Why does my MC's father want to kill him? http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/49896 isethia This plot line literally came out of nowhere yesterday morning, although I'd been hinting at it throughout the story. The problem is, I don't know what motive the MC's father has for wanting his son dead. What I know is that as far as the MC has been told, his mother died when he was born. The father then proceeds to leave all three of his sons with the another relative for several years. Then, he comes back, but only takes his youngest son back to live with him. The father than goes to on treat the MC horribly, including trying to convince that the whole family hates him for causing his mother's death and that it would have been better for everyone if he had died with her. Now the father's whereabouts are unknown, but the rest of the family suspects that he's still a threat. There have been two incidents were the MC was almost killed, and the father may have been behind those. There is also some question as to whether the mother really died in childbirth like the MC was told. She definitely died around the time that he was born, and he was born almost a month earlier. However, some things don't add up for his birth really having caused her death, so that can't be the father's motive? It does seem, though, that the father didn't want the MC to be born. There are some magical elements to this story, so the explanation doesn't have to be something ordinary, But right now, I have no idea what the father's motive is, so I have this big gaping hole in the middle of my story. Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:15:09 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/49896?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1116002 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/49896?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1116002 overthehill The most likely motive would be if the MC's father believes that his son is the child of another man - possibly an arch-rival of some kind. If there is a magical element, perhaps he believes his son has inherited some power (good or evil) from the boy's alleged natural father. Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:51:04 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/49896?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1116100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/49896?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1116100 isethia I did kind of consider that, but it doesn't match with some of the stuff that's been said already in the story. (And I guess I'm kind of looking for something that wouldn't be obvious. That's kind of why I'm having so much trouble coming up with something.) Sun, 05 Feb 2012 11:46:59 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/49896?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1117176 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/49896?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1117176 isethia Adding to what I said earlier about wanting something that's not obvious, the next several scenes involve introducing the clues to what is going on. Which means, if I still don't get an idea for the father's motive in the next five and a half hours I'll have to skip writing hour. And if I do that I'll never make my quota for the month. So, I really am desperate for a way to fill this plot hole before it keeps me from ever finishing this story, and I just can't think of anything that fits with what I know for sure about the family. And I can't skip ahead and write a later scene, because I've discovered that when I do that, I never come back and write the stuff I skipped. So, unless I can write what needs to happen next,then I'll never finish the story, and I can't write any more until I have some idea of what the motive could be so I can start having the rest of the family figure it out. (And I wouldn't be asking for help here at all if I wasn't desperate. After having overused these forums last year, I'm trying to only use them this year when I really have no idea how to fill in a major plot hole that will keep me from ever finishing this story that it is really important to me to finish.) Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:13:28 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/49896?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1117508 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/49896?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1117508 Ginaxx Well, what type of magick are we talking about? I'm now going to ramble all the reasons I can think of (magickal and not): -Maybe the father had a bad relationship with his parents -It's not his son -He says he's his son but he's really the son of some othe guy who the father is trying to get something from (money, power, ect) -He's a sadist -the mother isn't really dead -he just hates him -the son knows something that the father doesn't want him to know -the son is a prince -his real son was kidnapped by evil faeries -oh gosh I'm rambling now Do any of these help or spark any ideas? Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:42:34 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/49896?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1117612 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/49896?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1117612 isethia Some of those are really interesting, but they don't fit in with that I have so far. All I know is that the father apparently stands to gain something by the son's death, but I'm not sure what that could be. Also, the son is the one that has some magical ability. As far as anyone knows the father doesn't, and yet some of the attacks he has made against the MC have been magical in nature (through dreams basically). I'm not sure if the father is somehow drawing on the MC's magic to be able to attack him, because every time I start thinking that it seems stupid. And I still have no idea how the mother's death ties into this, but I know it does. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:22:40 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/49896?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1129365 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/49896?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1129365 roruna maybe the father is the real cause of the mother's death but pins the blame on his son, either because he's nuts or won't accept responsibility for his actions so by trying to kill his son to 'avenge' the mother's death and reinforce the idea. Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:46:14 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/49896?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1129737 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/49896?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1129737 Ginaxx That;s funny that you think drawing on the MC's magick seems stupid, because as soon as I read that I thought "oh gosh how awesome would that be if he was drawing magick from him through some creepy dream-related stuff and the MC didn't know about it until he started showing some signs of poor health and blahblahblah". Maybe play around with the idea you have, because it sound to me like you may be on to something! I also like the idea suggested by roruna. Sun, 12 Feb 2012 22:30:48 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/49896?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1134358 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/49896?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1134358