Hey all, I'm working on a story about a deli clerk working as a secret assassin and can use deli utensils as weapons. I'm trying to figure out ways I can make this theme story work without it sounding silly and stupid. What are some ideas I can make for this to be more serious and interesting? Thanks.
Meh, I figured this wouldn't be so easy without it somehow being over the top or just a dumb idea :/ Maybe I should make it into a zombie apocalypse theme instead? Or maybe I can have it as he's working undercover in a deli run by a evil shadowy criminal organization!
You mean like the customers!! Co-workers? Or just people he's killed? But this sounds way to gruesome like a horror story!
Hey, I have a short story about a genie who operates out of a bakery coming out in an anthology this month, so I'm not one to judge! If the deli is brining their own meats like pastrami, I could see cutting up a body into pieces and hiding it in a bucket in the walk-in temporarily. Also, my mom was a deli manager in a supermarket for over 20 years, and I can say firsthand that those slicers are no joke when it comes to doing some damage.
The deli could just be a front for a major assassins guild. The manager of the deli could be like a mafia don type character or even a character like the guy that ralph fiennes plays in im bruge.
I don't see why not. It's how you portray the character! It could be quite an interesting front for an assassins guild! In my opinion though I'd avoid the Sweeney todd type of thing! EDIT: Just to add I personally wouldn't have the assassin use deli implements (other than a knife) as this can come across as being a bit daft but that is just my opinion!
It won't be silly and stupid if you don't use silly and stupid tone to write about the events. Hannibal Lecter cooked beans and made silly slurping noises but his story was in no way stupid and his scenes were the creepiest ever. Cooking utensils can be great choice for an assassin since nobody would ever guess that's what he used. Unless, of course, he leaves a perfect spatula imprint or something obvious like that. A hit with a rolling pin would be indistinguishable from a hit with a baseball bat. A medical examiner would see it as a blunt trauma and then will have to guess the shape of the weapon and use that shape to further guess what that might be. But that's still going to be a story of somebody killing people. And there are thousands of those out there. The fact that he uses unusual weapons will not be enough to make your story remarkable. You'll still have to come up with interesting scenes and a fully developed plot. Lecter's story wasn't interesting just because he used his teeth as a weapon. The assassin in "No Country For Old Men" also uses an unusual weapon but that's not what made the book fun to read (he could have used any other weapon but the story would have remained just as good). It was the scenes and the events and the action and mystery and stuff, that attracted readers. Of course, you can focus on the weapons themselves and come up with inventive ways to kill a person with a kitchen aid, and then make a big deal of how the police discover this. Or come up with a quirky personal story about why this deli worker is also an assassin, why the assassin money is not enough and he also has to have a day job, or some other fun detail that would make your story instantly memorable, and different from all the other stories out there.
