I don't know if this is the right place but here I go. My Detective had found something out about someone past but I don't know if he should react calmly or put his job on the line. It is something horrific and completely horrible. This man killed some parents in front of their children. I am trying to work out if Jimmy should confronts this man whom i might add - he'd been in prison already. What you think he should do? This is one big scene and key (as this man is a suspect) I want my Detective reaction to be realistic to this situation. Any help appreciated Many Thanks. A.L.Mitchell
Neither reaction is inherently more "realistic" than the other. It depends entirely on the character and what he would do. What is consistent with how you have presented him so far? Is he the type of guy who would react calmly, taking in the information logically and proceeding with his next move. Or would he react more emotionally, confront the criminal and risk his job? Either one works - what kind of man is he?
Well he is the calmer one and I think he would take the infomation logically. After that he proceeding with the next move. Thanks for the help.
Then I'd lean toward going with that. One consideration: the fact that he is normally logical and calm, and that this event is so horrific it causes him to abandon his usual calmness and go confront the man, putting his life, job, and perhaps more, at risk, could be used to good effect. You can, of course, depart from a character's normal personality or reaction when the situation calls for it, and in doing so you can make a strong statement to the reader. But it is a risk because if not executed well it may not be believable that your character would react that way. If he's normally calm and logical, I'd be more likely to keep him that way absent some very strong reason (perhaps a personal connection to the crime or the crime victims, that sort of thing).
To go calm over risk job is the safe route...be careful it doesn't become the boring route...if you go calm, use it to plant a seed of tension, make it an 'unsafe' route. If you risk job, you are raising the stakes. Might try writing a few pages of both, see where you end up.
I imagine that unless he's more hardened than a stereotypical Vietnam War veteran, there'd definitely be a mixture of initial shock, the horror that sets in afterwards, and then a subtle, brooding anger beneath, an ironing of the resolve. That's just me though.
In general, if this is your character's profession, I would think that he would be accustomed even to horrible things, and practiced at controlling his behavior to maximize the chance of getting an arrest and conviction. Now, if for some reason there was no chance of an arrest and conviction, I could see that he might break out of his normal professional behavior. The same if for some reason this crime was particularly personal - maybe it was committed by his partner, for example. In general, if he's a professional, I think that he needs some extra reason, beyond "horrible crime", to behave unprofessionally. ChickenFreak
I think he'd bide his time until he can get the perp alone and nail his knees to a kitchen chair. But that's just me... )
Thank you for the help. Now I written the scene and I know how to read it. I have even worked things out for the other scenes. Thanks again.
