False Flagging the Boss
(As opposed to Fragging the Boss - which is another topic entirely).
Wiki provide a good overview of False Flags at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag
The essence of course is "covert operations that are designed to deceive in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by entities, groups, or nations other than those who actually planned and executed them."
I have a character who wants to surplant their boss, by conducting a palace coup; but a lot has to happen before they will be in position to execute the end game of their plan.
In the mean time they have to convince their intelligent, sophisticated and experienced boss that they are loyal, capable, and essential to their boss' agenda.
All in the face of a nasty multi-front defeat that the character was in charge of.
The challenge for the character is presenting the evidence of what happened during that defeat in the right light to absolve themselves of responsibility, shift blame to others and make themselves the lead for the response.
These are the difficult scenes to write, the ones where intelligent characters scheme against each other while maintaining the sympathy and belief of the reader in the events as they unfold.
When I'm reading, or watching a movie and a character gets into trouble because they are stupid - I lose sympathy for them and cease to care what happens to them - which is fatal for emotional engagement with the story.
Contrawise, I strive to make sure that my intelligent characters, plan, prepare, cover all the angles, and think carefully about what is happening; so that when the SHTF the reader is left with the opportunity (if not the necessity) of remaining engaged with the characters.
Returning back to our original premise - the character has to literally false flag their boss, and I will say this now - there is a lot of work that has to go into crafting a well constructed lie told by a character.
The lie will be subtle, it will be wrapped in truth upon truth to hide it from investigation and interrogation. The lie will be small, specific and crucially important, but always at some non-zero risk of discovery with terrible consequence.
No one can expect to survive false flagging their own boss.
Wiki provide a good overview of False Flags at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag
The essence of course is "covert operations that are designed to deceive in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by entities, groups, or nations other than those who actually planned and executed them."
I have a character who wants to surplant their boss, by conducting a palace coup; but a lot has to happen before they will be in position to execute the end game of their plan.
In the mean time they have to convince their intelligent, sophisticated and experienced boss that they are loyal, capable, and essential to their boss' agenda.
All in the face of a nasty multi-front defeat that the character was in charge of.
The challenge for the character is presenting the evidence of what happened during that defeat in the right light to absolve themselves of responsibility, shift blame to others and make themselves the lead for the response.
These are the difficult scenes to write, the ones where intelligent characters scheme against each other while maintaining the sympathy and belief of the reader in the events as they unfold.
When I'm reading, or watching a movie and a character gets into trouble because they are stupid - I lose sympathy for them and cease to care what happens to them - which is fatal for emotional engagement with the story.
Contrawise, I strive to make sure that my intelligent characters, plan, prepare, cover all the angles, and think carefully about what is happening; so that when the SHTF the reader is left with the opportunity (if not the necessity) of remaining engaged with the characters.
Returning back to our original premise - the character has to literally false flag their boss, and I will say this now - there is a lot of work that has to go into crafting a well constructed lie told by a character.
The lie will be subtle, it will be wrapped in truth upon truth to hide it from investigation and interrogation. The lie will be small, specific and crucially important, but always at some non-zero risk of discovery with terrible consequence.
No one can expect to survive false flagging their own boss.
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Writing The Metaframe War Series
A blog on all things to do with The Metaframe War Series of books by Graeme Rodaughan + assorted topics and book reviews.
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