: Re: How do I make my plot more interesting? This is gonna be long before I ask the question itself. Here is a quick overview of my plot: In the fictional world named Slavaz, there is a great

@Gail2416123

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You Can't Tell This Story Well

Or rather you can't tell this story well FOCUSING ON THIS CONFLICT. The nature of a conflict is that there is a problem that the readers do not know the solution to. Here you are suggesting dangers to your Prophet's life and, as you stated, God can solve them. However, that God can solve these conflicts is not your issue. Your issue is that the readers know this.

Making The Readers Stop Believing in God's Protection

It seems this is what you are trying to do. And it can be done. Not easily mind you, since the nature of a God in fiction is usually that of a Deus ex Machina, but it can be done. The two main ways to end belief in God's protection are: God Can't and God Won't.
It seems like the nature of your story is such that God Can't is more or less ruled out. It will almost certainly seem that way to your readers, unless you push the scale way up and leave God fighting Other-Less-Chill God, which might well make your actual characters feel irrelevant.
So that leaves God Won't. This one might feel even harder to make your readers believe. And when it comes to the Prophets life they will probably be correct. Unless God is particularly capricious the Prophet is safe. Those they care about are not. They may well feel damned by the author in fact. But God will not necessarily protect them. If your Prophet is plagued by nightmares of all their friends meeting horrible ends then the Prophet themself will suffer. Even if against all odds some of his friends survive. And so we realise that the most stress for the Prophet, and the most suspense for the reader, comes from other people. But not that they WILL die. That the COULD.

And while we are at it the Prophet survives. Of course. Every reader will see this. But if the Prophet loses a hand? He still suffers, for sure, and suddenly he and the readers come to the same horrifying conclusion, that God needs him alive, but not necessarily well. And once the Prophet is done, if he is not loyal enough to God, if he is not charismatic enough for the people, what then? Perhaps he will be replaced. And it might just be that for all Gods promises the Prophet and the reader just can't shake this fear that the Prophets time is coming to and end.

So, whilst you probably can't persuade your readers that God can't save the Prophets life, you probably can convince them that God won't or might not help the Prophet or his friends come out happy and well. Especially the friends.

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