I found my original synopsis for ROAD KILL, dated 03/29/2009. After a few weeks or months of scribbling snatches of dialog, ideas for scenes and characters, I use the synopsis to gel everything and give me a framework to shape the tale.
Here is the first paragraph:
Modern Film Noir set against the backdrop of corporate corruption and government complicity in awarding state highway contracts. A sheriff takes a murder investigation down the twisty back roads of his rural Kentucky county. He finds greed, corruption, duplicity and desire on his journey.
What is gratifying, now that I have a polished draft, is that it actually became just as I had laid out. Some of the details changed (the setting is now Virginia, not Kentucky, and some of the character names were changed), but most of the situations and the tone are all there, before I got really down to writing the first draft.
That is not to say nothing changed. The act of writing the story takes you on voyages of discovery. For example, I knew I would have a hit man (Blackheart), and in the process of trying to make this a unique individual, I ended up giving this person a much larger role. Blackheart is a fantastically complex and sensual being, after starting life as a three-word description on a character roster: Female Hit Man. And her world view actually helped account for the seemingly random acts of destruction.
The idea for the story came from the real-life scandal in Kentucky involving a former governor and a road contractor, and allegations of bid rigging. The governor tried to stymie the investigation by proactively pardoning everyone involved from any wrongdoing, before they were charged with anything. Much as I tried, I couldn't work that into my tale, because it was so implausible that it strained credulity.
So that became the impetus of the actions of the bad guys, but I told the story from the perspective of a small-town sheriff. I made the bad guy a long-time school rival. I also used the consequences of shoddy road repair as major plot points.
Sheriff Jax Hayes is still the same guy I envisioned, a combination of Marshal Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) in APPALOOSA
, and Police Chief Link Mattocks (Brian Keith) in THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING
. He is cool as a cuke, despite everything crashing and burning all around him. It’s helpful to have a firm idea of who your characters are so you understand how they will react in every situation. I’ve had characters take over a scene and move it in another direction, because the fully realized person would not react in a way I may have envisioned when I only had a sketch outline. Character is action.
, and Police Chief Link Mattocks (Brian Keith) in THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING. He is cool as a cuke, despite everything crashing and burning all around him. It’s helpful to have a firm idea of who your characters are so you understand how they will react in every situation. I’ve had characters take over a scene and move it in another direction, because the fully realized person would not react in a way I may have envisioned when I only had a sketch outline. Character is action.So make your plans, but allow the story to flow in organic ways, once you get into the fleshing-out stage.
Mark E. Poole
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