To create my characters for this solo play/writing exercise project, I’m using the Fiasco playset “Roadkill” by Christine Roth. You can find it, and many, many other playsets here.

Last post, I already gave you the short version of who the cast is going to be:

Relationship: Crime, Undercover cop and criminal
Object: Weapon, Bomb and Detonator

Relationship: Work, Both Want That Promotion
Location: In Public, Table In A Fast Food Joint

Relationship: Romance, Love Long Lost
Need: To Get Away, And Start Over

So, let’s put that into action and give Bill, Ash, and Jay their respective relationships.

Bill is an undercover cop driving around with Jay, a criminal. Since a bomb is an important object between the two, I’d guess that they’re on some sort of job that requires an explosion. Bill is a cop, so he probably would want to prevent Jay from following through with this, so this object might become a reason for a fallout between the two.

Jay’s partner in crime is Ash—both want to move up in the world. Since Jay is a criminal based on his relationship to Bill, it’s fair to say that Ash is also a criminal as both want that “promotion.” So, whatever job they’re on, it can make or break their career in the eyes of their boss. Instant rivals.

Ash is Bill’s ex, but the spark’s still there. Bill and Ash used to be a thing, now a long lost love. This is drama for Bill, seeing how Ash is part of this criminal group he’s infiltrating. Question is which one of them has the need to get away and start over? Both, or just one of them? And how will that play when things come down to the wire?

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Now that we know how these people are connected, let’s dream up some ideas of they each actually are.

Bill

William McKinney is cop. When he was a teenager, his family abruptly moved away from the small town he grew up in and into the big city a few hours south. He had to leave everything behind, including the love of his young life, Ashley. Ten years later, he joined the force not for any reasons of wanting to make the city safer or some unmet need for control and power, but because he was lost after he finished his last year of high school in a city he didn’t like, torn away from his former life. His job forced him to return to his hometown–the cops are trying to take down a criminal element in the city and, as it turns out, one of the ring leaders operates right back home. So they manage to get him undercover, and so far, Bill’s doing just fine in his new role as small-time criminal. He hates it. He wants out. Wants this to end. But he’s in deep enough now that the only way out is to see this through.

Ash

Ashley Burton never left the small town life. She’s always been a bit down on her luck, to be honest. School didn’t go so great, especially after her boyfriend up and left one day, taking with him her only solid structure. Parents sucked. Father ran out on her when she was young, mother didn’t cope well and became distant. Something about the Burton women makes men run away, she thought. She became what some might call a delinquent. Couple of nights in lockup to sober up, a handful of charges of petty this and minor that. That all changed when her aunt on her father’s side called her up. Ash didn’t have any contact with her extended family, let alone on that side, but here she was. Her aunt was high up in the food chain of some criminal organization, and she had a job for Ash. Maybe it was desperation, maybe it was just boredom, but Ash gladly accepted. Who knows? Do this well, impress her aunt–the Boss—and her life might just be on the upswing.

Jay

James Powell has been with some criminal element or another for most of his adult life. It started with selling drugs at school for some other dealer who worked for a dealer who worked for someone getting the drugs into town. He’s been running the odd jobs ever since he dropped out of high school. And why not? Money’s good, and it’s not like he could hold down a real job for long anyways. He spends his free time shooting cans, watching porn, and sleeping off he latest bender. That might all sound bad, but he’s actually really good at what he does. A bit of a yes-man when it comes to working for the Boss, who has treated him well enough. The only problem is that he’s just that: a low level operative. In his years working for the organization, Jay has developed a sense of ambition to move up the ladder. Become a big fish in the mob. Maybe even get moved to the big city, where the real stuff happens. That’s why he was so eager and excited to take on this new job, together with his old buddy Billy, who just returned from the city and, as luck would have it, also works for the Boss. Like the good old days, time to make some money.

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That should be enough to get going. More of their personalities, dreams, fears, ambitions, and impulse issue will surely emerge throughout the story. This is just so I can get started and have some foundation to refer back to, especially when doing the exercises on each card as they often want you to think more about your “heroes” within certain contexts.

Oh, also, given all of this, I have decided that the working title for this story will be …

Rat Trap