The Crooks

/ cagedunn

Finally, the bit of info for the crooks pops up. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, go back a few posts and follow the progression of the creation of a story.

This one has crooks, and I’ve been a bit lax in giving them a background. Every character needs a background to make their story as solid and the main character/s.

These crooks, I’ve decided, aren’t brothers, not related by blood in any way. They have a stronger family. The family by choice. There’s that word again. This story is about how we choose to choose.

Their family is the father who fostered them (at different times) when the boys were in their teens. Difficult kids, but he brought them into line. And into the family business. Which was crookery. No, it’s not a word. Until now, that is.

The wife died (was the fire an accident? Did she do it herself while in one of her wild, drunken moments? Fodder for another line of depth in the characters). The father then called on his boys to support his enterprises, to become part of the whole. The choices he gave them were tough choices, but he treated them like adults, like real people. They fell for it. Followed him through some scary paths.

And while on the work party, one of the boys got a newspaper and saw the story about the police hunting through an area for a dangerous criminal. Of course, it’s dad, and they know where he’d be going, and what he’d need them to do.

Except they’re under guard, on the way back to prison, and they need to get there before the cops shoot dad. ‘Cos they will. He’s wanted for multiple murders this time.

The boys feel the obligation to rescue the only person who gave them the value of his wisdom. They don’t see that the choices weren’t valid, but will they learn that?

All in all, it’s coming together well. The two main stories, protagonist and antagonist, will demonstrate the differences in how choices are offered, seen, accepted. How one side will ensure growth and commitment, and the other side will be obligation and punishment (exclusion as the threat).

And tomorrow, I’ll go into why the opening para I did earlier won’t be the final say on the opening to the story.

Ciao!

I haven’t done an interview with the crooks yet. Sometimes, it’s hard to do. Not because I don’t know why they are who they have become, but because it’s too easy too see behind the mask.

5 thoughts on “The Crooks”

    • No, but that’s because everyone has a reason for being the way they are – whether it’s a crutch or excuse or nature or nurture, it’s their view of themselves and they believe their world view until something changes it.
      With this story about choices, their choices will be the ones that are the easy way rather than the hard way, or having to be earned.
      They latched onto the one person who showed them affection and allowed the manipulation because it also demonstrated affection. We are shaped by our environment, and kids crave the sense of belonging, of being loved and worthy of affection. It’s an addiction if it’s been lacking in life prior to the first touch.
      The bad guys don’t see themselves as bad, they’ve just had it tough, and that’s the way life is – take it before someone takes it away from you, right? is what they’d say.

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