I've hit a roadblock (heh) in my writing. I have a character who is a rookie FBI agent helping investigate some mysterious deaths that have taken place across two states. Her partner is the lead agent, she's still learning the ropes and is on her first real case. The problem with this is, I want her to go to a small town in the middle of nowhere on her own, without the partner. But I couldn't figure out a realistic scenario that would cause her partner to send her out there, since it's several hours away from the nearest large city and the one piece of evidence pointing to this town doesn't merit the split up, or could be settled with a phone call or email to the local Sheriffs office. So, I thought I'd change her occupation. Have her be an investigative reporter also investigating the mysterious deaths, who ends up in this town on her own. The problem is, there's no reason for this town to even enter into her mind, it's a blip on the map, so far from a main highway that the only people who end up there are the ones deliberately driving to the town, and getting lost and winding up there isn't an option (too coincidental). The one piece of evidence that points to the town is something the police or FBI would see, but not a reporter, so she has no reason to go there. So should I change her back to be an FBI agent? urgh. So...how do I realistically get her to this town? Or, how would she realistically see the piece of evidence that a reporter normally wouldn't see?
The partner's loved one is medically indisposed, pregnant, needs surgery, something, but the partner has a really strong hunch about this bit of info in Podunk.
Maybe she really rubbed someone in authority the wrong way, and that authority is trying to sabotage her career before it starts.
This could work, if I can get around the clear-it-up-with-a-phone-call issue, but then the agent may think the Sheriff is lying. Hm. Possibly a higher up, but not the partner, they get along relatively well. But it's something I can think about. No UFO's though and neither believe in the supernatural. Was Scully a rookie when she first met Mulder? It's been several years since I've seen the show.
She was a Medical Examiner before becoming an Agent, but that is backstory lore. She was a field agent for quite a while, when she was assigned to debunk Mulder's work. So I am gonna say no on her being a Rookie.
She was new (so like a rookie) to the X-Files work that Mulder was working on. She was a medical examiner and an agent. They both went out into the field alone all the time. I wasn't saying your story is about UFO's, just that the partner setup is similar.
Okay, I gotcha. I have to be careful not to let it come off like that then. The last thing I want is for someone to be reading my book and go, "oh, this is straight up X-Files!" or something. The FBI part isn't even a part of the story, it's just her occupation that allows her to see the bit of evidence to take her to the town, which is why I am considering the career change. But your post made me think about if I know of any famous female investigative reporters and two popped into my mind: Lois Lane and Sarah Jane Smith. There may be others. So... either way I go I have to be careful not to cause the reader to think I'm ripping off someone else's work. I'm a first time writer and I'm trying not to do that, I want my characters to be unique to me. I'm going to have to put some more thought into this.
You could leave her as the newbie agent who wants to follow this lead, she has real faith there is something to be found here. But her agent in charge partner is the oldschool type, doesn’t think she has the chops to follow up hunches and feels she’s pushing a dead end so he orders her to drop it- she goes anyway, trying to prove herself and ends up, in spite of putting her own life in danger, finding the key to the whole enchilada.
Yeah, yeah. Like in "Insomnia" with Al Pacino. Except he didn't want her to solve the case and it would be spoilers if I told you why.
I am struggling with this, as I really like the advice given, it gave me a lot of story arc ideas for her that I would really love to focus on. However, the story I'm writing doesn't leave much room for exploring her background or motivations in any deep detail and I don't think it would do her justice. I'm thinking of taking her out of this story altogether and writing a different book with her as a main character. Which would leave me with a new problem, having a character to take her place. So. I have a throw away character in chapter one that I can use. She is just a random everyday girl who works as a pizza delivery driver. She was just there to be saved by my MC when she was attacked by thugs who lured her into a bad neighborhood by ordering the pizza she's delivering. She is where the piece of evidence had come from that the police and FBI had that I was using to get my FBI agent to the town. I think I can rework that scene so that she pockets the evidence instead of dropping it as she had before (the thugs had beaten her severely so she was dazed and confused so mistakenly pocketing it and forgetting to tell the police would work). I'll rewrite the scene as a test and see which I like better and go from there.
