I'm having a bit trouble connecting each character to a bigger story other than 4 detectives trying to catch one villain. Most of this is because I'm having a hard time finding a motive for the villain, and why the 4 detectives are teaming up to catch him. I'd love to hear from someone else, and am willing to answer any questions to clarify.
Hello there. I don't know about your story, but, a reason you say. What if the villain doesn't need one? What if he just wants to? For no reason, because he doesn't need such thing. It could also mess with detective's mind, trying to find a logic end for it.
That's a good idea, I never thought to do that. It certainly would mess with the detective's mind, along with mine! Thanks for the help!
maybe all four detectives are working for different organizations, so neither of them know about each other's involvement. and maybe one of the detectives was actually recruited by the villain (but doesn't know, all anonymous of course) so when they report back, that's how the villain is always one step ahead of the detectives. maybe the villain is like an art thief or something and wants to steal the biggest, bestest art piece.
I think that would work because I originally planned for 2 detectives to be working partners, but then they recruit another detective but the 4th one is working alone and comes across the other 3 but is on a different case involving the same villain. As for the crime of the century, I was sort of leaning towards a sort of V for Vendetta act (my favorite movie). Whereas the whole 'working for the villain' part, I thought maybe instead of working for him one of the detectives could be connected in another way like maybe family related or one of his dangerous acts affected the detective's life in a major way (detective number 4).
I liked Cami's idea! Of the detectives don't knowing about each other…
Now, as someone that just watched 11 seasons of Criminal Minds in a seat, I think it's surprisingly easy to find a motive for villains, almost no mattering the way they "work". You should take a look on that later, but basically, almost all the antagonists on CM went
through some sort of trauma and then just went kinda crazy, but not in a weird or artificial way.
For example, a man that slept on a "rest stop" in a road and had his daughter kidnapped for someone he supposed to be a man with a tattoo started kidnapping people that had similar tattoos and ask where his daughter was while torturing (I don't know if the word is the same in english) them so they would not be able to fall asleep. Or a girl that had problems with her father and then was abandoned and became a profesional killer that also killed her clients that had a personality similar to her father's. A man who had his father killed by robbers in their puppet theater, and since his father never said to him that the puppets were not alive, he blammed them for what happened, and then started kidnapping real people to break their bones and turn them into human puppets to re-act all that happened on that day, but this time with a happy ending.
Or, if you want something simpler, there are always the narcisist (is it how you say it?) killers. There are the ones who think they deserve more recognition on their jobs (like doctors or cops that are not that famous) and because of this they cause "accidents" and then help solving/fixing it, so then they'll turn into heroes. Or just people that want to play god, and have fun throwing other people into their "games" - like Moriarty, from BBC Sherlock.
Do you need more ideias? I can tell you nearly all the episodes' antagonists' motivations XD
So, basically, you can think of some really crazy scenarios for your story, and there'll probably be a way to have it make sense. Seriously.
(Sorry if I wrote anything wrong. English is not my main language XP)
Hi!
I think Cami has a very interesting idea with having one of them working for the villain. If they didn't know they were working for the villain it could be a big plot twist. It could be really funny if they were all trying to catch the same villain and they didn't know it, too. They could run into each other and be like "What you are you doing here?"
If it were me, I'd have the villain be mentally unstable and the crime be murder. I'd have the villain just kill people for fun, and in very gruesome ways. Maybe he/she could leave messages and clues and have the detectives chase them for their own amusement. It could be like a game to them, like KathGray said. Personally, I like villains that are twisted like that.
In any case, I think your idea is really cool. Good luck with your writing!
I am writing different versions for all of these ideas to see which one I like, and the one that I like will be turned into a comic! Thank you all for the help!