redeemable?

[ravenlea]

In book 2 of my fantasy series, my secondary MC (Niah) stabs my MC (Capri) in the back (literally) because Niah thinks Capri has betrayed what they have been working for by taking up with what she considers the enemy. When in truth it's poor Niah who's been running around with the bad guys. Capri survives and for some reason forgives Niah. (Think I'm going to have to rework that though)

So in book 3 Niah is the MC and she and Capri must work together to stop some rogue vampires. (Yes, vampires, there I said it, my book is about vampires who are the good guys and witches who are the bad.) I'm just not sure Niah is a redeemable character. She stabs her best friend in the back, works with the witches to try and kill her for half of book 2 and now they'll supposed to be friends again ignoring all that has happened? Even I don't buy it and I'm writing it. Granted, there are some really fun scenes to write at the beginning when they meet up again before they head off to hunt. But I'm 22K in and the tension has fizzled. Niah and Capri are no longer fighting. The vampires no longer want to kill her for what she did to Capri, and find her amusing and give her their protection.

I need a way to redeem her that is believeable and not just because Capri forgives her. any ideas?

[Sarpedon]

Maybe Capri could be just pretending to forgive Niah, only to stab HER in the back in the end. HA HA HA HA!

[ReneC]

Maybe Capri could be just pretending to forgive Niah, only to stab HER in the back in the end. HA HA HA HA!

Mental note to self: Never try to pull a fast one on Sarpedon.

Ravenlea, if you've already resolved all the conflict it's time to introduce something new. Enter...the vampire hunters (who are either commissioned or fully-funded by the witches, of course). Do this early enough and Niah and Capri will have no choice but to set aside their differences because they need to work together against their new common enemy. Only Capri shouldn't blindly trust Niah again, she should be wondering if another backstab is coming.

Another route would be to do exactly what Sarpedon suggests. This book is told from Niah's point of view. She might truly be remorseful and be working very hard to earn Capri's trust, only she doesn't know that Capri really took that backstabbing to heart (ha ha ;)). Capri is actually behind the rogue vampire attacks, she's pretending to remain Niah's friend but really she's trying to get her killed. Maybe even tormented and then killed. But what Capri doesn't know is that the vampires have been working for the witches all along and they really want to kill both of them. They discover this, confessions are made, and they have to really set aside all differences in order to survive.

Hmm...think I've had too much caffeine today. Maybe something in this jumbled mess will inspire you. :Shrug:

[Feathers]

I'm just not sure Niah is a redeemable character. She stabs her best friend in the back, works with the witches to try and kill her for half of book 2 and now they'll supposed to be friends again ignoring all that has happened? Even I don't buy it and I'm writing it.

I need a way to redeem her that is believeable and not just because Capri forgives her. any ideas?

Okay, if you're disbelieving the "everything's forgiven" thing, maybe you should make Niah disbelieve it too. Like " I can't believe Capri is okay with this." Before the tension eases too much, you could have a bit of a confrontation between Niah and Capri, where Niah wants to know how Capri could forgive her after what she did. Then you could show that Capri really isn't okay, but she chose to forgive Niah anyway...

Maybe Niah decides she needs to redeem herself via some action, perhaps by helping bring down the witches?

I know this is a little cliched but I think it fits your scenario perfectly. It would also drag out the tension a little longer, and you could take your time redeeming Niah.

-Feathers

[Sarpedon]

Oh I wasn't suggesting that Capri would actually be evil. Its so much better when a good character kills another good character. That makes it tragic.

[ReneC]

Oh I wasn't suggesting that Capri would actually be evil. Its so much better when a good character kills another good character. That makes it tragic.

I just took your suggestion and ran with it. The evil bits are all my own. :e2teeth:

[taloom]

I just took your suggestion and ran with it. The evil bits are all my own. :e2teeth:

Genius ;)

[Jeremy]

The first idea that came to me when reading your post was maybe you could create a situation that forces them to work together. The situation would have to have high stakes involved, if they don’t work together something really bad will happen, or they won’t accomplish a ‘mutual’ goal without each others help.

