Quote:
Originally Posted by SPEMack618
So, bit of a back story, in class today, I got to sketching out an outline for a short story.
The protagonist is a Delta Force commando, but a little on the younger side, and as far as Delta guys can be, an underachiever.
As in, not a ringknocker, mediocre grades, decent OERs, no serious relationships, destined to put in his 20 and retire as a light bird.
His sister, on the other hand, is an ovrachiever, valedictorian, happily engaged research scientist at the CDC who becomes aware of a dangerous nw strain of MRSA eminating from a Sudanese hospital. Her superiors disregard her warnings and she calls her brother. Who then finally steps up for the first time in his life and goes rogue to stop the Sudanese bad guys.
Sound plausible? Something worth reading? |
The main problem I have is with your protagonist. The idea of a guy who was good enough to pass selection for a Tier 1 SF group (or, indeed, any group falling under JSOC command) being an "underachiever" is going to be impossible to sell, IMO. Those dudes can never be, by the nature of their job, underachievers in
any way. And stories about underachievers who discover their potential in dangerous situations have been done to death, and they tend to be pretty tough to pull off when the character is so difficult to relate to (sadly, that seems to be the situation you're setting up here). It might be better to have him dealing with other psychological issues (i.e. PTSD, after a recent combat deployment) or character flaws that he needs to resolve in order to become a better person, or at least heal himself from a serious trauma.