Story idea help.

[heartbreaker29]

I have this story idea and I need help with it.

Its about a young man and his stepfather, the young man is verbally abused by his stepfather all day everyday.

Then one day he can take no more of it, and he decides to leave and start a life of his own.

Here is where I need help, does he just leave or does he murder his stepfather then leave?

If I he just leaves he could be followed by the stepfather and have a confrontation with him at a later date and time.

But if he murders him and then leaves he will be looking over his shoulder the rest of his life, knowing that at any moment the police could catch him and he could go to prison.

I can picture the leading man doing either of these but I am not sure which one to pick.

The story will have not Sex but their will be a romance at the end of the story for the leading man.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Just leave. Then have a confrontation between the two when the step-father is old and decrepit, but still obnoxious toward the step-son. The mother had kicked his ass to the curb long ago and he's now a homeless alcoholic with no prospects to speak of.

The step-son stumbles over him as he is on his way to help at the homeless shelter, realizes who it is and kicks the shit out of him.

Then holding his head high he walks away into the sunset with his true love, never to think of the old man again.

 

[heartbreaker29]

Thank you I really like your suggestion.

 

[Carnevil9]

It depends how you want the readers to feel about your Main Character.

If you want MC to be a sympathetic character, then have him just leave; it will show strength, determination, and honor. But if you want readers to see him as despicable, or even just deeply flawed, then he can murder the old geezer on the way out. But it will definitely have an effect on the overall composition of the character in the minds of the audience.

 

[heartbreaker29]

Thanks I am not sure how I want my readers to see my leading man Character I want them to feel sympathy for him.

But yet at the same time I want them to understand that he did what he thought was best at that time after all if the stepfather is dead he can't abuse anyone ever again.

If the stepfather is left alive he could potential abuse someone else in revenge for the stepson leaving.

The stepfather is the meanest S.O.B. that god ever made

even the devil himself cowers in fear when the stepfathers name is spoken.

An that is why the stepson feels that he should kill him.

 

[stlgoddessfreya]

Sounds like the first thing you need to figure out is how much you want your readers to identify with your main character. One of the things that makes me *not* identify with characters in books and stories, especially on Lit, is when they're presented as having no flaws or such inconsequential flaws that they might as well be perfect. Perfect people aren't interesting, and bad things happening to a character aren't the same as flaws. A few ways to do this:

1) He kills his step-father, premeditated. This may be the hardest one to do and have him be sympathetic, but if he's got a plan, there must be a reason. Step-father implies there's likely a mother and siblings who are also soaking his abuse. Your protagonist can do it to save them or to prevent his step-father from abusing others. He can either be sure he's not suspected (death ruled accidental or suicide) or always be afraid he'll be found out. He can maintain that he did the right thing all the way through the end of your story or he can have a change of heart.

2) He kills the step-father, accidentally or in a rage. Same issues with premeditated except it's much harder to cover up his involvement. He may always be exceptionally careful after that to keep his feelings in check, which may lead to problems starting his romance, things he has to work through.

3) He is unsure whether step-father is alive or dead. They struggled when he left, step-father hit his head, protagonist ran out without checking to see if he was alive. Protagonist snuck out when step-father was in the middle of what might have been a heart attack or drug OD. He runs as far away as he possibly can and cuts all ties to his former life. He could then both be afraid that his step-father is still alive and might find him and that step-father is dead and the police may come for him.

4) He leaves his step-father alive. You got some good recommendations on possibilities for that, though I would add the possible variation that step-father does contact him and protagonist gives him a piece of his mind or refuses to help him when step-father is just starting down his spiral, then your protagonist finds him when he's older and much, much weaker and helps him in some small way, maybe anonymously, showing he's always been the bigger man.

 

[loquere]

I’d make him 18 first, then I’d give him a twin sister. The drunken stepfather has been physically-abusing/beating both of them.

One day the stepdad is about to beat the shit out of the guys twin sister, because of this the guy snaps and kills the stepdad and runs away with his sister.

 

[heartbreaker29]

stldoddessfreya: The mom is dead she died several years early so its only the step-son and
step-father.

