Mistaken jealousy takes a little bit to understand as a plot, but becomes a wonderful scenario for character and plot-driven stories once you do. You can check out the other plot scenarios here.
- A jealous person covets a possession belonging to an accomplice due to the interference of an adversary or mistake.
Role-wise this is a busy and twisted scenario already. Your key elements here are your jealous person, your possession and your adversary or mistake. Some variants of this scenario don’t need a supposed accomplice, depending on what exactly your jealous person is jealous of. The basic conflict here arises however because of that adversary or mistake–remember that in this situation the jealousy is raised in falsehood and erroneous judgement.
Because of the dual conflicts going on here, this is an excellent choice for a main plot. Not only do you have the jealous person’s attempts to gain their coveted possession, but you also have the adversary’s interference and attempts to keep themselves hidden from the accomplice. This gives you plenty of space for character development and the development of the relationship between characters. Alternately, the motivation of jealousy can make this useful for a plot-driven story.
As a minor plot, it may be helpful to keep this particular scenario as simple as possible. Rather than trying to work a double conflict into one subplot, the mistake of judgement or adversary’s interference may need to be as clear as possible. This makes it less appealing as a plot-driven scenario and more inclined towards a character-driven arc.
The Written Vixen 