The Power of a Forced Betrayal

Hello, writers.

How do you truly raise the stakes for your protagonist? You can threaten their life, their home, their world. But in my writing, I find that to inflict the deepest wound, you must threaten their very identity. You must force them to act against their own moral code. Today, let’s talk about the power of forced betrayal.

The conflict in Claimed by Night escalates from a personal threat to something far more insidious. When Daemon realizes Liz’s defiance, he doesn’t just overpower her. He changes tactics. He gives her a quiet, simple command: "'Tell Maya to join us.'".

Liz

In that moment, the nature of the conflict pivots. It's no longer just Liz versus Daemon. It's now Liz versus herself. Her core value—her fierce loyalty and love for her best friend, Maya—is turned into a weapon to be used against her.

Forcing a protagonist to commit an act of betrayal is a narrative tool I find incredibly powerful for several reasons:

• It Creates Unbearable Internal Conflict: Liz’s struggle is no longer about simple survival, but about what part of her soul she is willing to sacrifice in order to survive.

• It Isolates the Protagonist: By making Liz an unwilling accomplice in his scheme, Daemon shatters her support system. She can no longer turn to Maya for help because she has become the instrument of Maya’s entrapment.

• It Raises the Personal Stakes: The story is no longer about a monster in a bar; it’s about a friendship on the verge of shattering. Will Maya ever forgive her? Will Liz ever forgive herself? The consequences of this act will ripple through their relationship.

  

  Maya

When writing your own stories, think about how you can attack your protagonist’s core values. Don't just threaten what they have; threaten who they are.

Yours in impossible choices,

June Skye