Mysterious black briefcase

ladymal · Sep 14, 2018

Hi guys

I'm struggling to write my first novel... due to many reasons, among them a heartbreak,I've stopped writing it a few years ago, but I've decided to continue it, even if it is very hard to me sometimes. I hope you'll help me and give some ideas... I really need it.
As for my story... Well, it is hard to describe a genre. For sure it is humorous one, with lots of action and crime elements, as well as a bit of romance. A bit similar to Janet Evanovich but not the same for sure. My heroine is a secret agent: fearless, creative, pretty but a bit naive and stubborn. Her former lover and also a hidden enemy is called Jack Rodan. He is ruthless (with little exceptions), cynical, mysterious. They had a romance in the past and she was in love with him but he left one night and faked his own death so now everybody thinks he is dead. She concentrated on her job. In the meantime he moved to Italy to work for mafia, saved the dog called Pirate from a cruel Italian mafioso, killed mafioso and stole his Ferrari so that there is a price for his head.
My heroine is given a new mission by her boss called Albert X: to find and secure the mysterious black briefcase. There's sth priceless inside, something that makes all bad guys hired by influential people chase it...including Jack. Still... The agent finds a person who gives her some clues, so she gains some advantage. But her enemies are not sleeping and now she is in real trouble...
Guys, please help me here. WHAT could be possibly INSIDE the briefcase?? I don't want a cliche like diamonds. I have a big, big problem here. I don't know how to construct the middle of the plot and what obstacles she may meet on her way. I already wrote the ending (she sees the briefcase in a car, there's some blood there, she tries to reach it but then Jack appears, they seriously argue, he shoots her by accident, she seems to die, he is sorry, and the briefcase is taken by... a fat, unnoticeable taxi driver who brought my protagonist there...).
Guys, please help. What can be in the briefcase and what can happen to here before the end...? Inspire me, please!

Helix · Sep 14, 2018

Is it absolutely necessary to reveal what's in the briefcase?

mrsmig · Sep 14, 2018

Ditto to what Helix said. There's a mysterious and important briefcase in the film Pulp Fiction, and the audience never gets to see what's inside.

cornflake · Sep 14, 2018

Also thought of pulp fiction.

Woollybear · Sep 14, 2018

I'm an amateur but I'd rework a few things to make everything weave together.

First, craft a back story for your heroine that provides a compelling reason why she chose her job. Make it tragic or larger than life. What it was somehow involves the 'influential people' but she might not know that. <we only get the right amount of hints about this in the story.

Second, identify what motivates all the 'influential people.' If not money, is it codes to hack into the global net? A device from the future? The papers that would lock them all up for good? You need to know why they are hiring people to find the briefcase.

Third, what's in the briefcase must bring her some closure for her backstory and also lock up the bad guys. This way the two threads of the story (her internal conflict and the plot) are tied together.

(Or, just don't reveal it. That's easier.)

Carrie in PA · Sep 14, 2018

No advice on the briefcase, but BlackJACK and JACK? That seems kind of kitschy to me. (Maybe that's the intention?)

BethS · Sep 14, 2018

So if what's in the briefcase doesn't matter, then it functions as a MacGuffin. It's important only as an object for everyone to chase. (The Maltese Falcon is a classic example.) Maybe the fact that the contents are never revealed could be a sort of meta-commentary on the notion of MacGuffins: that they are so unimportant in themselves (it doesn't actually matter what a MacGuffin is) that you can't be bothered to reveal what this particular one is. :greenie

Still, it seems to me that your issue may be more easily resolved if you just start writing (or continue writing, if you've already started). Once you get into the characters, they may lead you in unexpected directions, and the problems you're struggling with now will vanish, because something that a character wants or knows or does will provide the answer. But you have to get into the guts of the story, through writing, to find that out.

Brightdreamer · Sep 14, 2018

BethS said:
So if what's in the briefcase doesn't matter, then it functions as a MacGuffin. It's important only as an object for everyone to chase. (The Maltese Falcon is a classic example.) Maybe the fact that the contents are never revealed could be a sort of meta-commentary on the notion of MacGuffins: that they are so unimportant in themselves (it doesn't actually matter what a MacGuffin is) that you can't be bothered to reveal what this particular one is.

Still, it seems to me that your issue may be more easily resolved if you just start writing (or continue writing, if you've already started). Once you get into the characters, they may lead you in unexpected directions, and the problems you're struggling with now will vanish, because something that a character wants or knows or does will provide the answer. But you have to get into the guts of the story, through writing, to find that out.

