Writing A Series: Bad Guys
Here's Part III of what my How a Pantser Writes A Series Proposal And Somehow Sells It Without Having Any Idea What She's Doing series.
When you write a four-book miniseries you need more than one bad guy. I realized this about halfway through the first book GUNS AND THE GIRL NEXT DOOR. I figured out quickly if I resolved everything then the suspense aspects of the next three books would be a bit light…as in non-existent. That's when a "problem" within WitSec (witness protection) became a conspiracy within WitSec. Once I came to this conclusion the pieces fell into place. I read a book about Witsec, did some research and learned a lot about how the whole thing works (well, to the extent that information is known). From there I could lay out the conspiracy in my head.
After all that, there were two things that suprised me:
1. How big Trevor's role became in the series.
2. The final bad guy in THE BIG GUNS.
In an effort to avoid spoilers, I'll focus on #1. When it comes to #2, I went back and forth on that until I decided on the right answer. Cryptic? Yeah, sorry about that. You'll see when the book comes out in a week.
Trevor…yeah, I didn't even know there was a Trevor until I wrote this scene in GUNS AND THE GIRL NEXT DOOR (unedited):
"Listen to the man, Bram." Trevor Walters shoved open the door to the back room of the small medical clinic, shouting orders and texting as he walked.
It was almost three in the morning and no one was around except the people Trevor required to be there. Bram was the congressman but Trevor ran the show. Typical older, powerful brother with a god complex.
"About time you showed up." Leave it to Trevor to appear after the fighting ended. Just one more reason for Bram to question who was taking the biggest risk in this deal.
Trevor stared down the doctor. "Leave us alone for a minute."
Bram waited until they were alone to express his concern. "Can he be trusted?"
"The doctor is on my payroll."
"Is there anyone who isn't?" Only someone who worked for Trevor would be unimpressed with a member of congress showing up on his doorstep in the middle of the night needing medical attention.
"Mia Landers."
"What about her?"
Trevor shoved his phone into his coat pocket. "What made you think you should handle that loose end on your own?"
"She was my employee. I was driving her out there to ask questions and flush out her partner. You didn't need to interfere."
"A poorly thought out plan."
Trevor took a difficult situation and blew it out of control, but Bram knew his brother would never admit it. "Only because you sent the commandos after me. What were you thinking?"
"That I needed to clean up your mess.
From there I realized Trevor could be the nemesis of the Recovery Project, that he was the perfect foil for Luke. I wanted Trevor to be more than a powerful guy who used his connections to get his way. I wanted something deeper, a guy with clear motivations and murky values, yet not a guy who was bad just for the sake of being bad. He changes a bit over time. Several readers have written and talked about Trevor's evolution, especially in LOCKED AND LOADED. I'm thrilled to hear that because it was totally on purpose.
And now you've seen a peek behind the curtain. Hope you enjoy the series!
