To Create a Thief?

[3113]

Need some brainstorming help here, folk.

I want to create a reluctant thief--and by that I mean the type that either sneaks into an empty home and runs off with the jewelry or robs an empty store. Not white collar, nor bank robber. Not even liquor store. No job requiring that he put a gun to anyone's head.

I'd like the reluctant thief to be mid-twenties and single. I think he gets roped into pulling a job because he had a checkered past (maybe a juvinile record?) and is being blackmailed or strong-armed into it.

What might someone from his past threaten him with to get him to do this? It could either be someone who just wants him to pull the job, or who wants him to join them in the robbery. For some reason I'm drawing a blank and any sparks to get the fire burning would be much appreciated.

 

[M-Y-Erotica]

Need some brainstorming help here, folk.

I want to create a reluctant thief--and by that I mean the type that either sneaks into an empty home and runs off with the jewelry or robs an empty store. Not white collar, nor bank robber. Not even liquor store. No job requiring that he put a gun to anyone's head.

I'd like the reluctant thief to be mid-twenties and single. I think he gets roped into pulling a job because he had a checkered past (maybe a juvinile record?) and is being blackmailed or strong-armed into it.

What might someone from his past threaten him with to get him to do this? It could either be someone who just wants him to pull the job, or who wants him to join them in the robbery. For some reason I'm drawing a blank and any sparks to get the fire burning would be much appreciated.

I was having trouble coming up with anything, then I thought about it not from the reluctant thief's point of view but from the point of view of the person forcing him to do it. Why force this particular guy? There would seem to be two main possibilities. 1) The forcee has some skill the forcer lacks. The most obvious thing then would be that the troubled past is that the forcee is an experienced thief who has given it up for good. This could then be narrowed down to more and more particular skills. He is good at climbing buildings; he is good with home security systems; he is good at hacking secure networks; etc. 2) The forcer has no other choice. The forcer only has leverage over th forcee. In this latter case, the forcee has no particular skills to offer. It's just that the forcer only has leverage over this one guy.

I like option 1 better because it can tell you both about the reluctant thief and about the person forcing him to be a thief. If the thief is a computer hacker, well, then how does the forcer know this? I certainly don't know anyone who's good or bad at hacking bank networks. Only a certain type of person would know this. However, my option 2 can help on both characters as well. Perhaps the forcer controls access to something the forcee desparately wants. This could be anything from a job (I'm Spielberg and you can star in my next movie if you break into my sister in law's house and steal her jade necklace) or something bigger - stealing the kids is the cliche in the movies.

 

[RogueLurker]

Could be that someone that he owes from the past ... someone who covered for him so that he didn't get in trouble ... is calling in the debt. One final job to clear the debt ...

 

[R. Richard]

I was having trouble coming up with anything, then I thought about it not from the reluctant thief's point of view but from the point of view of the person forcing him to do it. Why force this particular guy? There would seem to be two main possibilities. 1) The forcee has some skill the forcer lacks. The most obvious thing then would be that the troubled past is that the forcee is an experienced thief who has given it up for good. This could then be narrowed down to more and more particular skills. He is good at climbing buildings; he is good with home security systems; he is good at hacking secure networks; etc. 2) The forcer has no other choice. The forcer only has leverage over th forcee. In this latter case, the forcee has no particular skills to offer. It's just that the forcer only has leverage over this one guy.

Good analysis! However you see the forcee is an experienced thief who has given it up for good. I would see the forcee as a skilled burglar [specialized thief] juvenile who was caught as a juvenile and received no sentence/very light sentence with the proviso that he gets caught again and they throw the book at him. The forcer is in a position to know of the forcee's juvenile court record and also knows that the burglar has done something else that will put him in prison for a long time if the scumbags find out. The forcee would need to have proven skills in some area that the forcer needs to exploit. The forcee might be a very skilled cat burglar who can get into an area that requires climbing, jumping, etc. The forcee might be skilled with alarm systems and/or safes. In any case, the forcee has skills that give him an excellent chance of stealing what he is to steal and getting away clean.

 

[yui]

Simple need, mebbe? Does the guy need money and have no real means to get it?

Or, it might help to look at it as something as simple as the fact that stealing is easy money as long as you don't get caught; and it's a dirty little secret, but it's a thrill, too. Your thief might like the high and fight against that part of his nature. Perhaps he isn't coerced, but merely swayed by an opportunity that seems too good to resist.

