Hi, I'm currently in the progress of writing a crime novel. It's about a kidnapping of a little girl. In this story, both the protagonist and antagonist's views are shown. I'm trying to write a scene where the kidnappers are plotting how they will go about kidnapping the child of a billionaire. I'm getting stuck. The scene doesn't feel complete. I know it needs more. There's a saying among writers... Write what you know. And that's why I'm getting stuck with this scene. How do I write about something I don't know anything about. How do kidnappers plan their crimes? How do they view themselves? How do they think? I've tried to do research and find answers. But I'm not coming up with anything from the kidnappers perspective. Most of the material I find are from either law enforcement or the victim's side. Does anyone have any suggestions?
I don't think "write what you know" means that only kidnappers can right about kidnapping. Try to figure out what you do have to bring to this scene. What is the motivation for the kidnappers? Do they resent the billionaire's wealth, do they feel they need the money for some dream or nobler purpose, do they hate themselves and feel nihilistic and angry at the world? Use what you know about human nature, and take it to the extremes. And I'd recommend that you stop looking for some homogeneous. monolithic "kidnapper" characterization. Don't figure out how kidnappers in general think, figure out how your character, who happens to be a kidnapper, thinks. In terms of the more concrete details - are your criminals sophisticated career kidnappers or rookies? Probably easier to write them if they're rookies, since they wouldn't know much more than you do. And then just... figure it out.
This is how kidnappers plan their crimes. I agree with @BayView. How your kidnapper plans the kidnapping doesn't have to be similar to how any other kidnapper would plan it.
Put yourself in their shoes - if you were to kidnap someone, why would you do it and how would you go about doing it? Kidnappers don't do this stuff by some official manual. They make it up. Just as you can make it up It's only fiction!
@BayView got the issue right in the jugular. Your kidnapper needs to be a person who just happens to be a kidnapper. If you wanted to get dark about this, you could imagine under what circumstances you yourself would kidnap someone. What would drive you to do it? If you had to kidnap someone today, or tomorrow, how would you go about it? Watch CSI? Look it up on the internet? Buy a copy of the anarchists' cookbook? Or would you plan it yourself?
First of all, I would suggest as I think some others have hinted at, this is the perfect opportunity for you to develop your antagonistic characters. Through the dialog and action of the scene you can show us a bit into their character. How do they talk, how do they look, where are they doing this planning at? Which one is the leader and why? Is it because he's the oldest brother, is he a seasoned kidnapper, the brains behind the operation? Are all of the experienced or are they scared unsure, or perhaps one of them is a little scatterbrained (and will end up making mistakes that help your protag later)? As for the actual planning, you'll have to decide how much you want to reveal to the reader first of all. Do you want them to know everything the kidnappers discuss or just a couple of details? Then in order to figure out what exactly they would discuss think about what what details would be relevant in planning a kidnapping. Where are you going to do it from the school, the home? Where will there be less people or less attentive people? How will you transport her? Where will you keep her? How will you get ransom or communicate with the parents (if that is your intention)? Who is going to make the grab, who is going to drive? Are you going to do surveillance ahead of time or have you already done surveillance and what has this revealed? What are the biggest problems with your plan/where are you most likely to get caught? You got this!
Oh and if you want to look at examples of stories that show the criminal's POV look at some James Patterson novels. He usually includes both criminal and detective POVs in his book.
