I’m always amazed (and a little jealous) when authors or screenwriters are able to come up with innovative ways to make an impossible task possible (like robbing a casino in Oceans 11). Heist Society was along this same vein when Ally Carter had to come up with a plan for her main character, Katarina Bishop, to take on the Henley Museum.
Heist Society was all about the obstacles. That being said, Carter did an excellent job of demonstrating how to put obstacles between the protagonist and his or her goal.
For instance, Kat’s main goal was to re-steal five paintings for mobster, Arturo Taccone, to save her dad:
1. The paintings were in the most secured museum in the world—the Henley.
2. The one person (Kat’s uncle), who could most likely pull off the heist, refused to help.
3. The other person (Kat’s dad) was unable to help.
4. Kat didn't have enough people in her crew to pull off the job.
5. Carter threw in an ethical obstacle about stealing the paintings in general.
6. But if Kat didn't succeed, then Arturo would kill her dad.
Aside from these obstacles, Carter established an overarching obstacle to the story: Kat wanted out of a life of thieving. Of course, other obstacles prevented that from happening.
I attended a presentation once where the speaker said a writers job was to put as many obstacles as possible between the main characters and their intended goals. The prize should never come easy for them.
I think Heist Society is a good example of creating obstacles—tons of them.
You don’t need to stop with direct obstacles (such as obstacles that prevent the character from physically attaining what they want), but personal obstacles, ethical obstacles, etc. Ultimately, obstacles create conflict and we really can’t have too much of that.
