NaNoWriMo - The Handyman Day 27

Fifteen beats of the sheet

Before I started writing the actual story of The Handyman, I spent about a month mapping out the fifteen or so key markers I'd need to hit during the story. This process also maps the core plot complexities. Not what happens but why it happens, the character motivations and backstories. The beat sheet for The Handyman totalled some 25k of words before a single word of fiction narrative was written.

In creating the beat sheet for the Handyman I didn't want a standard revenge structure where Daniel went straight out to kill Angela's murderers. Earlier this year I read Helen Zahavi's brilliant 'Dirty Weekend' and loved how she transitioned her heroine from timid victim to effective vigilante. Daniel has never been timid but his fear of losing the memory of his wife keeps revenge in check. When he sees video footage of Angela's murder, he hears one of the killers laugh. The seed for his journey is sown.

The story then to the mid-point is all about him tracking down the murderers. In my beat sheet they are described as The Driver, The Mercenary and The Psychopath. It is Daniel's interactions with the Driver that will lead him to the Mercenary and indirectly to the Psychopath. I intended for the Driver to be part of the murder squad because he has been radicalised. He isn't the guy who laughs or pulls the trigger. Just the driver. For all his hard believing the deaths have an effect.

That's pretty much what I laid out in October. Two days ago I reached the point in writing the Handyman, where Daniel tracks down the Driver, and therefore the moment life has to be breathed into the Driver.

It is very important to me that each of the Driver, Mercenary and Psychopath are living and breathing characters in their own right. Their actions are undertaken with the same kind of convictions and justifications Daniel uses for his goals. So how do you create a living and breathing radicalised twenty-eight year old male with two children and a wife?

The answer is of course - not easily. I definitely didn't want to make him the 2D bad guy terrorist. I wanted to create someone we understand and therefore empathise with as Daniel relentlessly closes in. A similar understanding of character to Simon the child kidnapper in Chasing Innocence.

The last two days then have been about researching the different facets of radicalisation, which is a well documented trait in human societies. Radicals have existed in every culture, religion and ideology through time. They are a result of an individuals belief that the institutions and structures defining law and society are de-legitimatised and need to be replaced. There are usually multiple facets, society, cultural and often family, that have to fail in the person's eyes. Even then most people do not possess the capability to radicalise and then only a small percentage that do, would actually turn to violence.

My driver's first name is Aslan. He has grown up in a largely orthodox family. A strict father who believes the old ways are best, who also views the ruling structures of society to be de-legitimised but change must be achieved politically. Aslan had an older sister he was very close to, who was beaten and died as a consequence while at University - never solved and thought to be racially motivated. The family discovered she was leading two lives, a western life at University and a compliant orthodox life in-front of the family. She had a secret western boyfriend who Aslan believes murdered her. It is Aslan's belief the structures of society covered up the murder. That she didn't matter. Society failed her and so did his father, who's pedantic attempts to introduce orthodoxy politically are as flawed as the ruling society itself. He is frustrated by his communities inward focus at observing doctrine while not doing more to force change in a society that demonises his culture. Azlan believes the deaths of Angela and Molly are part of the vital process for deconstructing the existing infrastructure. Except he is also haunted by the laugh in the car as Angela was killed.

That's the premise. Now I have to put Daniel and Aslan in the same space on the page and see what happens.

< The Handyman Day 23 - The Handyman Day 30 >