When should i introduce the main goal of the story (I have 2 of them)...?

[lonewolfwanderer]

Right, I have been following the advice given to me by the community here regards to my previous post about the plot stalling. I've learnt a little more about my story, but now i've got a complicated scenario which i need your advice on again.

So far, i've worked out that my story covers 3 main goals: Gabriel to find his daughter; Gabriel to face his wife; and Tyler to save humanity.
The first one is covered in the first part of the story, the last is covered in the 2nd part of the story.
The 2nd goal kinda stretches between the two parts. Let me explain...

Gabriel finds his daughter, but is confronted by his undead wife. Here he tries to lay her to rest, while protecting his daughter (like any father/husband would, i'm sure). But he doesn't survive it. The second goal then becomes the goal for Tyler, which helps drive her to the end point where she will face the Lich.
In the first part, Gabriel succeeds in finding his daughter, but fails to free his wife's soul. In the second part, Tyler succeeds with both goals.

What I need advice on is: when to introduce what goals as the dramatic premise (i think that's what its called).
What i mean is... do i first introduce Gabriel wanting to find his daughter as a goal, or him wanting to save his wife as a goal?
My gut tells me to introduce the "saving his wife" goal first, because i can have that happen while he is out hunting with the group he's fallen in with.
Also, in the start of the WIP, Gabriel has accepted, and begun to believe, that his daughter is dead. I need to change that but the halfway mark or so, when he realizes she's still alive and begins to search for her... which will in turn, lead him to the final confrontation with his wife and so forth. I want to do this via subtle breadcrumbs, or clues that get him thinking about the possibility. (one of which he finds a few of his daughter's favourite flowers, freshly picked and placed in the area where Mary died)
Now, i should have made my mind up with which goal to introduce first, BUT i don't know which one will have the greatest impact early on in the story.

Which do you think will have a greater impact (although i suppose i could have both) but i wanna know what you all think?

And another thing while i'm at it... The story is based here in Cape Town, South Africa Between 3 prominent, and world renowned places (I'll just say points, A, B and C). The Lich was found in a catacomb, or just a tomb within Point A, and has made that his "home". this is also where the final confrontation with the lich will occur. Mary dies (before the start of the story, and killed by the Lich) at point C, and Gabriel's confrontation happens at point B.
As you can see, Mary was killed by the lich, which means he left point A, and was at point C when Mary and Tyler was there... But i can't think of a good reason as to why he was at point C at the time?? Especially because it is quite a distance away (maybe 50 or so kilometers)...

 

[RobPrescott]

Regarding goals I think from what you've told us it sounds like it should start with Gabriel just wanting to find his wife, having already given up on his daughter, but then leaning that his wife is dead and his daughter is alive, shifting his priorities. I don't think you need to state these, the goal should be to make it clear what he is trying to do and why more organically.

The location part I don't think I can help so much with. You've not given much information on the Lich so far for his motivations to be clear, but having him a bit more mobile would seem to make sense - if you're main antagonist is stuck to just one locale it makes him a little less frightening. Leave point A as his base of operations but having him a little more roving (even spicing up additional dialogue with sightings or rumours of attacks) make him a more powerful presence in the story, something the characters are always having to keep a watch out for rather than a distant final boss fight waiting patiently for the heroes to level up enough to choose to face.

 

[lonewolfwanderer]

The thing is though, Gabriel knows his wife is dead. He buried her.

What i have so far, is that Mary and Tyler were running away from something, or something like that, and came face to face with the Lich. Mary told Tyler to run, which she did, but Tyler stopped just long enough to witness the Lich strike Mary down. Overwhelmed with fear, she fled. Gabriel was separated from the two of them a little while before this incident, but when he found Mary, she was already mortally wounded. She died in his arms, and he buried her. By this point, Tyler was already gone and Gabriel couldn't find her... even after searching for her over the years to follow. So he knows Mary is dead; he just doesn't know, yet, that she has been reanimated

Essentially, when the story opens, his wife is dead and his daughter is missing, presumed dead. Now, i wouldn't say he'd given up on Tyler being alive, but after not being able to find her for so long, he came to accept the possibility that she is dead. He still hopes, even if just a little bit, that Tyler is still alive. Tyler is the one that will leave the "clues" in hope that her father that will notice them, and maybe even a few unintentional clues. Clues that are subtle enough to get him thinking whether or not it's his daughter, and eventually cause him to begin searching for her again.