It’s really hard to say much else without knowing the context of the attack by Niah on her friend. Was she blackmailed into it? Was she just evil? Did she want to kill or just hurt Capri? Did Niah feel it was for Capri’s own good? In short, what was her motivation?

Depending on how these are answered would help in making the situation of the redemption of Niah believable or not.

[ravenlea]

In short, what was her motivation?

she thought Capri was going to feed her to the vampires for a midnight snack, and took what she considered her only way out. It was your basic act of desperation

[Chasing the Horizon]

Whether forgiveness is believable I would think would depend a lot on the kind of relationship the characters had before the betrayal. The hero in my fantasy series will forgive his wife and sister of virtually anything, but he's not nearly so nice with someone who was merely a casual friend. Of course, there doesn't have to be true forgiveness for characters to work together against an enemy more important than their personal feelings. At one point I have a pair of characters working together when a few books ago he was a prisoner in her torture chamber. She believed he was the worst kind of criminal and he suffered horribly at her hands. They most certainly haven't forgotten all that, and the tension and mistrust between them gives me some good conflict when the bad guys are off-stage. Why does Capri have to forgive Niah at all? Is there some reason why they can't work together with the atmosphere of mistrust and dislike between them? Maybe towards the end Niah could do something that finally earns Capri's forgiveness, but why lose your tension so early?

[Sage]

In book 2 of my fantasy series, my secondary MC (Niah) stabs my MC (Capri) in the back (literally) because Niah thinks Capri has betrayed what they have been working for by taking up with what she considers the enemy. When in truth it's poor Niah who's been running around with the bad guys. Capri survives and for some reason forgives Niah. (Think I'm going to have to rework that though)

So in book 3 Niah is the MC and she and Capri must work together to stop some rogue vampires. (Yes, vampires, there I said it, my book is about vampires who are the good guys and witches who are the bad.) I'm just not sure Niah is a redeemable character. She stabs her best friend in the back, works with the witches to try and kill her for half of book 2 and now they'll supposed to be friends again ignoring all that has happened? Even I don't buy it and I'm writing it. Granted, there are some really fun scenes to write at the beginning when they meet up again before they head off to hunt. But I'm 22K in and the tension has fizzled. Niah and Capri are no longer fighting. The vampires no longer want to kill her for what she did to Capri, and find her amusing and give her their protection.

I need a way to redeem her that is believeable and not just because Capri forgives her. any ideas?I wouldn't have them ignore it. It sounds like a great basis for conflict. Even if Capri does forgive her, Niah probably feels guilty, and would probably also feel a little paranoid that someone might use her again. The fact that Niah thought she was doing the right thing means that the audience should still be able to identify with her. But there should always be consequences, whether between the friendship or her own mental state (or both).

[crrazyjane]

It sounds like you've got two problems here. The first is whether it's believable that Capri would forgive Niah for what she did. All the suggestions you've been getting so far are wonderful, but in the end what's going to make or break it is whether it's believable for Niah and Capri. You need to delve into your sense of their character, and figure it out from there. It sounds like some part of the reconciliation isn't sitting right with who you feel they are - hence your posting this! Sit down with each of them and dig into how they operate. Is Capri the sort of person who'll forgive Niah because she recognizes that Niah was trying to act for the good when she stabbed her? Or will she simply forgive Niah because she loves her? Or will she be incapable of trusting her again? It depends on who she is.

As for your second problem - you feel like you've resolved the main conflict of your story too soon. I'm with ReneC on this one - time for something new! You wouldn't necessarily want to have to write about the same conflict for the whole story anyway. Give yourself a few more toys to play with.

[Jeremy]

Well, I concur with some of the others on here, I think creating then using the tension between them would make it interesting. Capri doesn’t have to completely and honestly forgive Niah, she could still have a lot of distrust towards her. She doesn’t even have to forgive her, especially right away.

That’s the route I would probably go with, considering how little I know of the characters.