loopy777

Here we are again, planning a story I call "Sokka's Eleven," about how Sokka reacts to adulthood and peacetime by lashing out and robbing a casino for specific reasons I'm obscuring for now. So, last time I discussed my premise, and outlined what seemed to be my Eleven crew before I said I was going to have to redo the whole thing.

The list I created last time was indeed the cast I was going to use before I shelved this story, but since picking it up again, I realized that it had major problems. (Either I needed the perspective of a little distance, or I've become a better writer since then.) I'm sure most people notice, but the core of my Eleven crew is, essentially, the gAang. If I write them as in-character then they're going to essentially get along, they're going to know how to work together, and they're not going to interact as readily with the lesser cast members who won slots on the team.

As was pointed out on my deviantArt account, Zuko and Aang especially seem like odd choices for this story. They are the Avatar and the Fire Lord, two of the world's five world leaders. It's kind of mean for them to picking on a little casino owner. Even if he is a really bad person, or trying to take over the world or something, it's just petty to rob him or her before saving the day in the traditional manner. Just like the President of the United States wouldn't have worked in Ocean's Eleven, Zuko and Aang wouldn't have worked here.

Plus, this is a story about a casino heist. I notice there's a disturbing dearth of career criminals involved.

What I need is a team that will challenge each other, have some little conflicts without the interpersonal drama overshadowing the heist itself. I need these people to learn from each other, and learn about themselves through their interactions. I need people who can undergo their own little story-arcs that tie in with the main themes. I need them to be "small" enough that they are the underdog against this casino owner. And, as Lavanya Six noted on my LiveJournal, I'm missing some important archetypes for this kind of story. So, who should I swap out, and who gets in?

Well, Sokka stays. And, as noted, Mai has a major story arc while also being a pleasantly quirky specialist. I may or may not want to give a midlife crisis and/or growing-up story to Ty Lee, but even if I don't, she can be a really useful sounding board for the other two. Teo, as I noted, fulfilled an important archetype, plot-related role, and even played into the main theme. He stays. And they all have unique skills that could be useful for the heist.

So, who's new?

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