Hey, guys, writing a screenplay here, and trying to really have this one scene for my character, but it relies on another not telling them something immediately. It’s pretty much about a man who runs into his ex-wife during the zombie apocalypse after he gets the job to hunt her down for her bounty. Bounty was put on her because she stole an item from the man’s boss. The reason she stole it was because someone dognapped her (their) dog to force her to do it. I’m basically looking for a fancy plot device that could explain why she may wait just a bit to tell him. I’m not so sure “I don’t trust him” is a strong enough motive.
Maybe because the dog and both of them will die anyway if he doesn't deliver the bounty? Maybe when she is delivered to the client, she reveals the location of the missing item, and asks him to "take care of Fluffy" and he finally has second thoughts about his ex wife, blah blah blah.
She knows how much he loves their dog, and knows that he'd try to save their dog no matter what. But the boss is a very powerful person. Or maybe she found something that could prevent zombification, but found only one and wants to keep it for herself. She hid it in the dog's collar.
Only problem with that is that, if my main character doesn't know his dog has been taken, how would he know where to find him? Perhaps I'm overthinking this all. Just hard to find a valid train site wouldn't immediately blurt it out to avoid getting hunted by the main character.
What I meant was, he DOESN'T know, until he delivers the quarry (his ex-wife) to the client, and as she accepts whatever fate will come to her, she THEN reveals the stuff about the stolen dog, and then he has a change of heart realizing his ex-wife wasn't all that bad and he decides to find a way to save the dog and the ex-wife. Don't know of the plot or order of events would support that though.
Gotcha. I also thought about *her* making assumptions about him as well. Mainly that he already knows, so she has no need to tell him (until she obviously finds out he doesn't know).
How important is it to the plot that she doesn't tell him? It sounds like telling him is the most logical thing for her character and the scenario and so trying to force a contrived reason is likely to not go over well with the readers.
It's not insanely important, there's just this fight scene/confrontation that I'd really like to get out of the way first. Wasn't sure if what I mentioned in my last post would be seen as being contrived. Basically, like the main character does of her, the ex-wife doesn't really think much of him, so she assumes that he already knows and that he's just an asshole.
Maybe cause she stole the dog from the ex husband and told him the dog ran away. Technically she's not supposed to have the dog.
I think what they meant is that while going through the divorce or break up, the dog 'ran away' or disappeared which conveniently meant there wouldn't be a pet custody battle or that it could be a bargaining chip during divorce proceedings. Bonus points if she really sold the loss well, crying up a storm when she really knew the dog was at her BFF's house the whole time.
Ah, gotcha. Definitely thought about that, but definitely wanting my male MC to be the asshole in the relationship. Not necessarily something where he was wronged. I want him to be 100% in the wrong (and, of course, grow as a person upon reflection after they're reunited [but still get with other people, lol]). For now, I'm really thinking of just going with her assuming that he's already aware that his dog was taken, and that he's just a selfish asshole (which is why they broke-up). When she finds out that he doesn't already know, that's when she tells him.