If coercion is the route you prefer, exposure always works. Most of us have done things we're horribly ashamed of and they're the type of things that get larger and larger the longer we deny them. Maybe your guy was indirectly responsible for the death of a sibling--a kid, years ago--when what should have been a simple in and out, grab and run robbery, went wrong. Cumulative guilt, fear of exposure, shame of that failure, and the threat of exposure would be both a powerful motivator and fodder for a great deal of emotional-anti-hero-pain and redemption sorta stuff.

Luck,

Yui

 

[neonlyte]

He need coersion, the threat of losing something - a job, a girlfriend, exposure as something other than he pretends. IF you are writing a Lit story, your young relectant robber might have experimented with gay sex, someone has the photographs... IF none Lit maybe he could have been involved in an accident 'hit-and-run', someone was with him in the car...

 

[Guest]

.....

 

[3113]

Good points, M-Y-E! And you're right, viewing it from the p.o.v. of the forcer helps. I especially like this one:

1) The forcee has some skill the forcer lacks. The most obvious thing then would be that the troubled past is that the forcee is an experienced thief who has given it up for good. This could then be narrowed down to more and more particular skills. He is good at climbing buildings; he is good with home security systems.

That this guys specializes in home security systems is a great idea!

 

[3113]

Could be that someone that he owes from the past ... someone who covered for him so that he didn't get in trouble ... is calling in the debt. One final job to clear the debt ...

Nice! Yes. That would world well.

 

[3113]

I would see the forcee as a skilled burglar [specialized thief] juvenile who was caught as a juvenile and received no sentence/very light sentence with the proviso that he gets caught again and they throw the book at him. The forcer is in a position to know of the forcee's juvenile court record and also knows that the burglar has done something else that will put him in prison for a long time if the scumbags find out.

I like this a whole lot! What might he know is the question. What did he do as an adult that would land him in jail if the forcer squealed on him?

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Could be that someone that he owes from the past ... someone who covered for him so that he didn't get in trouble ... is calling in the debt. One final job to clear the debt ...

That's what I'd do.

The thief would have been part of a burglary gang--maybe rich, upperclass kids who did breaking & entering for the thrill, whatever--and on the last job some of the guys got cracked and sent away. They think he turned them in and they're looking for him when they get out some time later. The guy who wants the thief to do the job threatens to tell these bad guys where the thief is unless he cooperates.

I like this because you have all these rich and ambiguous relationships you can exploit--who trusts whom, who has the real power, stuff like that. Instant tension and suspence.

It would be easy to write into the story too. The guy says to the thief: "You know, Tom & Dick got out of Joliet last month, and they're looking for you. They remember that last job and still think you set them up. It would be too bad if someone were to tell them where you're living now, wouldn't it?"

No big backstory, no flashbacks--badda bing, badda boom as they say, and that's all we need to know.

--Zoot

 

[Recidiva]

I'd back up the idea of someone having inherent talent.

I was a great thief as a kid, and the draw was usually curiosity. Can I get away with it? It's a challenge, wonder how I could do it. Can I do it? Then I test out my theory. Rush.

I chose not to keep doing that after about age 16.

But if I had to, I'd know how. I still think it. Just don't act on it.

 

[Guest]

The thief has access to a building that others don't have, perhaps. His father is the building super or owner or some such?

 

[R. Richard]

I like this a whole lot! What might he know is the question. What did he do as an adult that would land him in jail if the forcer squealed on him?

As a kid, as several have pointed out, he was a burglar for the thrill and the feeling of accomplishment. As an adult, he went from thrill and accomplishment to big bucks. He has the big bucks and the forcer will threaten to let the victoims know where the now young adult got the big bucks.

 

[3113]

The thief has access to a building that others don't have, perhaps. His father is the building super or owner or some such?

That's an excellent idea. One of the hurdles here is that I've got to figure out what the forcer wants that he can't get any other way. If the forcer wants to break into one, particular place, like a certain store or apartment...why? What's in there?

Because either the forcer wants them to get back together and do a lot of jobs (aka, this guy is the best with security systems and the forcer wants to rob a bunch of rich houses) or--and this is what I'd rather--it's a one-shot and the forcer wants our guy to help him break-and-enter into someplace special.

What does our forcer want that he needs our guy to help him steal it?

