: Re: How do I mislead readers about a character in a story? I am writing a story about a war, and there is this particular character whom they are a traitor to their own side. The traitor's identity

@Phylliss352

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This is a classic example of why writers need to be well-read: they can learn from how someone else solved a similar problem before. You're probably well-aware (if familiar with the plot of Treasure Island) that Robert Louis Stevenson did with Long John Silver what you want to do with the traitor in your story. The parallel will be all the closer if your protagonist is a first person narrator, as Jim Hawkins was.

Part of the reason that story became a classic is because it's a coming of age story that twisted the genre's conventions of the time (and even of today), by having the most formative influence on our protagonist be the villain, which couldn't help but make him a very three-dimensional character. It's not just that Silver's treachery takes a while to discover; it's that he's a much more complex character than just a cartoon villain. He had a goal he was willing to be violent to pursue, but Stevenson also made clear to us who he would be without that goal. The truth, oddly enough, is that Jim was better for having known him.

You should read TI with a close eye to how Stevenson crafts Silver. He's a man who talks of mathematics and logic and the finer points of exploration. He teaches Jim certain skills and habits, and while none of his actions knowingly undermine his treasure-hunting plans, many of them aren't straightforwardly in service of any evil ambition either. The details will of course be very different with your own traitor, but that's not what matters. Pretend you don't know LJS is the villain, and read everything Stevenson writes about him before the reveal (and much after too) as an exercise in characterising LJS as the kind of person he is, quite apart from his mutinous plan.

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