Advice for Plotting Out Intrigue

[Swamp]

I love intrigue plots, but the outlining always feels so daunting. Any tips?

[darthmongoose]

I don't generally focus on intrigue, but I do like it when it's done well! I feel like some fairly reliable advice would be:

1. Make sure there's a small number of main characters we largely follow, try to make the audience like them by making them relateable or sympathetic, or at least compelling and make sure that the intrigue could directly affect these characters in some way. Game of Thrones is great at this. The various machinations of political people aren't interesting in a vacuum, but as soon as they may potentially cause the character/s we're following to get imprisoned, killed, lose their jobs or similar, it becomes a lot more exciting.
2. Generally the characters should have quite clear motivations and consistent behaviour so the audience can follow how each character is maneouvring to get what they want, and when somebody makes a move, they can think "oh crap! That's going to foil character B's plan! How are they going to try to counter that!?". But to help stop things getting repetitive, when things are looking quite stable and predictable, don't be afraid to throw in a new character whose motivations are really hard to figure out, or who is or seems to be an agent of chaos.
3. Don't pull ridiculous new resources at a character's disposal that you can't explain rationally within your plot and setting and that it doesn't make sense for them not to have used sooner if they "had them the whole time". The corrupt queen can turn out to have hired an assassin bodyguard just when somebody thinks they cornered her as a surprise complication/twist that's easily within her means, but don't try to pull out that she had an entire secret village of ninjas she'd never used and literally nobody, even the best spies on the continent didn't know about.
4. Foreshadow, foreshadow, foreshadow! A danger that's hinted at early is more suspenseful and makes it feel better when that danger turns up because it feels less like you just made it up randomly as deus ex machina to solve a plot hole.

[DiegoPalacios]

I'm working on a story that involves intrigue, so got some tips:

1-Intrigue plots are as plot driven as much as they are character driven: A solid general rule to follow is that characters make the plot happen. For intrigue to work, you need a proactive and driven cast with their own motivations and willing to act towards it.

2-Intrigue requires conflict: this may sound obvious, but to get people to oppose each other, you need characters with goals that are incompatible to the goals of other characters.

3-Alliances can keep things fresh: Not all goals need to be incompatible. this can lead to the creation and development of alliances. Some may be genuine, but others could be a betrayal expecting to happen.

4-Introduce your cast and plot points gradually: be it an intrigue plot with a large cast and many factions plotting against each other, or two cunning folks in a secret power struggle, you don't want to overwhelm your readers with information.

5-Play with different levels and kinds of intelligence: Some people are book smart, others are street smart, others come at different mixes of both, and others just don't have what it takes in the game of intrigue (but may be strong in other aspects).

6- Foreshadowing and twists: As a general rule any plot twist needs to make sense in hindsight, so make sure you have a clear idea of the character's motivations and plans before they happen. Also, dropping hints of events or plans to happen can be key to keep readers engaged and making theories.

7-Reveal half of the hand, but hide the aces: this is connected to the previous point. You don't need to reveal all the plans, but you need to give enough information for the readers to follow what's going on, but hide enough to surprise them. This is a tricky balance to pull of, but the pay-off will be worth it.

hope this helps!

[system]

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