While reading like a writer, there are bound to be some spoilers. If you don’t want spoilers for the book The Orchid Throne, by Jeffe Kennedy you might not want to continue reading this series. I will mark spoilers clearly with⛔️.
The 5 promises
In the beginning of a story there are 5 elements a reader needs to ground them in the story: These are a character, voice, world, problem, and event.
Character(s)
Check and check. in the first 2 chapters we get the two POV Characters and their supporting Staff as well as an introduction to the antagonist.
Voice
With the character we get some of the descriptions and how they talk or their internal thoughts, show us a lot about them. Voice is something i struggle to identify and describe, so these are my own thoughts and not a technical way of looking at them.
Con is rough, everything about him speaks of raw and unrefined, wild and the unpolished, even his sore throat. He is what you see.
Lia is a polished pruned and shaped to hide her true thoughts and essence, and she internal thoughts monologue shows this. She chooses words carefully and gives the appearance she wants.
World
Through opening scenes of characters we learn about their location, not only within this physical world, but also their status and belief systems. Con is seen during battle, and Lia is seen upon waking.
Problem
In revealing their world, we discover the problem that both protagonists are dealing with. We begin to see how they are both dealing with it.
Event
It takes a few chapters but we see how the inciting events will bring the characters together. In fantasy, sometimes this takes a bit, as there is a lot of worldbuilding to sift through. especially when the characters don’t start out together in the same room or even in the same faction.
You can read more about the five Promises here at DIYMFA. Do you struggle to read books that don’t give you this information in the first chapter?
