clues at the scene

clues at the scene

Friday, February 13, 2015

You Know Me

At left, a drawing of a broken mirror by Rocafort8 on wikicommons. Provided copyright free.

Thanks!

Solving problems tonight.

I have a story of a garbage man who has a shaky relationship with family. No known friends exist. He's basically a hermit but for work.

He's my protagonist's partner. Hye, anyone can have detectives in crime. Pick someone without a badge and see how that goes for a while.

I need more conflict and in this story, I wanted a dual conflict to emerge in the second act. I wanted risk of discovery (he's doing bad things) and I wanted risk of discovery on an emotional level.

I wanted a broken mirror.

I put a family member in the second act of the story.

There is nothing that someone who is hiding wants less than to encounter someone who knows them really well. 

If you have a character who is running away or hiding from something, how to show that on the page? You show it by their interaction with someone from "before" who knows them and all their faults.

It reads better when the discovered character is appalled and ashamed and afraid their transgressions will be laid bare when the new character who knows them takes it all in stride.

Instead of Aunt Marge chastising your criminal, have her lovingly embrace him despite his faults. If she does this in front of other characters makes this transition even more torturous for your subject.

That's the point of having a revelation and transformation, isn't it? We get to put the character through hell - inner and outer - and see how they react and how they change.

So, have someone hiding? Have them run into someone who knows them very well and who knows all their faults. Lays bare their intricately constructed walled fortress for the silk curtain it is.

I'm off to read tonight. I've solved a problem. Tomorrow, I'll write it into the story.

Yes, I am quite proud of myself.

You went to high school with me? Uh, no. I'm not that guy.

Really. You mean somebody else.

Never been there.

Not me.

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