Would this plot send the wrong message?

mirandashell said:

Anyone remember the name of that book about Coals and Pearls representing black and white people?

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Save the Pearls 1: Revealing Eden.

I think this story lacks any obviously foolish elements like that.

IMHO I would rather a world with arranged marriages show why that happens rather than have MC Mary-Sue magically not comply and not suffer the consequences or inflict them on the population either, and I am assuming this is for a post-Disney Princess audience. (Or post James T Kirk if you prefer).

Arranged marriages existed and continue to exist for reasons both bad and--dare I say--good. I personally know people who almost or actually took part in marriage arranging as parents and as the people getting married and the picture I see is not just 'love match good -- arranged bad'. And that is without avoiding a hideous war by creating a valid joint head of state being on the table.

I also read romance fairly often in which arranged spouses appear quite often variously as either or villain. It would strike me as a peg in the eye of those who think romance is formulaic for that to be fine in romance and somehow forbidden in the theoretically 'anything goes' world of speculative fiction?

Thanks Marian.

I agree that the problems don't seem as egregious with this one. I'm just pointing out that it's not always true that 10 writers have 12 opinions. You do have to think about this kind of stuff these days.

Jamesaritchie said:

There's nothing wrong with the message, and as long as you make that message come across, you're fine. Or you can turn it into one more fairy tale that has nothing to do with reality.

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The idea presented pretty much is a fairytale.
One upon a time there was a young woman, a princess, who was told she had to marry the son of her father's enemy to save the kingdom, but she couldn't bear the thought so she took off under the cloak of night. Once out in the world, though, she discovered through her adventures that there was something bigger than her and her selfishness was causing others pain. Therefore when the prince, sent on a quest to find his lost princess, came upon her, she went back with him and they got married, thus forging the necessary alliance for their kingdom to live happily ever after.

Not that fairytales are bad. I like fairytales. But to claim that the ideas presented are somehow not the same conventions that fairytales use (spoiled princesses, princes on quests to rescue princesses, marriages at the end that solve the problems presented, and a moral to the story whereby people learn to be more compassionate or to listen to their elders or whatever the case is) would be disingenuous.

I think it's an interesting idea, but would a marriage really have the effect you're suggesting in your world? Or is it meant to be a symbol, too? That could add to the pressure on the princess.

virtue_summer said:

The idea presented pretty much is a fairytale.
One upon a time there was a young woman, a princess, who was told she had to marry the son of her father's enemy to save the kingdom, but she couldn't bear the thought so she took off under the cloak of night. Once out in the world, though, she discovered through her adventures that there was something bigger than her and her selfishness was causing others pain. Therefore when the prince, sent on a quest to find his lost princess, came upon her, she went back with him and they got married, thus forging the necessary alliance for their kingdom to live happily ever after.

Not that fairytales are bad. I like fairytales. But to claim that the ideas presented are somehow not the same conventions that fairytales use (spoiled princesses, princes on quests to rescue princesses, marriages at the end that solve the problems presented, and a moral to the story whereby people learn to be more compassionate or to listen to their elders or whatever the case is) would be disingenuous.

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With the plot framed like that, I'd personally be disgusted by it, but maybe that's just my liberal progressive self speaking.

Bufkus said:

So its a self sacrifice to agree to marry the villain in the name of peace?

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Why is the prince a villain? He is in the same situation as her.

If I were writing that story, it would end with them respecting each other, but not loving each other. Putting aside their own preferences for the sake of their subjects.

And yes - it would be selfish to be able to save thousands of lives from the horrors of war, and then choose not to.

So - a pragmatic marriage where they grow both as persons and as future rulers.

WormHeart

I was just thinking about GRRM's A Storm of Swords, where Robb had a choice: he could have an arranged marriage which would keep the woman's powerful father his ally in the war. Or he could marry the girl he'd fallen in love with.

He went for the love match and lost everything. I hated reading that, but it was a whole lot better than any sort of "love conquers all" scenario.

I'm thinking you should go ahead and write it, if that's what you want to write.

Not every story has to have arranged marriage as a bad thing, and if you really want, you could set it up as a bit of a sacrifice. Her choice is to see the people suffer, or to help create an alliance, even if she has to go for the marriage she doesn't want. It doesn't have to be a 'this is her rightful place blah-blah-blah' (like someone else said, the prince is probably in the same situation). But if she has some kind of actual choice, then I don't see how the arranged marriage would be absolute. (Even though, depending on how it's presented, I might be yelling at her to forget the stupid people who won't stop fighting and go after the person she likes.)

Also... might not work for the story, but... have they thought about having the official 'marriage' where they work together as partners, but still also have their actual love interests still around and close to them? Maybe they're both okay with it?

Or maybe not. That would have it's own complications (as a reader I'd probably want to see clear evidence they were both okay with it, or else grumpiness with the characters would set in). But it's a thought, if you're looking for outside-the-box possibilities.

There are no right and wrong messages, only true and false ones. Ask yourself, is your plot really true? Would a woman ever give up her true love to save her kingdom (and the enemy kingdom as well)? I think the answer is yes, but you will have to spend a good portion of the book essentially proving the argument, because you have to give honor to the difficulty of the choice.

The tougher part is, is it true that the prince can be redeemed and still go through with the marriage. The question you have to answer before you can end the book with the marriage going through is: was there any alternative? Because you can be sure your characters will look for it. So if the prince turns out to be a good guy, and knows the princess doesn't want to marry him, why couldn't he just say, "That's okay, our kingdoms can just declare a truce. I'm not sure why we have to have a marriage to seal the peace."

Maybe what's more true is that the prince isn't redeemed. I mean if he turns out to be a good guy, then it's not really such a sacrifice for the princess to marry him. You just killed the impact of your book with a convenient character turnaround.