NaNoWriMo starts in about 10 days. It’s about time I started warming up for it. I’m putting in a little more preparation time this year. Not that much preparation is needed but I want to do it a little differently this year.

For this warm up, I want to reflect on the story, "Conflict OverAgamemnon", I wrote last year. I’ve always wanted to come back andwrite up my thoughts on it but I’ve never found the time. This is asgood a time as any.

David was the main character from last year. David is the classicreluctant hero. He has a dark past and is tortured by the misdeeds hehas performed. His apprehension towards the current conflict is drivenby it. He was (and still is skill-wise) a very efficient assassin. Theconflict gives him to opportunity to once again apply his deadly skillsbut ….. in the intervening years David has started to develop aconscience. The untold back story has David raised from a young age tobe the ultimate killing machine. However with the world at peace, he isquietly reassigned to a location where his deadly skills would not beneeded. During this time, like any intelligent person he has startedquestioning what he done. When the conflict starts, his training kicksin and his instinct starts taking over. David emerges victorious at theend when he overcomes this training (his script as Victor Frankl wouldsay) at the end and does opposite to what he has been trained to do.When he does that, the cycle of conflict that exists within him isbroken and his true self is able to emerge.

For some unknown reason, the reluctant hero archetype appealsgreatly to me. Why? I don’t know for sure. Maybe it has something to dowith the reluctant hero having to make the difficult choices to dosomething rather than nothing. It’s the Edmund Burke quote "Eviltriumphs when good men do nothing " rewritten as a novel.

The main character for this year will have elements of the reluctanthero but won’t be one. For this year ‘m going with a close relative,the regretful protagonist.