A sharp observation on our Chapter Seven discussion over on Facebook mentioned Mercy and Michael's interaction, which doesn't become relevant until later. Good catch! And it inspired me to blog about seed sowing with regard to overarching storylines.
When writing a standalone, especially a plot-driven thriller, it's important not to let the storyline's momentum get bogged down in side stories. But with Dartmoor, I knew I was setting up a saga, and I wanted it to read like a TV show, with layers of tension. If tension is the heart of any story - and it is - then layering your tension provides an automatic setup for future stories. You have your main conflict, and its high tension, that rolling boil, but then there are other, less-urgent tensions simmering away.
I knew from the first that, though these guys are a family, and they have each other's backs at the end of the day, they aren't all the same. They all have different personalities, and different individual goals, and the series works best, I think, when you have the conflict with the villain, and then conflict amongst the club members. In this case, Mercy and Michael have a LOT in common, but Mercy struggles when faced with someone too similar to him: it's a case of being blind to one's own faults, and also a case of handling their traumatic pasts in very different ways. Michael is, obviously, on the spectrum, and struggles with social cues and norms; Mercy, by contrast, has mastered the art of playing happy-go-lucky and well-adjusted. Michael performs violent tasks because he's asked to; Mercy actually likes it, deep down.
While writing Fearless, I already knew that Michael and Holly's story would be next, so I spent some time sowing the seeds of tension and conflict between Michael and the rest of the club so that we can slide seamlessly into Price of Angels without info-dumping at the start of the book.
Thanks, y'all, for participating in the read-along! I'm enjoying the chance to talk process.
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