Genesis of a Plot

One of the most oft asked questions of an author is ‘Where do you get your ideas?’ followed closely by ‘How do you think up a plot?’ I got to thinking about how I would answer that question and will attempt to with this stream-of-consciousness (condensed) of the germination and fleshing out of a plot currently awaiting completion.

The working title of the work is ‘Skullduggery in Iceland’. Why Iceland? I mostly write about things I would like to know more about in locations I find interesting or have been to. I have been to Cincinnati, Malibu, Dearborn, Bend, St. Petersburg, Maine, San Francisco, New Orleans, Savannah and London and have written stories with those locations. I have not been to Iceland or Eastern Kentucky. I did arms length research for ‘Hazard’ by Wikipedia and some knowledgeable Kentuckians. So, why Iceland and how to go about it?

There was a neat little movie, ‘The Girl in the Café’, that was set principally in Iceland and showed a few establishing shots of the city of Reykjavik and the countryside. That piqued my interest. I went to Wikipedia and learned more. I knew some friends had vacationed in Iceland, called and quizzed them. Fascinating facts and features emerged:

• Iceland is a roiling caldron of virtually free geothermal energy.
• Aluminum smelting, a huge user of energy, was attracted and established as one of the few ongoing, sustaining industries.
• Iceland government is wisely limiting and controlling the number and scale of aluminum smelters to avoid polluting the otherwise pristine environment.

Now I have a germ of an idea. What if an American tech company of the scale of a Google or Amazon was to want to put in a buried cloud computing center in Iceland but was running into resistance from the new industry regulating body of the Icelandic government? And, what if it was suspected that there might be some form of graft involved as the motive for the resistance. Cloud computing centers, after all, are just huge warehouses of servers for internet commerce. They use lots of energy and must be kept cool but they are super clean, non-polluting and very profitable. Iceland has tons of energy and cold water galore. My protagonist, Josh Malley, subject, with his wife, Dana Ward, of a dozen adventure stories, is a corporate trouble shooter at this stage of his life and is engaged to look into the matter.

I have started a number of the Josh & Dana adventures with him getting engaged and might with this one. If so, he would go to Redwood City, CA (a real tech center) for a briefing by Lustron (a fictional company) and would fly to Iceland to begin asking questions beginning with the regulating body that is rebuffing Lustron.

Josh will not be alone. There is potential interest by the US Commerce Dept, The State Department and, if nefarious deeds are discovered, the CIA. He will also be accompanied, at least initially, by an international lawyer engaged by Lustron and the executive who will honcho the project if it becomes approved.

Josh is a resourceful man with a background as a Force Recon Marine, an undercover agent for the Navy’s legal arm and as an investigative reporter for the LA Times. Along the way, he has accumulated a wealth of contacts in all forms of law enforcement including the FBI, Homeland Security and the CIA.

But, we can’t just have Josh go to Iceland and solve the problem, now can we? What about sub-plots and red herrings? Where’s the tension?

Okay, we’ll try these:

• Initially it is thought that the aluminum companies are behind the resistance to Lustron to keep some sort of hegemony and leverage within the government based on their virtual monopoly on heavy industry.
• After meetings with various government bureaus and generally nosing around, an attempt is made on Josh’s life. His military skills kick in and he survives.
• The assassination attempt is taken seriously by the US government and the Icelandic authorities.

Okay, we have some intrigue, tension, action. Now what?

While recuperating from his injuries, Josh finds he has a friend in one of the aluminum company executives in residence who assures him that the aluminum companies have no axe to grind and nothing to gain by excluding Lustron. Then who is behind it?

The foiled (and dead) assassin is identified as a freelance operative out of Switzerland. Josh, for personal as well as professional reasons, decides to follow up and goes to Switzerland and, with the help of Swiss police, Interpol and the CIA find a connection to a Latvian bank with crooked Russian connections. His visit to Riga brings on another attack which Josh barely survives.

But, we have to get it back to Iceland. Enter fresh evidence to finger the bad guy. The CIA facilitates a deal with a captured money launderer facing major incarceration. In exchange for witness protection and reduced sentence, it is learned that the operation is a land development scam by the shadowy oligarch and some crooked high level Icelandic ministers. The exclusion zone around the cloud center would deny them land they wanted to build luxury hotels and spas on.

When Josh returns to Reykjavik to report, one last attempt is made with an under-car bomb that Josh sees reflected on the rain-slicked street. At this point it was no longer about the dead deal. The oligarch was pissed that Josh has had the cheek to ruined his plans and disposed of a couple of his favorite tough guys.

Josh is flown out by a CIA plane with a fat check from Lustron and the thanks of a grateful nation (Iceland).

One conundrum I’ve yet to noodle out: Josh and Dana usually work as a team but I can’t seem to work in her collaboration without forcing it. I’m open to ideas. Anybody?