I like the idea of the thief having some access or knowledge of the building, likely from his juvinile, bad-boy years. A job where they weren't caught. And now, there's something in that building the forcer wants. Not money--but something someone else took from him? Something rare and precious? Something sentimental and important? Or perhaps he wants to do something to someone as a way of revenge?

I think the forcer has a better chance with our guy if he promises that this is a "one-shot" deal. Forcing the guy to do other jobs puts the forcer at risk of being betrayed by our guy.

So it works out better--and our guy is more likely to do it--if it's a one-time thing and then they're square.

 

[M-Y-Erotica]

That's an excellent idea. One of the hurdles here is that I've got to figure out what the forcer wants that he can't get any other way. If the forcer wants to break into one, particular place, like a certain store or apartment...why? What's in there?

I was thinking this while walking around earlier. It seems like you have a little triangle where you can switch from point to point until you get where you want to be. The three points I have in mind are: 1) forcer, 2) forcee, and 3) the thing to be stolen. Each one forces (getting to hate that word now) you into certain choices. If you want to write about a forcer who is a dentist that will only allow certain choices for the forcee and the thing. Similarly, if what you want to steal is the crown jewels, that will require certain things of the two people involved. So you can rotate among these three points until you get things worked out. Make a choice about the object. Well, where is this object and who could get to it? OK, that narrows down the thief. Well, who would know a thief like this? That narrows down the forcer. OK, how would the forcer know anything about the object to be stolen and what kind of object would be imporant to the forcer? And around and around you go, just seeing what falls out. Just circle from protagonist to antagonist to McGuffin until you are happy.

 

[artisticbiguy]

something you haven't defined for us yet is the world itself... is it the everyday world, or is it a today world with some supernatural in it or is it a high tech world... a fantasy world?

the moment you add in something beyond the "ordinary", you have loads of ways to hook this kid in.... of course, maybe the kid, in addition to having been a thief in his teens also resorted to being a prostitute... (boi for daddies)

Possibly one of his johns helped him get out of that life... he's tried to make a clean start now that he's over 18... and his blackmailer will squeel on the fact that "good john" did an underaged kid unless our "hero" does one last job.... maybe that job requires more than a sneak in... maybe he can't just "sneak in"... and the person he's got to get whatever it is from is into young guys just like him.

Okay, I know.. sordid... but it would mean that it isn't that he is special talented, but that he has an in that this guy's other possible "agents" wouldn't have (he's a hot young guy 18... with thieving skills and whoring skills, and is the target's -type-).

 

[Huckleman2000]

There's a really good movie with a plot like this, with Matthew Broderick, Dustin Hoffman, and Sean Connery playing three generations - I think it's called Family Business. Connery is the immigrant who carved out a living as a small-time professional thief. Hoffman is his son, who finished high school and made a good business for himself, in a somewhat shady line of business. Broderick is the kid who finally got sent to college and landed a "respectable" position with a biotech research startup. The opportunity for a caper presents itself, and Broderick convinces the other two to join him for a big score. It turns out that the biotech company was sort of setting up the opportunity, because they really didn't have any results to show and their funding wsa running out, so if there was an insurable loss that "set them back x months", they could extend their funding.

Anyway, what really makes the story interesting is that the young kid has no talent whatsoever for crime, and his father and grandfather have talent and connections, but his father is totally against it because he's spent his whole life trying to make sure his son doesn't get caught up in the shenanigans that he did because of his miscreant father. Connery, of course, plays a somewhat loveable rogue, but a man who's time has obviously come and gone.

I don't know if there's anything in there that sounds likely, but it's a pretty good movie.

 

[3113]

I was thinking this while walking around earlier. It seems like you have a little triangle where you can switch from point to point until you get where you want to be. The three points I have in mind are: 1) forcer, 2) forcee, and 3) the thing to be stolen. Each one forces (getting to hate that word now) you into certain choices.

That's a VERY clever point! I'll have to muse on that.

 

[3113]

the moment you add in something beyond the "ordinary", you have loads of ways to hook this kid in.... of course, maybe the kid, in addition to having been a thief in his teens also resorted to being a prostitute...

Good point! A tale in Detroit isn't the same as a tale in Seattle, a small town is different than that of a city.

No place fantastic. I think my setting is an unnamed city--a small one, not a sprawling Metropolis. Time of year is spring or early summer. Setting in particular is an area of apartments and stores, not super rich nor dirt poor. Possibly eclectic.

I'm going for a heterosexual tale here--so while my guy could have been a prostitute, I think that might add to much of a complication to *this* particular story.