to secure, he knows that they accomplished this by infiltrating the Inquisitorius (highest level of law enforcement) with one of their own. He can't go after the spy himself because he has his missing stone to worry about; if it is destroyed before he can recapture it, he dies. So he has to go looking for it, aided by a magic marble that shows him the last dragon who touched it.

    The emperor orders Kharrin, head of the Inquisitorius, to bring the spy to justice. But there's an even more pressing issue-- Sar Argandi, a violent mass murderer, has resurfaced and requires a great deal of attention from the Inquisitorius. Zarakharn knows Argandi is too dangerous to be a secondary priority, so he assigns Kharrin to bring down Sar instead. Kharrin must choose his most trusted operative to discover the spy.

    Kharrin selects his longtime friend, Vazared, head tracker of the Inquisitorius, to root out the traitor. Vazared is on Sar Argandi's case and it's a personal matter, so he's very reluctant to change assignments. However, Vazared recognizes the emperor has ordered what he has ordered, so he accepts his assignment and begins searching for the traitor. Or so Kharrin thinks. In reality, Vazared is the traitor, and he has no intention of abandoning his search for Sar. Sar is a dangerous rogue wizard and if Kharrin manages to find him before Vazared does, Kharrin will most certainly end up dead. And Vazared doesn't want any harm to come to Sar either; his help could prove key in bringing down Zarakharn. But that's not what this thread is concerned with. It's what Kharrin is up to during all of this we're interested in.

    When all these plot points converge, Kharrin, Sar, Vazared, and the stone will all come together, with Kharrin capturing the latter three. Kharrin will then reveal that he knows wizards exist and that information has informed his every move. A chief Inquisitor doesn't work for Zarakharn for as long as Kharrin has without getting a clue that Zarakharn is more than an ordinary dragon. Kharrin's done some research on magic-- he can't find much, because magic and wizards were written out of history by divine intervention, and only a few are entrusted with the secret of their existence both past and present-- but he finds enough to get the picture.

    I want to clarify that Kharrin came to the knowledge of magic on his own; Zarakharn does not tell him what's really going on. Therefore, Kharrin does not at first realize Zarakharn's traitor is a wizard. However, because he's already realized that magic exists and conducted what research he can on it, he soon comes to that conclusion, realizing Vazared and the traitor are one and the same not long after.

    The thing is, Kharrin is a POV character and I can't have him drop out of the story. I want to show him piecing all this together without clueing the reader in on the fact that he knows magic plays a role. He can figure out that Vazared is disobeying him, he can figure out that Vazared is the traitor, that Vazared's history with Sar is even more personal than Kharrin thought, but the realization that Vazared and Sar are wizards, and the fact that he knows Zarakharn is one, will be kept secret from the reader until this climax. How do I hide this from the reader? (Not that I don't want to drop hints they can pick up on, of course.)
     
  2. Veltman

    Veltman Active Member

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    It sounds like you are conflicted. Do you want the readers to go through the journey of discovery or keep them in the dark to increase tension and raise the stakes? I don't have an answer to your question, but If anyone does, I want to know.
     
    rktho likes this.
  3. rktho

    rktho Contributor Contributor

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    I want to give the readers all the secrets except one.
     

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