Stuart Dren
Active Member
You know how it is. You and your friends are just about to bust down the space aliens' vibro door and phaserise their overlord, when Tim suddenly turns his phaser on you. "Aliens are paying me double."
Or you're just cresting the cure to a new strain of some respiratory virus when Tim wrecks the data. "Virus is paying me double." Hm, well perhaps it wouldn't go down exactly that way. In fact, 'greed' might be one of the more disappointing motives for betrayal, though it fits well with a 'no honour among thieves' theme for crime fiction.
Anyway, all that matters is things are upset right at the end of the second act, or wherever it should happen for that story. It's a fantastic way to undo progress, rattle the hero's trust and confidence, and create disaster in one stroke.
If there's time, the betrayer can monologue about why he's a traitor. Perhaps he planned it all along, perhaps something changed his mind along the way, or perhaps he had no idea his cells have been replaced with those of a space parasite.
Sometimes there will be a misdirection. The killer always knows our next move. We think it's the one-eyed deputy with the gravel in his pipes, but it's actually the two-eyed secretary who's in love with the Ripper.
Possibly the betrayer has too much heart to follow through with the backstab. He may redeem himself later, if fatally. The plucky heroes have a way of winning rogues over. Or maybe he manages to earn their trust again, only to ruin it at the next opportunity.
I like it when it seems like someone will betray the heroes, but her principles ultimately overrule any friction or foreshadowed motive. I've written that in the past. I've also written a more standard, if even corny, betrayal with the explanation and all that. I think, like most things, they're fun when they're not lazy.
What are your thoughts? Have you written any or plan to? Put that Frank's treachery in every story? Do you find betrayals—inherently a, sigh, twist—tiresome or do they endure? How many betrayals can one plot have before it becomes absurd?
Or you're just cresting the cure to a new strain of some respiratory virus when Tim wrecks the data. "Virus is paying me double." Hm, well perhaps it wouldn't go down exactly that way. In fact, 'greed' might be one of the more disappointing motives for betrayal, though it fits well with a 'no honour among thieves' theme for crime fiction.
Anyway, all that matters is things are upset right at the end of the second act, or wherever it should happen for that story. It's a fantastic way to undo progress, rattle the hero's trust and confidence, and create disaster in one stroke.
If there's time, the betrayer can monologue about why he's a traitor. Perhaps he planned it all along, perhaps something changed his mind along the way, or perhaps he had no idea his cells have been replaced with those of a space parasite.
Sometimes there will be a misdirection. The killer always knows our next move. We think it's the one-eyed deputy with the gravel in his pipes, but it's actually the two-eyed secretary who's in love with the Ripper.
Possibly the betrayer has too much heart to follow through with the backstab. He may redeem himself later, if fatally. The plucky heroes have a way of winning rogues over. Or maybe he manages to earn their trust again, only to ruin it at the next opportunity.
I like it when it seems like someone will betray the heroes, but her principles ultimately overrule any friction or foreshadowed motive. I've written that in the past. I've also written a more standard, if even corny, betrayal with the explanation and all that. I think, like most things, they're fun when they're not lazy.
What are your thoughts? Have you written any or plan to? Put that Frank's treachery in every story? Do you find betrayals—inherently a, sigh, twist—tiresome or do they endure? How many betrayals can one plot have before it becomes absurd?
