hey, i've been lurking around the thread for a bit, sorry this is a bit late, but I'm going to chop from parts of your posts, just because you have clarified some other stuff since.
Originally posted by Lestov16
I know it sounds campy. I'm not looking for Tom Clancy-level realism. Brad Thor-level is what I'm aiming for (without the rampant jingoist Islamophobia, of course). I might have it as just one high-up who authorizes the betrayal. But I want the betrayal to get results, so it can be argued as necessary
I didn't mean campy as bad. Sometimes the reason something is a cliche is because it hits a part of each of our psyches where we are talking about some sort of assumed universal truths.
People accept that the powerful do corrupt and terrible things. Just because it might be campy to have "rouge CIA agent pragmatically betrays his friends for patriotism" as a premise, it doesn't mean the hook doesn't work. You said it yourself, or at least alluded with the fact that the betrayal can be argued as necessary. There IS a logic to this type of calculated villain, and it is why it works so well. That evil person who is driven by some overarching sense of duty hits everyone in an uncomfortable place, right? so please, don't take that as criticism so much as to say, if you are going to rely on these archetypes, there are probably other things that you can play to rather than trying to be literally accurate.
For instance, in the sort of summary you describe, you say:
Originally posted by Lestov16
Deputy Director (on orders from some White House Official) leaked his name to a powerful criminal in exchange for info on a major terrorist leader (who has recently been performing many bombings)
the unfortunate truth is that, in any realistic scenario, the "action" part of your novel is now over. The CIA agent takes this information to some other branch of the government or press, and the remainder of your novel is senate hearings, impeachment proceedings and so forth. The judicial infrastructure, or at least the journalistic infrastructure, is already there to deal with this type of crime. For the media, this type of thing is a wet dream, as it would ensure some form of award for being the one to break the story. Any aspiring politician would love to cut their teeth taking the administration to task on an issue like this. Hell, the "Fast and Furious" debacle wasn't half as treasonous or terrible as what you are describing and there are fairly public hearings ongoing about that.
If your world is the cliche world where power corrupts all and it is plausible that a rogue CIA agent would wage a vendetta war against his own government/criminals, the intricacies of political institutions are not so important, because the audience you are targeting wants this sort of surreal action and visceral experience rather than a technical look at political power.
For instance, this is why I think Equilibrium works so well as an action flick. It has a trite concept, its characters are archetypal at best and the story is as formulaic as it is contrived. Yet, everything it does well, its action sequences, the gun kata, the choreography, it is breathtaking and totally immerses you in a universe that, you know, probably doesn't make perfect logical sense, but god damn, you want to be there and ninja fight with bullets so bad!
Actually, I think you may have totally nailed this with your reference to Tom Clancy. imho, he isn't actually that amazing of a writer in terms of the realism we are discussing here. Certainly his stories are complex, and I am not taking the piss at all, seriously, but in terms of an accurate reflection of logical sequences of events that might happen geopolitically, I don't think that is his selling point. The details he does know are things like intricate specifications about military equipment and things specific to what his readers are going to really want to know for their experience.
Originally posted by Lestov16
I mean how do the criminals even know where to start looking?
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Well, it really depends on the context, what did the agent do to get this criminal organization's attention? However, I do agree with Robtard, if the agent's identity is already known, and the criminal organization you are talking about has access to black market nukes, or at least to the goings on in that market, there is no realistic reason why they would need to trade. Realistically, that criminal organization would have espionage capacity easily great enough to track down someone they already knew the identity of.
I suppose I just said "don't worry about realism" in so many words, but like, to have them trade for the agent's identity versus simply just his location seems just as useful as a plot-point, builds a bit of mystique and power into your criminal group ("we just need a name, the rest we can do alone"
, not to mention realism, and is a far greater act of betrayal, really making your villain look like a dick.
In terms of stuff to look up on this, I might even suggest looking at the recent intelligence operation by Hezbollah in Lebanon, where what the media talk about in terms of "cave dwelling trrists" outsmarted the CIA using cellular technology and effectively neutralized most of the agents they had working for them. Also, the current "cyber" war between Anonymous and various Mexican drug cartels might be useful, just to give an impression of what sophistication criminal organizations might have in terms of espionage. Of course, if you are looking for examples of just technical sophistication from criminal groups in general, the Eastern European and Russian gangs are good, as are hacker groups from Brazil, and obviously the nationalist Chinese.
Originally posted by Lestov16
I know, but I'm OCD about plot holes (Damn that Redlettermedia review!)
See, I wouldn't worry much about that. Haters gonna hate. I'm probably terrible to take advice from, as my writing is more academic than narrative, but like, I think there is always a trade. Details and mood are different, almost oppositional things, in that, when you take space on a page to describe one, you lose the other. Now, for sure, you need details about mood relevant items, but those details serve to enhance the experience. Unless you feel there is something that needs essentially some type of literal description to move the story forward, I'd say focusing on drawing the reader into the mood is going to benefit you more than drawing the reader into meticulous details about how the power systems work.
Originally posted by Lestov16
Do you know where I could start? The only thing I've been able to find was about the Plame affair
there are tonnes of examples, and I suppose it really depends more on what you want examples of, but I'd say for sure start with a look at Oliver North and his behaviour while head of the NSA. In the wake of 9-11, Robert Behr and Richard Clarke wrote good books that sort of talk about day-to-day workings of being a spy or the attitudes of people who work in intelligence, but as with all this stuff, there is a lot of bravado.
Actually, that might be a way to take this. A lot of the "stories" about "spy games" during the cold war are actually fabrications that the spies themselves came up with because of all the rumors they constantly heard. Some type of conspiratorial paranoia in the rogue agent might be good, idk...
Originally posted by Lestov16
The protagonists family is killed in a car bomb (meant for him). The CIA will not allow him to investigate. He goes rogue and discovers that the Deputy Director (on orders from some White House Official) leaked his name to a powerful criminal in exchange for info on a major terrorist leader (who has recently been performing many bombings), violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 for what they patriotically believe is the greater good. The info the criminal gives them checks out and they stop they attack, saving thousands, but the protagonist wants revenge, and the criminal agrees to be a CIA asset, and offers the location of a major WMD being sold on the black market if they find and kill the protagonist
Please somebody! Point out the flaws!
save what I said above, it isn't bad, and will probably work well as a basic premise for the type of thing you are aiming for.
I know this is just a synopsis you through at us quickly, but I'd say the main conflict and climax does need to be fleshed out a bit. Who is the main antagonist? Is the agent fighting the CIA? the criminals? both? some weird CIA/criminal amalgamation? etc.
. That's what i'm trying to troubleshoot
