This episode is sponsored by Skillshare. Stick around at the end of the video for more
information and a special offer. It is time. The stars have aligned. All of our preparations are complete. Well almost. Hey, sound engineer? Give my voice a bit more base to make it more
ominous. Excellent. All is going according to plan. Our plan is as vague as our secret council’s
contribution to this story. Prepare yourselves for the time is right,
for a video on intrigue plots. Navigating the Byzantine schemes of noble
houses, ancient conspiracies, and ruthless clandestine organizations may seem daunting
but rest assured that following my guide will make events unfold according to my design. So ready your poisons and don’t turn your
back on anyone as we write an intrigue plot. The most common assumption is that intrigue
plots are difficult to write. This is just simply untrue. There is absolutely no need to plan out our
intrigue plot. Just because one or more in story factions
have a complex plan doesn't mean the writer needs to spend even a moment detailing their
own plot in their personal notes in order to keep things straight. Making up our complex plan as we go along
totally won’t lead to a twisted wreck of a plot down the road and a writer’s increasingly
desperate attempts to dodge solving any of the plot’s core mysteries will never become
apparent to the reader even when the author keeps piling on increasingly contrived plot
twists it a bid to buy time. Just keep writing yourself into that corner
rather than take a moment to try to organize and find a way to straighten out the plot. Still can’t think of a cunning plan for
the characters? That’s A-okay. Just have them say “everything is going
according to plan” all the time. The heroes may have slaughtered the Empire’s
crack commandos, destroyed their super weapon, and exposed the Empire’s war-crimes to the
public, but not to worry. Rebellions sweep the empire as the imperial
capital burns, but rest assured everything is going according to plan... somehow. Um... because as it turns out, the Emperor
has carefully manipulated the situation in order to draw out the rebels only for them
to be crushed by his newly created super strong, hyper-smart soldiers. Yes these super soldiers are superior to normal
humans in every way, but I am sure they will be willing to throw their lives away based
on the whims of inferior beings. Controlling super-beings is easy and I am
sure even if one side manages it, their rivals would be unable to accomplish such a feat
too. Speaking of control, plans that hinge on way
too many factors are bound to succeed. Does the plan involve manipulating multiple
nation states, stealing uniforms for a false flag operation, hijacking a nuke, framing
numerous senators, running the largest ponzi scheme in history to fund everything, infiltrating
the CIA, and killing off the protagonist’s parents in a car crash to stop their investigation
into the conspiracy? Yeah. I can’t see a single thing there that could
go wrong even if the only way this plan would work is if the conspiracy had precognition
and funding equal to the GDP of a first world nation. All so the conspiracy can accomplish… something? World domination, I guess? It’s bad okay! Oh no! We let the young protagonist live even though
we killed his parents and now he is on a personal quest to find the truth. Who could have foreseen he would continue
his parents lifelong work to reveal our conspiracy? Why is he taking this so personally? All we did was kill his parents. It’s almost as though humans are emotional
creatures that don’t always act in their own best interest. His personal crusade is the only thing that
can stop the conspiracy and not like a thousand other ways the whole thing could unravel like
double agents, information leaks, or the budget. Yet in fiction, secret plots are so solid
that they can survive the conspirators being blatantly evil. Is a rookie cop getting close to uncovering
your secret cabal that has spent years gradually subverting the government? Do you:
A: Approach him and try to induct him into your ranks by carefully spoon-feeding him
the ideals of your organization? B: Bribe him by covering the medical expenses
of his sickly son thereby buying not only his silence, but his loyalty. C: Let him catch a know-nothing, incompetent
lackey purging your ranks of a fool while sating the rookie’s sense of justice.
D: Distract him with a different case then falsify
information saying the previous case was solved. E: Use your extensive connections to cheaply
transfer him away somewhere else or just fire him from the police force. The proper answer is F: Murder his wife and
child before torturing the rookie and then leave him to die, but never actually check
the body to see if he’s dead. Murder should always be used as a first resort
no matter how messy or expensive it is. Minions outlived their usefulness? Murder. Bystanders witness the murdering of your minion? Murder. Bystanders witness murdering the other bystanders
who witnessed the murder of your minion? Murder. Right hand man point out that maybe we should
ease up on the whole murder thing because it’s starting to draw attention to the ancient
conspiracy? Murder. After many murders, the plan is about to come
to fruition! Nothing can stop us now! Even the protagonists can only watch helplessly
as the conspiracy marches towards its final triumph. The moment of ultimate victory is the perfect
time for the bad guys to start stabbing each other in the back! The schemers may have waited patiently to
their realize their plans, but clearly they can’t wait a few more hours to play their
hand and jeopardize the entire centuries long gambit. The heroes will naturally use this opportunity
to topple the entire conspiracy. Way to screw up at the finish line guys. But why stop there? Have everyone reveal they were secretly manipulating
everyone else even if they have to stop their monologue every once in a while to glance
at their conspiracy flowchart. Not that it matters. Our heroes will brute force their way through
the intrigue rather than try to out-think the conspirators like a bunch nerds. Having our protagonists endlessly react rather
than take an active role in shaping events will never get old no matter how dumb it makes
them look. Having the heroes turn the tables on the conspirators
and beat them at their own game sounds really hard to write unlike having the conspiracy
unravel itself in a moment of petty greed and incompetence. This won’t make the reader question how
the conspirators even made it this far. Nothing like having the plot take care of
itself while undercutting the mystery introduced early on. Letting the reader piece together the whole
picture using small clues will most certainly happen even if the author has no idea what
the big picture even is and the audience will not be upset that the core mystery driving
the story ends with an authorial shrug and an anticlimax. Um… just as I planned! A new year begins with new possibilities and
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