ideas?

Such questions taken away from the context of a story are hard if not impossible for anyone to answer. Try finding a writer's group in your area where you can brainstorm ideas with them.


I have just two questions I ask of all my characters, whatever their part in a story.

What do they want?

How far are they willing to go to GET it?

Stolen wholesale from J. Michael Straczinski.


My other stolen good idea: What would Joss Whedon do?

Just when things can't possibly get any worse for his characters--it does. (And didn't we love it!)

Grr. Arrgh.

KC36 said:

2) How can one scare another so that it not only gives the receiver chills, but they second guess they're abilities and dwell upon their weaknesses?

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As Gillhoughly says, hard to answer without context.

I can give you an example of a good threat in its context, though.

In Robert B. Parker's Wilderness, the protagonist witnesses a crime. The police have him lined up to testify.

He comes home to find his wife naked and tied to the bed. She hasn't been harmed or abused...physically. But a thousand things about their life and relationship begin to unravel. And do they feel threatened? You bet.

One good threat with vast ramifications is better than a dozen less effective ones. And violation of personal space and cherished items always helps. Remember Fatal Attraction? Boil a bunny.

I agree with Gillhoughly, though I'll say this much about the first question:

Threatening phone calls are the tool of cowards. Real-life bad guys, like Mafiaso, threaten in person, where they can physically intimidate their target, and give him a taste of what's to come if they don't comply.

Off the top of my head, I'd say if one bad guy wants to threaten another, his best bet is to kidnap him (possibly by sneaking up behind him and Tasering him, then putting a bag over his head, cuffing his hands behind his back, and tossing him in the trunk of his car), take him to some remote spot where he could easily kill him without worrying about witnesses, then tell him (through the cloth bag that's still over his head) that the next time he comes here, he won't be alive. Then leave him there and drive away.

If you want bad guys to scare off bad guys, they've got to do genuinely scary things.

Question 2) seems to me to be as much about the victim as the bad guy. Some people will be of a disposition to second guess themselves/dwell upon weaknesses moreso than others. Maybe your bad guy realises this and plays on that very weakness intentionally, creating situations that will run that way - but again, the exact nature of the situation will depend on what he/she wants the other person to question/dwell on specifically, which again may depend on the nature of the victim.

I'm new here, but here's my suggestion.

When I need an idea, I start reliving my life mentally, reading through old books, or just sit and daydream. Maybe glance through a few book title lists, until you get a sort of mental spark. Once you have this, concentrate on whatever idea has come to you, even if it's just a vague "Energy" you feel, explore it, live it, breath it. Once you have a firm grip, just start writing. Don't pay attention to details, just get the story going (I firmly believe in outlining, you just have to have an idea first). Once you have an idea of what the story could be about, start making characters. Think WHY the villain wants to destroy the world, WHY he wants to conquer upper mars (dunno, just felt like parodying middle earth). It shouldn't be for the petty "because he wants power" reason, they should have some deluded sense of moral conduct. Just continue exploring the possibilities, and then make up the villain's plan for doing this. You then want to come up with how the protagonist ends up involved, and how he trys to stop it. The obstacles that the protagonist must face is what the antagonist does in his attempt to fulfill his goal. Sorry if that was disorganized...but if you can figure out how to use my method it's useful!

Hi KC,

Normally I'm okay with ideas, but everyone else has jumped in before me - you need to know the context and the settings. What bad guys did in 1801 is far different to what the bad guys did in 2001 and it will be different again in 3001.

My suggestion is - take your setting and research the main issues of the day. If it's set in the present day, my suggestion would be that there are a lot more ways to threaten someone than just by using a phone, these days. Have a think about that and see what you can come up with.

In our present day, communication is a powerful thing. Is there a way that the bad guys can stop the good guy from warning the world that something bad is going to happen? Is there room for conspiracies and payoffs in your plot?

As for baddies discussing plans, I would really try and avoid this altogether, if you can. Why tell the reader what they are going to do when you can show them what they can do!

