Work plan
Estimate: 200 pages
Part I: The characters and their organization
Part II: The great showdown where everybody show their true colors
Part III: After the discovery, what they do with this
For this project, while project, let's work on characterizing the space of this showdown. Let's call it the "livewire." It's a characteristic and important part of the entire story. We'll have an idea of what this space represents, even if we don't know everyone who will be in it or what they'll do in it. But how do you intend to engage readers and editors with so little? So, it's not a little, it's a significant part of a project that I want to be much bigger, a true novel. If it attracts enough attention, we'll invest now, if not later.
Livewire refers to the first part, right after we meet the characters, but focusing on where all the action later takes place. Betting on characterization as perhaps the best way to present this work as a project, we can understand the narrative, get to know some of the characters and what can eventually be improved throughout the writing[1].
Synopsis
A group of agents leads double lives in which the disguise begins to erode their very identities. Forced to commit real crimes to maintain their cover, they face choices that can't be written in reports — or spoken of among themselves. While the most upright begin to fall apart from within, those once seen as fragile show an unsettling resilience. Amid fragile alliances and irreversible decisions, they will all come to realize that truth is not found in what is revealed, but in what one learns to endure.
Plot
A group of agents is embedded deep within a far-reaching criminal network. Each holds a strategic position, fully integrated into the organization's operations — trafficking, extortion, money laundering, and murder. To keep the mission alive and their covers intact, they are forced to take part in the crimes, crossing moral lines that can no longer be undone.
Over time, the operation — once justified by ideals of justice — begins to take its toll. Some agents, the more principled ones, start to show signs of emotional and moral collapse. Others, previously seen as unstable or less trustworthy, seem to adapt disturbingly well to the brutality around them. This reversal breeds tension within the group: trust breaks down, moral judgments shift, and no one seems sure who's still on the right side.
The real world starts to feel distant, and the roles they play begin to blur with who they've become. Faced with a breaking point, each agent must decide how far they're willing to go — and what part of themselves is still worth saving.
Narrative questions and answers
About Endurance
I. Why do some characters collapse under pressure while others—those once seen as weak—manage to survive or even thrive?
The reversal of expectations or roles (the "strong" unravel while the "fragile" endure) is a natural process. The labels we give someone are just that: labels. Situations test character and much of what we believe to be a certain way is nothing more than a mistake or naivety in which we believed.
II. Is the resilience of those who adapt a true strength or a symptom of moral desensitization?
This is something we can learn from Hannah Arendt. The advent of evil in a society often occurs through the strict fulfillment of duty. So we can respond with symptoms of desensitization only.
About Trust
I. If truth lies not in what is revealed but in what is endured, what does that say about the value of speech, confession or narrative itself?
Silence among characters becomes a defining element, not only in what they say, but in what they don't allow themselves to say. It's not just about what you don't want to talk about, but what puts you at risk if you do. Add to that what you don't want to admit. We go around in circles in the illusions we've created and try, for whatever reason, to maintain the labels and appearances that make it seem—fancifully—that we understand the world, others or what's going on around us. Deep down, everyone wants to have some control.
II. Can a person preserve an inner truth while living entirely within deception?
Endurance without confession becomes a language of its own, a hidden morality measured not by talk, but by what one carries alone. Here we find ourselves. It is our own private space. Some hate it, others even like it. I say that this is our big question in the story and I prefer not to say much about it, just that this is where we and these characters find their biggest challenges.
[1] I think it is important to say that I am working on English, that is, while I write, there is an effort of creation and translation. There is also the personal challenge of mastering what would be the American style of writing fiction.