Sina'i Enantia (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
magycmyste) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
writerstorm2012-03-04 11:49 am
magycmyste) wrote in writerstorm2012-03-04 11:49 am
Sneaking into a special mission
I'm having some issues with this plot point in my book.
I'm in revision right now, but the original way I had this going was that my Female Lead sneaks into a small group of soldiers in disguise, so that she can join them, and hopefully prevent them from doing anything she doesn't approve of to her fiance when they find him (because that's the mission they're set to do. She is disguised as a man (not because women weren't allowed in the army, but because that was the only uniform she could get a hold of, and the guy was pretty close to her size and coloring), who was supposed to go on the mission and was a bit of a newbie, and this was going to be his first mission (She and her friend bribed and bullied him into skipping town and staying out of the way until she got back. I'm sure that will have other consequences for him later, but not important for my story at this point). I pretty much didn't address any issues as to why they believe she's this other soldier (My original thought was that the people for this mission had been pulled from several different squads, and hadn't actually met each other before), and just accept her into the group. Yes, I know I stretched that a bit. At the very least, I figured these people should have met before going on this mission together, and I don't think they have access to special polymer masks that conform to your face, and can imitate someone else's perfectly. (This is my society that has a magical/electrical energy force, but otherwise the technology would be similar to late 1800s America).
There is the issue that she is still a complete rookie (she can fence with a sword, but she's never fired a gun in her life), and it seems odd that someone like that would be sent on a mission to arrest someone accused of murder. I don't have as much of an issue with that as I do with the just accepting that she's this other person that I would think they've met before, if not trained with before. I explained it away in my head by saying that even though it's a serious crime her fiance has been accused of, he's well known and been brought up by an aristocratic family, and they're not actually expecting much trouble out of him,, so they're sending the newbie along on a "training mission" with the more experienced soldiers. But it's still a bit weird, an I'd like to find a way to make that work better.
At this point, I'm thinking she doesn't have to replace that soldier specifically (and by that, I mean, she doesn't have to pretend to be him - she still can't be herself, exactly - plus, I really like having her pretend to be a guy). She could be someone completely new suddenly joining the team, and replacing the other guy. I'm assuming she would need some sort of paperwork - false ID, orders from above, etc. In my revisions, there is the possibility that the captain of the squad does have a way to communicate quickly with his superiors. I have a not widely available form of communication that's basically a copper plate infused with revtha (my form of magic), that's attuned to another plate, so that messages traced on one plate will show up on the other one. So far, I have public transportation using this in an emergency, and I have my female lead with one because her friend stole a prototype out of the laboratory so they could communicate. But again, not widely available. I was thinking the captain might have one if his mission is considered important enough (and I figured it is). That complicates things a bit since it means he can't find out who she is until after they've found her fiance and she's broken her cover.
What would you need to believe the sudden switch in personnel? Reasons for sending someone inexperienced on an important mission? The fact that they believe her and take her under their wings for this mission? I can probably get her forged papers, but what would they need to be? What else would she need to deceive them?
I'm in revision right now, but the original way I had this going was that my Female Lead sneaks into a small group of soldiers in disguise, so that she can join them, and hopefully prevent them from doing anything she doesn't approve of to her fiance when they find him (because that's the mission they're set to do. She is disguised as a man (not because women weren't allowed in the army, but because that was the only uniform she could get a hold of, and the guy was pretty close to her size and coloring), who was supposed to go on the mission and was a bit of a newbie, and this was going to be his first mission (She and her friend bribed and bullied him into skipping town and staying out of the way until she got back. I'm sure that will have other consequences for him later, but not important for my story at this point). I pretty much didn't address any issues as to why they believe she's this other soldier (My original thought was that the people for this mission had been pulled from several different squads, and hadn't actually met each other before), and just accept her into the group. Yes, I know I stretched that a bit. At the very least, I figured these people should have met before going on this mission together, and I don't think they have access to special polymer masks that conform to your face, and can imitate someone else's perfectly. (This is my society that has a magical/electrical energy force, but otherwise the technology would be similar to late 1800s America).
There is the issue that she is still a complete rookie (she can fence with a sword, but she's never fired a gun in her life), and it seems odd that someone like that would be sent on a mission to arrest someone accused of murder. I don't have as much of an issue with that as I do with the just accepting that she's this other person that I would think they've met before, if not trained with before. I explained it away in my head by saying that even though it's a serious crime her fiance has been accused of, he's well known and been brought up by an aristocratic family, and they're not actually expecting much trouble out of him,, so they're sending the newbie along on a "training mission" with the more experienced soldiers. But it's still a bit weird, an I'd like to find a way to make that work better.
At this point, I'm thinking she doesn't have to replace that soldier specifically (and by that, I mean, she doesn't have to pretend to be him - she still can't be herself, exactly - plus, I really like having her pretend to be a guy). She could be someone completely new suddenly joining the team, and replacing the other guy. I'm assuming she would need some sort of paperwork - false ID, orders from above, etc. In my revisions, there is the possibility that the captain of the squad does have a way to communicate quickly with his superiors. I have a not widely available form of communication that's basically a copper plate infused with revtha (my form of magic), that's attuned to another plate, so that messages traced on one plate will show up on the other one. So far, I have public transportation using this in an emergency, and I have my female lead with one because her friend stole a prototype out of the laboratory so they could communicate. But again, not widely available. I was thinking the captain might have one if his mission is considered important enough (and I figured it is). That complicates things a bit since it means he can't find out who she is until after they've found her fiance and she's broken her cover.
What would you need to believe the sudden switch in personnel? Reasons for sending someone inexperienced on an important mission? The fact that they believe her and take her under their wings for this mission? I can probably get her forged papers, but what would they need to be? What else would she need to deceive them?
no subject
Thanks so much for the idea! I'm thinking I can make that work pretty perfectly. I hadn't really thought of it as a specialist skill before (it would essentially be like writing on a sheet of paper that was connected to another sheet of paper, but there's no reason I can't make it a bit more complicated - at least enough that not everyone is going to take the time to learn it, but not so much that she can't learn to use it in a day or two. Thanks again!