The above is probably no help at all, but thanks for reading, anyway!

there are some fairly universal ways to threaten and intimidate a person. violating their illusions of security by breaking into their home always has been and always will be one of the most effective ways of showing someone who's in charge. people operate under the false assumption that they've got control of their lives and when threatened some authority will come and save the day. remove a person's control and you send them into a tailspin. let them know you have complete control over their own surroundings, that you hold their lives in the palm of your hands, and that today they live only on your whim. and, indeed, phone calls with no one speaking on the other end in the middle of the night when there's a potential threat around is absolutely terrifying, believe me when i say that. excercising your control over a random person is a story in its own right.

while abduction is certainly one of the scariest things imaginable, it's also rather crude, imo. that is, you're released and given a set of rules to supposedly avoid further harm. you may not feel constantly watched, whereas with a faceless nemesis you're not sure to the extent of their monitoring and your own imagination is your worst enemy.

as far as what kind of psychic abilities she has, that's up to you and what your story dictates. there are plenty of classifications to choose from, that's up to you to research which one, if any, suits her best. my advice is to do your research as soon as you can. not only can you get a lot of good ideas from it that you'd never otherwise think of, but it stops you from going against historical facts. (i'd recently set aside a story i had been somewhat working on because the idea i had originally didn't work with the real history of gaslights. a story died... because of gaslights. the upside is i didn't spend a month writing it out.)

anyway, if you've got this alien technology, i'd suggest you use it and be creative with it. shake their house. project images into the house when they're the most vulnerable (like when they're taking a shower). disrupt their brains and paralyze them for a few minutes. turn the hamster rabid. make the girl think she's been raped by her friend when she's been saving herself for her 'true love.' be mean. get nasty. shutting off her cell phone is hardly enough to send most people into panic mode. destroy what people rely on, prey on what fears they have, crush their beliefs, and ruin their hopes. granted, that sounds like Modern Management 101, but there it is.

or just burn their house down. that in itself is enough to wreck the day of those meddling kids.

again, use the alien technology as were it magick, and imagine all the things you can do to mess with someone. make their lives a nightmare.

the overlord won't convey to his minions his ultimate plan, just their task in it. only the overlord's inner circle will know the score in any real detail. all you tell a soldier is 'take that hill.' their's isn't the need to know why, their's is the reason to do and die. or something like that. it's more likely the psychic girl, with the reasoning ability of her friend, will be able to figure out the main plan. previously you mentioned the raiders turn into good guys, so that probably plays something into it, eh? maybe they shut down the stargate or let the kids use their terrorist technology against an unsuspecting overlord in the same way it was used against them, i dunno (your basic 'turn the tables on them'/'give them a taste of their own medicine' plot).

KC36 said:

I have four questions that I've been trying to answer with hardly any luck. And I'll ask them on here too:

1) How can one threaten another?

2) How can one scare another so that it not only gives the receiver chills, but they second guess they're abilities and dwell upon their weaknesses?

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Threaten his/her children
Kill his/her dog/cat/rabbit/gerbil/Uncle Milton's Ant Farm
Toss him/her a bullet and say, "The next one will be coming a hell of a lot faster (works well for a father when his teenage daughter's date shows up to pick her up).
Pull out an enema bag that is smoking from its partially-dissolved application-hose
Wear a fingernail necklace (complete fingernails, ripped by their "roots")
Push all of the buttons on a crowded elevator and make explosion noises when the doors open at each floor

Seriously, I presume you've already developed your MC with some deep, three-dimensional characterization that includes weaknesses as well as strengths. Any villian worth his/her devious salt will learn about his/her target's weaknesses and devise a plan of attack that will exploit them.

Oh, and Kyle and Amy versus the Dark Raiders. I hope this is a children's story (it appears so from your signature). In that case, the worst horror may be to kidnap their cell phones and IPods.

1) Threaten to destroy reptuation, jobs, financial status, social staus...what's important to the character's livlihood? If they live and breath their job, than threaten that in some way - blackmail, an exposed affair with the boss. If the character gives everything to their family - then yes threaten to take that away. Whatever is so important to the character that it can make or break them - threaten to take that away or destroy it. What about their identity? That would ruin just about everything. And of course, threaten their actual life while in the process

2) This links to the last question - if they're at work, maybe one character starts graudally one-upping the other...then it turns dark. If one's a family man, have another character swoop in somehow and gain his child's trust.

3) All of the above would help prevent that character from saving the world b/c it would shift his or her focus.

4) Everything - how they're going to do things, why they're going to do them, how the person they're trying to destroy is annoying b/c he somehow keeps evading their evil plots...

Use your imagination! I agree with whomever said to just write and see what happens! Read a couple thrillers and get ideas. Play the "what if" game. Read books on plot - many books give writing exercises to help get your brain moving.

Good luck!