Well, hello hello all. I'll make this pretty straight-forward, but before I post, please understand that I'm not looking for a 'Well go with this' answer, but more of a 'Yes, this is possible' or 'No, you're nuts'. And I'm sure Cog will post his standard template somewhere in here, too. -waves- Sometimes we just need soundboards to keep the wheels turning. So I'm tampering with an idea in my plot sequence, but I seem to be reaching a wall. My MC is being attacked, stalked is the better word. Someone doesn't want her getting further knowledge of the world around her. What I am trying to figure, or even consider, is who and why. I've been sitting on this for hours, melting my brain. I don't want to use the standard 'Her lover had a girl in the past and she's after them now' thing, it just screams 'Cheese me up and give me to a pre-teen!'. But I'm lacking other direction. I've considered the psychotic woman who's stalked after the MC's lover his whole life, and saw the MC and snapped', but that makes me feel cheesed up, too. Now I'm sure at least one person reading this will go, 'Why does someone have to be after her? Isn't that cheesy, too?' Yes, I fully admit it is. And I've considered dropping it all-together, too. But the thing is, the killer who's after my MC isn't that smart to manage this on her own. Someone has to be pulling those strings. I guess my real question here is, am I not looking enough for my plot-hole fill?
You mention, if I am reading correctly, that the stalker does not wish for the MC to gain more knowledge about the world. Neither of the examples which you give seem to relate to this, though. If I did read that correctly, then presumably the character's motivations would have to do, at least to some extent, with what your MC can find out? Edit: Or is it that somebody else is pulling the strings, and using the stalking character to their own ends? In that case, then this character would also probably be relevant to their motivation.
Fear. Fear that your MC knows enough, or will know enough, to expose the psychotic woman to the authorities. But the MC doesn't know whether he knows anything important, or what it might be, adding to the tension.
That's what I was thinking. It is what sounds the most plausible in this situation. Also I don't think stalkers are cheesy. Being stalked is incredibly scary. I was stalked online for awhile and it really freaked me out. It wasn't even in person and it was still terrifying because of the things he'd say plus I'd never dealt with someone like that before. Stalking seems to go on a lot and every time I hear about it it gives me a chill. The idea of someone watching your every move and/or planning to harm you in some way is terrifying. So no not cheesy at all.
