Writing Challenge Tuesday: Black Sedan

I’m reminded of the first episode of the BBC's Sherlock, where John Watson finds himself bamboozled into a black sedan and dragged off to meet Mycroft. It was a fascinating double play, since for at least ten minutes I was convinced that we were supposed to think that was Moriarty. Fortunately, it wasn’t, since we need Moriarty to be the major villain later.

The Woman, Irene Adler, uses the same idea. In Jim Butcher’s books, Marcone uses the trope to drag Harry Dresden into conversation. And in Daniel’s case, he often gets dragged off by psychotic half demon twins to amuse their boss. Poor Daniel. The twins will be the death of him, and possibly of me, since they get very cross about not having screen time in the last few books. I mean, I tell them, it’s not like they could show up in Killing Floor Blues, but… Ahem. I’m getting off topic.

The Black Sedan is a great trope to use in order to plunge a character into the thick of an intrigue plot. So imagine your protagonist is dragged off in an unmarked car. Who would be doing the dragging? How will they react? What is their escape method? Talk their way through and get dropped off, or roll out onto the highway during a slow moment? 

See you on Thursday for more Inspirations!