Bomb goes off! Now what?

[Blackrook]

Boy meets girl. Boy and girl talk. Girl impetuously kisses boy. Girl gets flustered and runs into the castle.

Bomb goes off!

Now what?

[dustinzgirl]

Well it would depend on the boy.

My oldest would probably go after the bomber.
My middle one would probably go after the girl.
My youngest would try to help everyone who got hurt in the blast.

[Saeltari]

Also kinda depends on how strong the bomb was and if the boy or girl were in the blast radius?

[TheEndIsNigh]

Blackrook:

Knight takes bishop? (sorry)

seriously though this seems a little thin on information.

Where's the bomb?

Is it a real bomb or some emotional simile.

Anybody killed? as in girl dead boy dead castle destroyed London levelled planet shattered?

Is this a mills and boon bodice ripper or a intergalactic universal war waged epic?

Do the characters form a side plot or are these two the main protagonists as in:-

Grotwilk stopped. Down in the castle yard a young lad and a very attractive girl were involved in an impetuous embrace. As he watched the boy run back toward the castle his face red with embarrassment the car exploded, turning the scene into a bloodbath and shattering the windows of his office.

When he eventually regained his feet he stumbled across the splintered glass to look down onto the courtyard. The girl was dead she wouldn't have known anything she had been four feet from the now flaming wreckage that had been the car. The boy was motionless, lying face down on the hard gravel. He had been lucky, although Grotwilks doubted he would think so when he regained consciousness. He reached for the phone, it was still operating, he dialled a number and spoke to the voice on the other end.

"There's a boy in the courtyard, red hat, blue jeans, red t-shirt. Make sure he's OK, then take him downstairs."

He replaced the phone and went back to the window to look on the devastation below. The boy was moving now, being helped to his feet by the security guards. To the boy's right, about two feet to his right, was the item Grotwilks first noticed. As the boy was led inside the switch still attached, was dragged behind him.

[Blackrook]

Originally Posted by dustinzgirl

Well it would depend on the boy.

My oldest would probably go after the bomber.
My middle one would probably go after the girl.
My youngest would try to help everyone who got hurt in the blast.

All very good ideas! I wish my hero could do all three!

[SJAB]

The thing is with a bomb, no one reacts like they do in the movies.

The ground heaves, the concussion makes your ears ring,(even deafens you for a short while) you are mentally thrown off your feet by the enormity of what has happened. It is very hard to grasp that suddenly your normal world has been turned on its head, you actually freeze. Eveything and everyone is in utter confusion. Even at a distance you could be hurt by flying glass, rubble, even body parts of victims (I kid you not, imagine a fragment of bone flying at the force the bomb has caused.) After the noise of the explosion there is a silence, then other noises, ones you rather not hear again.

[Blackrook]

Well, that makes sense. When the bomb went out, the boy got thrown against a balcony rail, rebounded, and his head hit the floor, knocking him out cold.

I could solve the problem of what the boy does after the bomb goes off by saying he does nothing. He wakes up out of a coma some days after its all over. That means I don't have to make him some Flash Gordon type of hero at the age of 14, which I think would strain credibility.

[Damiynn]

depending on how pretty the girl is, you go after the girl.

[dustinzgirl]

Originally Posted by Damiynn

depending on how pretty the girl is, you go after the girl.

Boys.

[Dave]

Who said the bomber was a man?

[Blackrook]

Actually, you're right, the bomber is not a man.

I intend my story to be a saga covering some fifty years and I've already spent two chapters on the first day of the story when the three main characters meet at the age of 14.

If I continue to show what my characters do at the age of 14, and give them all sorts of heroic things to do, I risk my story turning into a young adult's adventure, which is not what I want to do.

Also, I do not want the characters to get some satisfaction at this point in the story. I want to kill off some minor characters and give the main characters reason to hate the villains and seek revenge when they get older. The best way to do that is let the villains win this round.

[Aes]

Perhaps the bomber is the girl? Hmmm.

Wow, I haven't been here in forever.

[deathbeatsliving]

Bomb goes off! Now what? Boy meets girl. Boy and girl talk. Girl impetuously kisses boy. Girl gets flustered and runs into the castle.

Bomb goes off!

Now what?

Erm, well I would work on your character first because often this will throw out suggestions on what angle to take with it. Also, character I find are the most important part of the story because I want to feel emotionally attached to the character and care about what happens to them. That's where I think many action films fail because there is great action but that's all thats happening.
So I would suggest asking yourself this, who is the boy? who is the girl? Maybe the boy falls in love with her at first sight. Maybe his whole life he has never believed in love at first sight until he sees her and then when he has that love its instantly taken away from him. I think it could be interesting to tell the tale of him trying to find out who this girl was that got caught up in the bomb explosion. It could be about actually finding out what you have missed rather than never knowing. What do you think?

[Blackrook]

I didn't post all the details of my story, but the characters are pretty well defined by the time of the bomb blast, especially the girl.

I think I need to define my two boys as heroes and this third chapter is the chance to do it. I have believable reasons to explain why both would be able to handle a combat situation and I believe I'm going to put them in a gun fight with the villians who set off the bomb.

The bomb is a diversion. The villians' plan is to kidnap the girl. She's a princess. Did I forget to mention that detail?

[deathbeatsliving]

Ooh, okay. What setting is this i.e modern day? That's good you have done a lot of background. Okay, well tip on the ending, try and be unpredictable. I hate these films that chicken out over killing the main character or giving them an unhappy ending. Also, by giving them an unhappy ending doesn't mean you can't give the story a happy ending. I think the audience like to leave on a happy note or at least a resolved note that hints that everything will be alright.

So where does this other boy come in? I'm glad you have made it so the character don't suddenly become Neo in the Matrix and beat everyone's arse. Believability and setup is important in the story. You can do pretty much everything as long as you give it a good setup in explaining how they have to come to know or be able to do something.