For my story, in a nutshell, is about two identical twins. I'd say the story starts with them being in their late 20's. When their parents died years prior, they left a hefty inheritance of wealth to one of their daughters, the "good daughter" while the "bad daughter" got nothing. The "bad daughter" moved/ran way at a younger age, so there was always resentment towards her parents that she had and also an envy of her sister. However, the good sister becomes extremely sick and bed-ridden and so she calls on her sister to come take care of her. As she takes care of her, she starts to take over her life. She pretends to be her sister (since they look identical as hell), and thus her eventual goal is to take over the inheritance and steal the money. But I'm being a stickler when it comes to some of the motivation for the "bad sister" to go ahead and steal the money? I mean, I get that her being jealous and envious of her sister is motivation enough to steal her money, but I imagine that the "bad sister" is purposely keeping her sister sick so she can remain living in her house and can keep pretending to be her. Also, I'm struggling with a proper antagonist for the story. I get that it comes across as the sick sister to be the protagonist and the bad sister the antagonist, but since the sick sister is constantly bed-ridden I don't see how we can follow her story and be entertaining. However, if the protagonist is the bad sister than we can see her start out bad, then to worse, and then redeem her by the end of the story to make a proper arc. So if she's the protagonist and the sick sister is just a secondary character, I was thinking an antagonist could either be the sick sister's husband/boyfriend who comes home from being in the military (the sick sister didn't want to tell him that she has cancer or whatever, since he's already at war she didn't want to put even more stress on him), or another antagonist could be from the bad sister's past (I was thinking along the lines of a drug dealer that she owes money for, since I imagine her being a druggie of sorts). I don't know, I'm just having trouble with some of the details of the story such as the bad sister's motivation and a compelling antagonist for her. If anyone wants to comment below and give me some ideas that'd be really cool and awesome. If not, I'll just try to keep thinking of ideas and come up with something. Thanks anyways have a good day.
Make her healthy enough to walk around, but not enough for her to get out of the house alone. Don't make her constantly bedridden. That way, when the bad sister isn't around, the good sister can wander around the house. She can find various clues (on multiple attempts) that eventually leads to the conclusion that her sister is keeping her sick on purpose. You can make someone to be the cause of her sickness. For example, an insane, overly attached boyfriend that she broke up with is the one who purposely keeping her sick so he can be with her forever (Note that he seems normal so no one suspects a thing). Then the good sister asks the bad sister to either reconcile or help taking care of her. The bad sister eventually finds out that her sister's boyfriend is the one who kept her sister sick. In the end she redeemed herself by saving her sister from her boyfriend. I think that the boyfriend example has already been done though. Also, i already think that jealousy is a good motivation, so what's wrong with it exactly?
Have you ever read or seen Misery by Stephen King? This covers this scenario of two people in a similarish situation really well. Also is the 'bad' sister completely bad? What was it in their past that made them turn out this way? Had their parents always treated them differently? The 'bad' sister may want to prove she is worth something by becoming like her sister. She may look up to her sister and in a twisted way think that being her is a form of flattery. Are the sisters at odds, or can the 'good' sister acknowledge that her illness is an opportunity for her twin, who can turn her life around and carry on the 'good' sister's life work? I think you just need to be careful about trying to make the sisters too black and white 'good twin' and 'bad twin', as they won't be as relatable or realistic.
Have you ever seen Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? It has a similar setup, so you might get some inspiration there.
I think most identical twins share a bond that would prevent this scenario happening too easily. Most twins remain close all their lives, even if their lives take different turns. It would take something major to change this. I believe the instinct in twins is more likely to be protective of one another, rather than antagonistic towards one another. If a parent was abusive to one twin, while holding the other one up as a paragon of virtue, I suspect the 'paragon' twin would be inclined to side with their sibling rather than the parent. However, if one twin sees the other as having betrayed that bond, then I think you could have yourself a story here. My worry is that you're focusing this plot on the way these twins look ...in other words, their identical appearance that can fool people. This can be a 'too easy' plot device. I'd work on adding depth to it, if I were you. Perhaps the boyfriend knows the difference, but can see one twin as having traits the other one doesn't? And this can be deliberately manipulated? Maybe the 'bad' twin seems more exciting to him than the good one? This kind of thing. I would be cautious about focusing on the identity mixup thing and 'good twin, evil twin', if you want your story to have depth.
Is it envy? Or is it resentment? What makes her bad? The fact that she is just an evil person? Or the fact that she is misunderstood, troubled and never got the help she needed when she acted out? What help did she need, really? If she's evil for evil's sake, that would be a bit two-dimensional. Is her motivation to get the money fuelled by the fact that she was excluded? That she was unloved, despite her 'troubles?' Or is it purely fiscal? That her share of the money is her entitlement, by birth? But then, is her hostility to her sister, or to her parents? I think there is so much you could tell us about the 'bad sister' and her journey into this situation. What sort of life was she forced to live after being excluded? How did it make things worse? What would she use the money for? I think if you allow your keyboard to wander with some of these threads you'll discover her motivation. She'll bring it to you herself. - Ross
On motivation: maybe the Bad Sister doesn't see herself as bad. Maybe Bad Sister is a role that was created for her by her parents, who for some reason could only see her in contrast to Good Sister. Maybe once she ran away, she was able to develop a fully fleshed out personality outside the rigid family role created for her. When she returns to care for her ill sister, she believes that if her parents were better, they would have been the parents she needed and given her her fair share, so she feels entitled to the inheritance. As far as she's concerned, she's not stealing anything, just taking what should rightfully be hers. Maybe taking over Good Sister's life starts out accidental, then gets out of hand. Someone mistakes Bad Sister for Good Sister and Bad Sister doesn't correct them. It feels good. She tells more lies to cover up the lies she's already told, then ends up actually hurting Good Sister to keep the charade going. On protagonist/antagonist. If Good Sister is going to be bedridden/housebound for the duration of the story, you need another character to act as her proxy/advocate. Maybe a friend of Good Sister discovers what Bad Sister is doing and tries to stop her. Or maybe a friend of Bad Sister finds out and acts as Bad Sister's conscious. Depends on where you want to take the story.