The Step-Son is an only child and while he is eating his breakfast the father stops shouting at him and leaves the kitchen to use the bathroom.

The step-son decides he has had enough and decides he must kill the step-father, so he waits with his gun draw the step-father comes out of the bathroom and he shoots him.
That's how I plan to kill him in the story if I go that direction.

If I leave the Step-father alive the Step-son waits until the step-father leaves for work then the son gets his stuff out of the house and just leaves.

he settles down somewhere and he builds a life for himself.

The step-father could come back and a confrontation breaks out or the man just dies. Those are my overall plans.

 

[heartbreaker29]

That's a possibility and I have thought about going in that direction. and I do have a couple of sisters one younger and an older one.

But where not twins.

Plus to legally own a handgun in most states the buyer has to be at least 21 if its bought directly from a gun dealer

If it is bought by a relative for the person as a gift for the person that and that is under 21 years of age and can legally own gun

that is perfectly legal thing.

but for my leading man the gun that's used for the possible murder is his own he saved up the money on his own to buy.

Since the step-father is very anti-gun.

 

[callmeismael]

Just to add to Freya's excellent suggestions, one approach that I'd consider would be a spin on #2, where the step-father is killed in a struggle, and replaying it in his mind, the son cannot decide if it was an accident or if there was a moment where he intended it, where he saw the opportunity and acted.
He is seen outwardly as a victim who acted in self-defense. But knowing the potential in cycles of violence, he realizes that nearly every abuser was a victim once, and he wonders about how that change occurs. He fears this has happened in him; that he was pushed too far and he'll never be innocent again.

 

[heartbreaker29]

That's another possibility and the step son will have look over his shoulder for the rest of his life, and he will be haunted by what he did.

 

[stlgoddessfreya]

Shooting the step-father in cold blood with a gun he saved up to get or leaving with no direct conflict are two really, really different plots. Before you start thinking about the legalities of your protagonist getting a gun, you should probably decide if he's going to use one. Something that may help you make your protagonist more sympathetic if you go the route of the calculated shooting is Battered Person Syndrome:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battered_person_syndrome

You probably also want to be a little more careful about revealing personal details, especially if, as it appears from your last few responses, you plan on basing your protagonist closely on yourself.

 

[Hypoxia]

I like things bundled in threes. And I like exploring different versions of a situation. I like the movie RUN LOLA RUN, which includes both. What to do with this story? The same thing. Write three versions of this story, with the first two, each revealing fatal flaws in the MC, leading to the third, which is the resolution you hope for.

I might write this with three fairly succinct sections, each between 2000-4000 words, giving a 2-4 LIT page piece. The backstory is foreshortened because it's the same for each, or maybe presented in each with different details that flesh-out the background. The central action is pivotal but brief. The consequences dominate -- what happens if... #1) Murder. #2: Escape. #3: Reconciliation.

I like the suggestion of the MC's twin sister. Now a trio of episodes would have one from each player's POV, with only minimal overlap of details among their accounts, which might not jibe, Rashomon-like -- each sees the situation differently.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I like happy endings.

With the murder up front, there is really no happy ending, ever. No matter how you write it the character flaw that had him commit murder will be there, always.

The guilt will be with him forever. No matter what he does, help he gets, he will dream about, think about, what he did, the rest of his life.

He might be able to eek out a fairly normal life, yet there will always be that niggling in the back of his mind of the heinous crime he committed.

I like happy endings.

 

[MaryR]

Shooting the step-father in cold blood with a gun he saved up to get or leaving with no direct conflict are two really, really different plots. Before you start thinking about the legalities of your protagonist getting a gun, you should probably decide if he's going to use one. Something that may help you make your protagonist more sympathetic if you go the route of the calculated shooting is Battered Person Syndrome:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battered_person_syndrome

You probably also want to be a little more careful about revealing personal details, especially if, as it appears from your last few responses, you plan on basing your protagonist closely on yourself.

That story sounds horrible. Why not a gentle naughty tale that excites people especially women

Mary

 

[heartbreaker29]

MaryR: I don't want to write that kind of story, I want to write a story featuring pain and misery and challenges and finally triumph and a happy ending.