April 30, 2005
I woke up thinking about the novel in progress. Yesterday's chapter stepped outside the set venue. Consider this: the plot is essentially taking place in a single setting, a large resort complex, and within the resort complex, a three-building complex of banquet hall and meeting center. Terrorists have taken over the main hall with world leaders. The hero has been undercover for 6 months. The Secret Service, etc., is locked out. Derek, the main character, has to move around the tunnels, service corridors, crawl spaces, etc., to stay away from the terrorists, etc. Think Bruce Willis in Die Hard.

Now, that's a fine, straightforward thriller. But do I want more? In yesterday's chapter, well, I've been struggling with backstory. I'm trying to avoid an info dump because it just slows the pace down. But at some level the reader needs to know Derek's relationship with the lead terrorist, The Fallen Angel, and needs to know what inspired him and his boss at the Department of Homeland Security to fake his death and place him undercover at the resort. It's a problem and one I'm sort of obsessing about.

So in the last chapter, I had the Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of Homeland Security briefing the President and his chief of staff on security for the Summit just prior to "wheels up," ie., when the President and assorted officials, etc., climb in Air Force One and head to the Summit. The only people who know about Derek still being alive are The President, the Secretary and Derek. But the President asks if the Secretary has "any assets" inside. He's evasive, but the President demands it, although obliquely. Later, the DNI demands to know what that was about and the Secretary is evasive.

Okay. The Secretary won't be at the Summit. The DNI will be. The DNI's going to dig into this or, more likely, since he'll be on AFO to the Summit, have some staff do it and brief him en route. Is this good or bad? Or both? Will a leak develop that somehow gets back to The Fallen Angel? Will this force their awareness of Derek? Will, as events unfold, this turn out to be beneficial to Derek and the battle against the terrorist? And how? (Or both?)

I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. It's a chess game and I haven't figured out the advanced moves yet, but you can see the problem. If I hadn't done this, the story might be more straightforward. By doing this, I've thrown a complex element of chance into the story--call it the One-Armed Man, if you will--and it allows the story to become more complex. But it's also forcing me to juggle more balls, or, as it seems, flaming torches. That's the trick. I'll think on it.

Best,
Mark Terry