+1

If you end it the way you say you're going to (and endings, like beginnings, have a way of wriggling away from you as you begin to write), the contents sound irrelevant. Classic MacGuffin material, here, where the item only matters because everybody wants it. You could make the ambiguity and confusion part of the plot; everyone after it claims it's something else, but they're all deadly intent on getting their hands on it. As BethS said, at this point you may find more answers if you just start writing and see where the story takes you.

Though if you want to up the humor/strangeness factor, maybe step away from the usual "black briefcase" thing and go in a weird direction - a briefcase covered in unicorn stickers, a teddy bear backpack, a lunchbox from an obscure 1970's TV show... something that's the opposite of serious for everyone to be taking so deadly seriously.

Thomas Vail · Sep 14, 2018

The problem with setting yourself up for big reveals like that is it can be pretty much impossible to make it something that satisfies expectations after the buildup. That's why leaving the questions unanswered can be the best solution.

neandermagnon · Sep 14, 2018

As you said there's an element of comedy/humour, then maybe have something that has a great sentimental value to the mobsters in your book's equivalent of the Godfather, but that has little material value. Like the teddy bear he's had since he was a baby. Or his great auntie's recipe for scones that reminds him of his childhood. Maybe there's a plot by a rival gang to destroy this thing as a way to get one over him, and/or maybe the police want the thing as part of a criminal investigation. Or something.

You don't need to keep the thing in the briefcase secret either. In 'Allo 'Allo (British comedy series set in France during WW2) there were various people including the Nazis after a painting called "the fallen Madonna with the big boobies". You never got to see the painting, just ridiculous ways it was smuggled, stolen, hidden etc, here there and everywhere. If you're going for more of a comedy vibe, then having various mobsters, cops and whoever else carrying out elaborate plans to get their hands on (and possibly destroy or do something dubious to) a mobster leader's favourite teddy bear (or something similar) could be potentially really funny.

ladymal · Sep 14, 2018

Thanks guys!

Lone Wolf · Sep 16, 2018

Bouncing off neandermagnon's idea, it could be the mobster's teddy-bear (or equivalent) but his enemies don't know what it is or why it's important, they just know it's important to the mobster to retrieve this lost thing, so they assume it has greater importance and value than it does. Others hear on the grapevine about the race to find the "teddy-bear" and assume it must be very valuable so they join the chase. As more join the search this makes the enemies more convinced of the great value... if you want a farce.

Serious suggestions: state secrets. Spys from other countries want this valuable and highly sensitive info about country X. Country X's agents want to secure it. Freelance people (conmen, mobsters, criminals) want to find it to sell it to highest bidder.

or something medical - top secret cure for cancer/aids or a fictional epidemic. Or a deadly new virus that could be used for terrorism so you have the terrorists wanting it, those wanting to keep it safe or destroy it and those willing to sell to highest bidder. Or similarly, plans & model of stupendous new weapon.

BrianDHoward · Sep 21, 2018

If nobody knows what's in the briefcase, what's their motivation for chasing it?
Now, if everyone going after it has their own theory about what's in it...

Bufty · Sep 25, 2018

Don't fret about what's in the briefcase.

Follow your characters and see where they lead you. My guess is this is being written with no pre-arranged plan or plot, which means you have to follow and listen to the characters, as Beth said. It's the best way to unlock the imagination and resolve an issue like this. Let the story unfold through the characters' actions and reactions based upon what's already been written.

What's inside the briefcase may turn out to be far less important than the briefcase itself. Who knows. The solution will emerge eventually - trust yourself and your characters.

Good luck.

cool pop · Oct 1, 2018

Helix said:
Is it absolutely necessary to reveal what's in the briefcase?

As a huge fan of Hitchcock, in fact he's why I write mystery and suspense, I second this notion. Not revealing what is in the briefcase is brilliant! Definitely something Hitchcock would do.

Mysterious black briefcase

ladymal

Helix

socially distancing

mrsmig

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.

cornflake

practical experience, FTW

Woollybear

Carrie in PA

Write All The Words!

BethS

Brightdreamer

Just Another Lazy Perfectionist

Thomas Vail

What?

neandermagnon

Nolite timere, consilium callidum habeo!

ladymal

Lone Wolf

BrianDHoward

Bufty

Where have the last ten years gone?

cool pop

It's Cool, Miss Pop if You're Nasty