- Joined
- May 26, 2011
- Messages
- 667
- Reaction score
- 61
- Age
- 42
- Location
- Ontario, Canada
- Website
- kathyanncoleman.blogspot.com
TLDR: How much time needs to pass from a heroine being with one person and getting with the hero for her past to not be a problem?
The Long Version:
I think I may have painted myself into a corner. Fortunately,I'm still outlining so I can hopefully fix this.
The heroine of my latest fantasy romance novella is a relatively innocent princess raised in a kingdom of necromancers and dark mages. She has been courted since early adolescence by a powerful sorcerer who is interested in her because he knows she was the creation of the Emperor's obsession with his mistress, who happened to be a mermaid. Blood plays a big role in the magical systems of this society, so the unique properties hers might possess makes her extremely desirable to him.
Fast forward to the start of the novel where the heroine is in her early 20s. She has snuck into her love's home to listen in on a secret meeting between him and her father. She thinks they are going to talk about wedding plans for her and the sorcerer, but instead the Emperor wants the sorcerer to assassinate the king of a neighbouring country and his daughter--who happens to be a friend of the princess's.
The Emperor leaves and the princess tries to exit quietly but is caught by the sorcerer, who teases her about eavesdropping. They are happy that the Emperor has approved their match, but when princess tries to convince him to spare her friend's life he is very angry. They end up in a wizard's duel--sorcerer is her teacher and she semi-playfully casts something on him--which results in him using his powers to seal hers temporarily away. He assures her that he will restore them once this situation is over, but for the time being he fears she may be a danger to herself.
Princess is determined to save her friend. She sneaks out of sorcerer's home and back to her own in the middle of the night, packs belongings, and uses a secret passage in her room to leave the palace district and go into the city proper. On her way through the markets she finds a man being sold as a slave. Realizing he is Mer, and having a lifelong obsession with their culture, she buys him with the intentions of using him as a guide to help her leave her home country and travel to the land where her friend lives. She is too trusting, though, and removes the collar blocking his powers as soon as they leave the city. He immediately grabs it and puts it on her, reversing their roles. He tells her that he will help her leave since he wants to leave this country, too, but that she will serve him until that journey is successful.
As the journey progresses and things happen, the merman realizes that this woman is a potential mate for him and her personality begins to win him over. By the time that the book is done, he has given her his 'shift scale', an item that a shifter in my realm can only produce once in their lifetime, in order to save her life and they end up in love and happy.
The question is, how much space do I need to put between her past with the sorcerer and what happens with the merman for this to be believable? In my initial draft she and sorcerer hated each other, but the backstoryI eventually came up with seems much richer and more alive--provided it doesn't mess up the main plot.
Note: sorcerer is a very bad man and princess had no idea of this when they were together. He is the primary villain following the couple on their journey and causing trouble for them.
The Long Version:
I think I may have painted myself into a corner. Fortunately,I'm still outlining so I can hopefully fix this.
The heroine of my latest fantasy romance novella is a relatively innocent princess raised in a kingdom of necromancers and dark mages. She has been courted since early adolescence by a powerful sorcerer who is interested in her because he knows she was the creation of the Emperor's obsession with his mistress, who happened to be a mermaid. Blood plays a big role in the magical systems of this society, so the unique properties hers might possess makes her extremely desirable to him.
Fast forward to the start of the novel where the heroine is in her early 20s. She has snuck into her love's home to listen in on a secret meeting between him and her father. She thinks they are going to talk about wedding plans for her and the sorcerer, but instead the Emperor wants the sorcerer to assassinate the king of a neighbouring country and his daughter--who happens to be a friend of the princess's.
The Emperor leaves and the princess tries to exit quietly but is caught by the sorcerer, who teases her about eavesdropping. They are happy that the Emperor has approved their match, but when princess tries to convince him to spare her friend's life he is very angry. They end up in a wizard's duel--sorcerer is her teacher and she semi-playfully casts something on him--which results in him using his powers to seal hers temporarily away. He assures her that he will restore them once this situation is over, but for the time being he fears she may be a danger to herself.
Princess is determined to save her friend. She sneaks out of sorcerer's home and back to her own in the middle of the night, packs belongings, and uses a secret passage in her room to leave the palace district and go into the city proper. On her way through the markets she finds a man being sold as a slave. Realizing he is Mer, and having a lifelong obsession with their culture, she buys him with the intentions of using him as a guide to help her leave her home country and travel to the land where her friend lives. She is too trusting, though, and removes the collar blocking his powers as soon as they leave the city. He immediately grabs it and puts it on her, reversing their roles. He tells her that he will help her leave since he wants to leave this country, too, but that she will serve him until that journey is successful.
As the journey progresses and things happen, the merman realizes that this woman is a potential mate for him and her personality begins to win him over. By the time that the book is done, he has given her his 'shift scale', an item that a shifter in my realm can only produce once in their lifetime, in order to save her life and they end up in love and happy.
The question is, how much space do I need to put between her past with the sorcerer and what happens with the merman for this to be believable? In my initial draft she and sorcerer hated each other, but the backstoryI eventually came up with seems much richer and more alive--provided it doesn't mess up the main plot.
Note: sorcerer is a very bad man and princess had no idea of this when they were together. He is the primary villain following the couple on their journey and causing trouble for them.