Young Writers Society

So I recently came up with an idea about a major character in my story: the Emperor. The Emperor who rules the land in my novel steals from the capital city funds to feed his obsession with dark magic. He secretly worships forbidden gods, possesses a magical artifact (demon shard), and opens portals. He also has access to coordinates that will reveal another great secret (haven't totally figured this one out yet, but this guy is definitely hiding something). Furthermore, one of the Emperor’s secrets date back nearly twenty years ago, when he made a contract with a wicked dragon for twenty years of protection. Maybe he accidentally encountered the beast during one of his rituals opening portals. The dragon could have torn through the veil and threatened to destroy the empire. But perhaps, out of fear and cowardice, the Emperor pleads for safety. And the dragon grants him twenty years, but when the time is up, the dragon will return to collect his payment...

So, I'm sure you all understand that the Emperor has many dark secrets. In the first book, I plan to have my main characters (Briar and Jaro) go on missions to uncover these secrets. The Emperor may seem like the antagonist here, but he isn't. Not really. But it is his fault that demons are loose in the world. When he opened a portal to an evil realm, demons tore through the veil and invaded the world. So there have been sightings of all kinds of tainted monsters across the land, and no one knows why. However, Jaro, the leader of the Last Vanguard, thinks the Emperor may have something to do with it. He had always thought the Emperor to be strange and just...off. He believes that some kind of evil is at work in the castle, and he is set on figuring it out. So he sends Briar (MC) into the castle, who must impersonate a noblewoman to gain entry, to gather information for him.

I have not yet decided if the Emperor should be killed. If I do decide to kill him off, when, where, and how will his death take place? Maybe he’s in the great hall of his castle sitting upon his throne, calmly observing the banquet. Perhaps he had poison slipped into his food, and so he collapses when he stands from his throne. Does he survive? Or does the poison kill him? Who poisoned him to begin with? And why?

"However, silence fell when the Emperor stumbled from his throne and collapsed to the floor of the great hall."

Well, he is no doubt wanted dead for his power on the throne, but if he’s being suspected of stealing from the city funds and working some kind of dark magic to bring doom to all, then clearly there will be assassins after him. Maybe the assassin is Svetlana, since that is her job among the guild. Perhaps she took it upon herself to poison the Emperor herself based on her own beliefs of the tyrant. Jaro didn’t want her to take such a risk, but she does it anyway and almost succeeds. The Emperor comes through and recovers from the poisoning. Svetlana was lucky to escape. Jaro is furious with Lana for pulling such a scheme. (FYI: Svetlana Kipriyanov is an assassin in the Last Vanguard.)

So those are some excerpts from my notes. Actually, it's a lot of my notes, heh. Tell me what you think, guys! Feel free to share ideas and feedback with me. I'd be more than happy to hear from someone.

It sounds like you've got a lot of great ideas swirling around here! I like the idea of the dragon granting twenty years' protection - there are a lot of interesting possibilities around how he met the dragon, and perhaps how he tries to avoid the dragon coming to collect his debt!

To me, it seems like the biggest "gap" in the plot you've outlined is between "Briar sneaks into the castle" and "the Emperor is found out and maybe killed". I wonder if working through the things in that space - either planning them or just starting to actually write them - would give you a better idea of whether the plot works better with the Emperor living or dying? Or perhaps you could write two versions of events - one where the Emperor lives, and one where he dies - and see which one feels better? (Or even multiple versions, for multiple deaths! You can always try things out, and throw them away or rework them when you revise!)

Hey sp00kytoenail! Love that name by the way.

The Emperor may seem like the antagonist here, but he isn't. Not really.

I want to know a little bit more about what you said here. He seems like a not so decent guy to me. What makes him not really the antagonist?

Based on that answer I would change my ideas about how and why he's killed if I were writing this. It's one thing to kill off the antagonist. It's another to kill off the antagonist that's just misunderstood. Depending on how well you can convey that to your readers there could be a harsher response to his death. For example, I have an antagonist in a novel I've written that'll end up being a pretty decent guy by the end of it and I've decided to kill him off more humanely because I think my readers would feel sad for him no matter what. Does that make sense?

I also agree with Cadi. Sometimes writing out things both ways helps you decide which path you'd like to take. Even if it's just a short paragraph or two so you can get the feel of it.