Three Stories I Came Up With Which Aren't For Me To Write
Intervention
Small town veteran becomes involved in an evangelical church in order to help derive some peace from his existence and regain a sense of order; the church turn out to be somewhat life-consuming and combatitive and know a mug when they see one. Pretty soon he has debts to various loan sharks, is still doing everything he can for the church, and both his life and his neglected family are in danger. The only possible way out is for him to disappear, but first he has to be convinced that leaving is the right choice.
The Watch-Maker's Son
In Soviet Russia, a member of the Party who is reasonably high up is found dead. A KGB interrogator and a propaganda writer are engaged to acquire suitable evidence, but the continually-changing nature of what the Party want the (idealistic) propaganda writer to conclude in his reports and the close association with a sociopath lead to the propaganda writer committing suicide and the interrogator defecting to the West*.
The Golden Boy**
Charlie discovers his younger brother is in drug-related trouble and in an act of heroic idiocy, rams the man threatening Victor's life with his car. The man in question dies. In his final year of high school, already provisionally accepted into a pre-med programme, he instead ends up serving twelve years in prison. Charlie befriends his cell-mate, and they make a pact that when they both get out they'll make a living for themselves through his cell-mate's cocaine contacts. Meanwhile Victor has made a name for himself and become a junior stockbroker (this is set in the 80s, or at least the main bit is), and is back to hoovering up coke like it's going out of fashion.
... blah blah long denoument involving redemption and police and repressed gay feelings and I can't be bothered writing this one out because I am SO FRUSTRATED that I can't make it work.
* In my own personal "everything is connected" canon, the interrogator is Sacha's father.
** I have made several attempts at this and absolutely nothing will make it into what I want, which is a TV series
Small town veteran becomes involved in an evangelical church in order to help derive some peace from his existence and regain a sense of order; the church turn out to be somewhat life-consuming and combatitive and know a mug when they see one. Pretty soon he has debts to various loan sharks, is still doing everything he can for the church, and both his life and his neglected family are in danger. The only possible way out is for him to disappear, but first he has to be convinced that leaving is the right choice.
The Watch-Maker's Son
In Soviet Russia, a member of the Party who is reasonably high up is found dead. A KGB interrogator and a propaganda writer are engaged to acquire suitable evidence, but the continually-changing nature of what the Party want the (idealistic) propaganda writer to conclude in his reports and the close association with a sociopath lead to the propaganda writer committing suicide and the interrogator defecting to the West*.
The Golden Boy**
Charlie discovers his younger brother is in drug-related trouble and in an act of heroic idiocy, rams the man threatening Victor's life with his car. The man in question dies. In his final year of high school, already provisionally accepted into a pre-med programme, he instead ends up serving twelve years in prison. Charlie befriends his cell-mate, and they make a pact that when they both get out they'll make a living for themselves through his cell-mate's cocaine contacts. Meanwhile Victor has made a name for himself and become a junior stockbroker (this is set in the 80s, or at least the main bit is), and is back to hoovering up coke like it's going out of fashion.
... blah blah long denoument involving redemption and police and repressed gay feelings and I can't be bothered writing this one out because I am SO FRUSTRATED that I can't make it work.
* In my own personal "everything is connected" canon, the interrogator is Sacha's father.
** I have made several attempts at this and absolutely nothing will make it into what I want, which is a TV series