Robert Donnell
Minstrel
The first book is finished. So the world, the rules the major characters, the situation is done. Now I want to get deep, have the characters, do evil things for good reasons so that the question of good and evil gets turned on it's head.
Beginning: Bad guys come asking for help, People balk, say let them die! Racism and Bigotry are rampant.
Middle: A major effort is made to help but there are signs that something is wrong, there is a giant conspiracy to murder the helpless Bad Guys.
End: The bad guys turn out to be bad guys after all and the giant conspiracy was just the Good Guys getting in their licks early. So the Racists and Bigots turn out to have been correct, the Bad Guys can not be trusted, and the Liberal do-gooders turn out to be Idiots who should be shunned for being soft on the bad guys.
So how do I go from that to a plot?
Beginning: Bad guys come asking for help, People balk, say let them die! Racism and Bigotry are rampant.
Middle: A major effort is made to help but there are signs that something is wrong, there is a giant conspiracy to murder the helpless Bad Guys.
End: The bad guys turn out to be bad guys after all and the giant conspiracy was just the Good Guys getting in their licks early. So the Racists and Bigots turn out to have been correct, the Bad Guys can not be trusted, and the Liberal do-gooders turn out to be Idiots who should be shunned for being soft on the bad guys.
So how do I go from that to a plot?