Death of the Family Dog

On paper everything seemed great. A city ruled by something that was basically a mafia. A crime family who held the life of many innocents in their hands. The premise of "The Family Dog" was to have a character (Connor)  have very little choice when it came to harming people. He either killed or would be killed. My original plan was for Connor to realize how much of the "family dog" he really was when the head of the family would order him to kill the child and many others. An internal struggle if you will. It was when I realized this struggle would be inside an empty shell that I had to scrap it. Connor wasn't a character yet and it would be forever to flesh him out for his actions to mean anything.

Why did I not finish the short story? I overshot my goal of what to do with it:

·        I wanted to create a strong bond between Connor and the strange fire child.

·        I wanted  Davin Forian to be introduced and his entire family to have a small role in Connor's fate.

·        Connor was supposed to be assigned to wiping out a large portion of the city.

·        The fire child would end up sacrificing himself to save Connor from Davin Forian.

·        Connor was meant to lead a rebellion against the last of the Forians.

These are just some of the things I wanted to do. I quickly realized that it would be impossible for me to make this goal of a cool little world into reality. In order for Connor's struggle, the fire child's death, and even Davin Forian's death to mean anything....I would basically have to write half a novel. It would take me at least 5 or 6 short stories just to get the character development in a place where these decisions would mean anything. In the end I had no choice but to scrap it and hold on to the concept for a better time.