We made a start
Last time I actually had to create some new plot material. This was because when I bounced the story theme up into the higher threads, I hadn't written enough backstory to satisfy this. So we looked at the hooks I had left in the sketch plot and started to fill them out a bit. We came up with the idea that Fiend was an immortal being, trapped in a church previously, starved of a vital nutrient and thus weak and unable to escape.
Hook 2: Who did Jake kill, and why?
Man, this is getting to the nub of the problem, and quickly. To answer this probably answers all the other hooks put together, because Jake's problem is going to be ultimately wrapped up in the entire mystery. He doesn't know it yet, but he killed for a reason, and that reason is tied up with Fiend.
He's 29 now, and if we put the original entrapment of Fiend nineteen years in the past, that makes him a 10-year-old when he does the killing. Who does he kill? There are a few possibilities, and I'll list them here as a sort of brainstorming fart:
1. Jake is the one who poisoned Fiend, and accidentally poisoned someone else and killed them
2. Jake killed the person who poisoned Fiend for some unknown reason
3. Jake killed one or both of his parents
4. Jake killed a member of Fiend's gang during the previous reign
5. Jake poisoned Fiend and believes he killed him
6. Jake did not kill anyone, it is a false memory
7. Jake killed the person who killed his parents
I think I can rule out the poisoning ones, because Jake has a memory of a violent outburst, this is why he controls his temper now. A poisoning is not really violent. But does it have to be a poisoning? all we need is for Fiend to have been incapacitated. Could it be that Jake attacked Fiend and thinks he killed him, while someone else removed the body?
It sounds good, and I love the idea that Jake has been labouring under a misapprehension for all these years - it would help the redemption thread - except I think I have to rule it out because I suspect Jake would recognise him. 10 years old enough to remember what Fiend looked like, also the older people would remember Fiend. I don't think Jake can have had such intimate contact with Fiend before, I know people block traumatic things out, but that's too much to believe.
That leaves Jake killing someone other than Fiend. The devilish part of me would love him to have killed his own parents, but as a reader I don't think he could come back from that. There is scope for him thinking he caused their deaths, but I think the most emotional one is that he killed the person who murdered his parents. This immediately engages sympathy with him. It can be revealed that this person was involved with Fiend, so that in his mind Fiend becomes responsible for his parent's death.
The Answer to Hook 2?
Who did Jake kill, and why?
Jake killed the person who murdered his parents. We have yet to establish the exact events and methods, but it was violent, and scarred Jake for life.
Not bad. Unfortunately as it answers one question, it raises another, who killed his parents and why? Luckily this was already Hook 3.
Hook 3: What happened to his parents?
Well, they got killed. But by whom and why? I think I need to go back and nail this backstory, because the holes are starting to show. So what facts do we know about the backstory?
1. Fiend was out and about, having been rescued off the coast of north Germany and brought over in a ship.
2. Jake's parents were killed by someone connected with Fiend.
3. Jake killed someone, probably the person who killed his parents.
4. Fiend was trapped in the church by someone now gone or dead.
5. Some wrong was done by the community which they are now ashamed of.
6. Those who do remember, have a reason not to tell Jake.
I like the look of number 5 the best to start off with, because it's away from the main characters and I can get creative without harming what I've already created. Something shameful was done by the community, they thought they were doing it for good reason at the time, but the cost of it has led to an ongoing shame and inhibition. What could it be?
Well, it was caused by Fiend, either directly or indirectly, that's for sure. Like with the modern story, Fiend is charismatic and good at making the weaker-minded fall under his spell. Could it be that an ally of Fiend's was subjected to some sort of community punishment, one that was shameful and cruel?
This would be a good time-parallel, because of the way William dies in the modern story. Being close to Fiend gets you killed, not by Fiend, but by others. So we need a someone from the past to have fallen under his spell.
Who was close, and how did they die?
I think there is an unexplored area here, and that is a female love interest for Fiend. Someone was in love with Fiend and was having his baby. The community killed her. I think it's obvious this was Jake's mother. And this begs the idea it was Jake's father who killed her. But whoa there....
...Let's not immediately jump with the obvious. Since we're going to be discussing them, I think we need to give his parents names. His father was Francis, or Frank to everybody else. His mother was Nancy. Since they already had a 10 year old and a 13 year old, they had to have been in their early thirties, let's make Frank 31 when he died and Nancy 30.
So, at some point in the backstory, Nancy fell for Fiend and had an affair with him. Until this time, Frank has also been in his thrall but this event turned him against Fiend (and Nancy). This is a nice parallel with the way Fiend divides Jake and William in the modern day story. I like it.
But did Frank go on to kill Nancy?
I think not. Apart from being too obvious, and I hate obvious, remember that Nancy dies at the hands of a community punishment. Obviously the wrong of a young mother having an affair is bad, but not bad enough to warrant a cruel retribution by the community. Also, this means that the person Jake killed is more likely to have been the person who killed his father Frank, since his mother was killed by an ensemble of ordinary people.
So what did Nancy do, how did she die, and who killed Frank, and why did Jake kill him?
Multiplying Questions
Well, we're getting somewhere, but every question I answer seems to generate a dozen more. I need to end this post somewhere, and this seems as good a place as any.
You can see that bouncing the theme upwards has caused more creativity than any number of Dramatica grids.
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