Hi All, I'm struggling with the basic plot idea for my story. Basically I'm writing a story where the protagonist is thrust into an unknown land (another landmass on the same world) I'm struggling with ideas on how to get him and the antagonists to that land. Protagonist is taken from his homeland after his village is ravaged by men of unknown origin in Norse-style ships *hazy* Protagonist escapes the ship en-route and arrives on this new land by washing up on the shore. Protagonist discovers his captors have docked on the same island. With nothing left to lose, he seeks revenge. Protagonist pursues his captives from town to town on this new unknown land. Both the protagonist and his captives are new to this land Some ideas I'm seeking: I'm struggling with reasons for the antagonists docking on the same land the protagonist find himself marooned. It's important to me that they are both on this land, and that the land is new to both. I'm thinking they are there as reconnaissance for a potential future raid, but im not entirely sure.... Any thoughts? Thanks!
How important is the protagonist to the men? If he's worth a ransom or something, it'd make sense they go after him that way. My other thought is maybe they need fresh water so they go to the new land to find some. Sounds simple, but if I were trying to avoid a group of people trying to kill me, I'd be rather unhappy to see them on the same land. The ship's crew could get spooked if someone just starts killing them and they don't know what's happening. Hope this helps?
Sort of a cloaked avenger scenario? Sounds cool. Historically slaves have been commonly taken in those sorts of raids. St. Patrick is a good example.
If that's the only landmass within a certain amount of nautical miles, it would make sense for the ship to land there; to explore, to restock supplies, to hunt, to fill up on fresh water, etc. So, it's not really too much of a coincidence. If you want to avoid any hint of coincidence, though, you could have your protagonist escape the ship when they stop at this new land, swim to shore, and continue the story along the same lines.
Sometimes you don't need a elaborate reason other than it was the most plausible outcome. If they were already going there to begin with and he happened to jump ship while they were in the neighborhood, it stands to reason they would end up in the same place. Anything could cause them to need to land. From a torn sail, to burying one of the dead.
It might be best to go ahead and start developing the rest of the story, or just writing it if that's they way you approach a first draft, and then see what suggests itself for the initial setup. Two possibilities—He might be on a ship along with the raiders, maybe their slave or for some other reason, when the ship crashes on a reef near the land. He escapes and a small boat containing a raiding party also makes it to the land, find his footprints, and follow him. The ship goes down and all the rest with it. Or they attack his ship, sink it, and he manges to make it to the land. They pursue.