plot idea/help.

[anthorn]

So i have another idea. This time the main characters are thieves, although one used to be a member of the order of the rose. The Singer/Songmage is using her abilities to mesmerize the crowd while she tells tales and sings, while the other thief steals the money.

Now the idea was for them to be caught and forced to go hunting for some legend on an abandoned island-or if they dont they will be turned in to the authorities.
Now the male thief is hiding a secret, he got the girls boyfriend captured because he was in love with her and jealous. He manages to sleep with her but messes it up by telling her what he did.

I also have a question or two to ask.

1. I start out with Nikita as a little girl travelling to Mana city as the prologue. Should i start chapter one with Nikita and Anthorn pulling their tricks years later, or should i start it from the Abandoned Isle after theIR Air ship has crashed and their relationship already in tatters and tell every thing in flashbacks.

2. Anthorn dies a heroic death or so Nikita thinks. He turns up half a year later though. Would it be plausible for Nikita to be so happy to see him again that she forgives him for betraying her boyfriend from before and start a relationship with him despite everything or would it be too contrived

[Stormpirate]

1. I think you should start it wherever the conflict begins. If that means starting it after they're already on the Isle, then it should start there. How they got there could be explained in flashbacks and dialogue between the characters.
**My concern with flashbacks: If there are too many, I think it starts getting confusing for the reader. If they're not effectively handled, the reader can get messed up on the timeline.

2. I think that would be too contrived, UNLESS you managed to write it well enough that we as the reader would believe Nikita would act like this.

[anthorn]

What if she had started to develop feelings for him before he confessed?

I was thinking to stop things from being confusing i would do what Scott Lynch did and lable them as interludes or something.

[Meadowhawk]

1. No flashbacks, especially not a whole novels worth. I don't like them, and they are usually just lazy writing. Stormpirate is right, start in the conflict--NOT in the backstory. Most aspiring novelists need to throw out the first 5-10 chapters of backstory and world-building, don't fall into this trap. Instead write the backstory and character sketches in a separate notebook for yourself, not in your manuscript.

2. No. No woman is going to toss aside this kind of deceit and betrayal and jump back in the sack with a guy--unless you're writing a romance novel.

[Foles]

1. I agree with what the others are saying.

2. Absolutely anything is possible. Of course there are people in the world who would react the way your character does, despite how the general consesus would be no. You just have to build a character that it makes sense for. She can't hate him, feel sorry for him dying, and then throw herself at him just because she finds out he's alive again. It really depends on how he betrays her boyfriend, how he "dies", and how he reenters the story, along with what is going on with this girl at the time.

Remember, all your characters are real people. The most important thing, I think, for the situation you presented to work, would be to have the reader have empathy for Anthorn, despite the fact that he betrays the other guy. It all revolves around whether your characters are fleshed out or not.

[fire_elf20]

she might actually like him before the betrayal and feel maybe deep down that she was happy then even if she didnt admit that fact so when he returns she finally admits it

[anthorn]

Thank you