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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/46120
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Imagine a fantasy story in which there once was a very powerful evil divine being, but it was defeated long before the beginning of the story. For the story it is very important that it was defeated, and things would be really bad if it was still alive somewhere, biding its time, waiting for revenge.

How can I convince my readers that that's _really, really_ not going to happen?

My problem is that every idea I come up with sounds like a diversion - as if I was deliberately leading the readers astray in order to surprise them with a "hey guess what, he _was_ still alive after all!" It's just so ingrained in the idea of dead evil gods that they're not really dead!

I have this feeling often if I attempt to write something that does not use a clichéd plot. I know the clichés so well that I expect them all the time, and cannot avoid them without sounding as if I'm doing the opposite - building them up.

So this is not just about the example, although that example is relevant to me. **What are the tools I can use to convince at least most of my readers of something that I tell them?**

Original score: 32