Young Writers Society

Okay, I'm having an issue with deciding what to do with my antagonist in the first book of my Faerie Trilogy. She is not the only Dark Faerie in the first book, but she is the only main one that sets out to directly kill the Light Faerie (the king/queen) in that book. The main character in the story, the Faerie that protects the Light Faerie, ends up defeating her in some way, but I'm not exactly certain in what way anymore.

The main character is only 15 years old at the time of the first book and there is really nothing that would lead up to her actually killing the antagonist, unless she lost control or had no other choice. I was sort of reserving this kind of solution for the other books when she is older, however, because then she would have grown more calloused and the stakes are higher.

The idea I developed a while ago but am not so sure about now is that the main character destroys her Power. In other words, she makes the antagonist no longer a Faerie so that she is instead a Thin Blood, which is a person without wings or Power who the Dark Faeries were trying to exterminate. I originally thought that this was good and rather ironic (and it leads into something in the second book, though it isn't really necessary), but I wasn't sure if it was one of those Mary-Sue tricks to make your character get away unscathed, though personally this would be enough to traumatize me for a while

Any comments, suggestions... or help?

It sounds like it's a solution with a lot of potential. Your instinct that a 15 year old is unlikely to kill the antagonist is spot-on, and if it leads into something in the second book then it's a useful and necessary action.

How far along in the story are you? If you're still in the first half, just keep writing and see how it goes. Even if you write a full draft and then decide it's not the right ending, you can always go back and rewrite it. The important thing is not to get paralyzed by indecision.

If there's no reason for her to defeat the antagonist, why bother? It won't be believable and would seem too black and white; try giving them a chance to understand one another, but the protagonist able to do what she believes is right. Make sure she has a connection with both the Queen/Antagonist, compare them, make her decide what to do.

If you see what I mean?

Oh, sorry. I must not have made that clear.
I meant that there's no important reason for her to either die or live, but she has to be defeated so that the king/queen doesn't get killed by her because if the king/queen is killed... Well, everything falls apart (not just in the sense of their land, either). I was just wondering how I should deal with her so that she doesn't succeed in murdering the king/queen and the main character, whether it is by killing her, capturing her, driving her off or something else.

How to defeat a villain...

It's really up to you, but I really like the idea of taking her power. I'd do that.

As for finding a way for her to defeat her, you CAN make sure she has no choice without being cliche. Maybe the dark fairie captures her and she must defeat her to escape - in which case the dark fairie must have either also captured others or have a good reason for capturing her.

Be careful, but you can do it.