Now regards to the Lich:

At this point, i'm not 100% sure what the defining characteristics of my Lich will be. I'm currently working on what i've researched about the lich. According to the resources a Lich is an undead creatue, often the result when a powerful magician or king strives for eternal life. He uses spells or rituals to bind his intellect or soul to his corpse or a phylactery of sorts. and thereby achieving a form of immortality.
They are known to hold power over the lesser undead and i would consider them to be close to being the king of the undead (think of the Lich King in Warcraft)
Regards to his motivations.. that i'm also not 100% certain on yet. At the moment i'm going for Revenge upon the living for whatever might have happened in his real life... possibly revenge for sealing him away for so many years. Maybe he just went plain insane and decided to erase everything that lives.
Maybe even, he was created by someone else with a grudge. Someone who had already died not long after the Lich was first sealed away, but left the lich unbound and free to do as it pleased.

Liches are considered to be intelligent, at least in comparison to the other forms of undead (zombies, draugr, etc). He has made Point A his castle kind of thing, and that will also become the location for the final battle between him and Tyler.
Now, i could just have him "wander about" but i feel that's a little boring. Perhaps he was just searching for something... I'm considering writing from his point of view for a little while just so that i can get an idea on what his goal actually is. Won't be immortality, because he has that already... maybe something like a different level of power, or just the annihilation of the living (although the latter could cause a lack of empathy with the lich, which i would like to have, even though he is a living corpse of some, possibly, mad man).

 

[Brian G Turner]

It's fine to have a widening perspective as the story develops. I'm sure we see this often in thrillers, especially where what at first appears to be a main antagonist turns out to be a minion of a more powerful foe with a bigger game plan.

 

[RobPrescott]

Ok, this being the case I think it would be better to start with Gabriel knowing his wife is dead and thinking his daughter is alive, still searching for the daughter but gradually giving up hope. Doing this in the story would, I feel, be more powerful than having it be the starting state. Then you can have events happen that cause him to doubt his giving up, and to restart the search for Tyler. His goals this way should stay pretty clear to the reader and I don't think you'd have much trouble getting sympathy for them.

As for the Lich... It seems you don't really know who he (she?) is or what his purpose in the story, beyond 'antagonist' really is yet. I think this is something you need to figure out. You mention the phylactory idea, which is a good one. If it is something he has lost, or been stolen from him, this gives him good motivation for being mobile - which I still think would be a good story mechanic. But you really need to work on his character, what he wants, what he is, who he was, to make him into a good, believable villain. I think writing some story parts from his point of view would really help you in this, but I wouldn't necessarily think that they need to be a part of your story. Write them for an exercise in developing his character - this is something I do for supporting characters in my work, despite it all being written in final form from a single POV - and see what develops! It can be a great exercise in figuring out who he is and what his role in the story can be. It seems from what you've said that you want him to be more than a one-note final boss figure, so giving him some character is essential. Even if it doesn't all come out in the story it will still influence and direct your writing and make it far richer to read.

I'm pretty new to this forum and not sure how exactly it works yet, but if you want to send me a message with some text you've got written I'd be happy to take a look over it for you. Either way, hope the advice helps!

 

[Laeraneth]

I'm kind of leaning towards thinking that the hunt for his wife first, believing his daughter dead, and then finding out that she is alive, would have a greater emotional impact than the other way around.
The switch from being out solely for revenge/redemption (against the lich, and for his wife) initially, to then having a reason for joy and happiness again, feels better to me than finding his daughter and being happy, then finding out that he has to go and finish off the remains of his wife and struggle to keep his daughter safe.

It absolutely works both ways, but one gives happiness and hope first, then snatches it away (ie, feels more bleak to my mind), the other presents the bad situation getting worse, but then brings it back to happiness later on.

...

maybe I'm just a sucker for a happy ending.

(Which then gets horribly subverted... muahaha)