The Mysterious Stranger: Chapter 6
HUGE News...and how a human riddle pushes the plot and keeps the reader engaged
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The Mysterious Stranger Archetype
Literature has “archetypes.” Character types that show up across stories across time: the hero, mentor, caregiver, outlaw, etc.
One of these is the “mysterious stranger.” He comes on the scene and immediately presents more questions than answers. The reader doesn’t know why he arrived, where he came from, what he’s doing. But the author throws him into the mix and implies that the character is important.
The mysterious stranger is a great tool because the reader gets intrigued fast and tracks the stranger. That keeps the reader focused on the right things. If the author constructs the stranger the right way, the more the reader learns about the stranger, the more she learns about the plot and key themes. The stranger is essentially a promise being made by the author: “I’m giving you this character, and you won’t understand him for a while, but I promise that I’ll explain it all eventually.”
COMMUNITY DAY’s mysterious stranger is Blowtorch Len McGregor.
Just about all of the novel’s questions are wrapped up in his story—what happened at the park, what’s going on with this neighborhood, what happened to this county? Even his nickname “Blowtorch” is a mystery until the final third of the book. And most of the novel’s big themes are wrapped up with him—the consequences of isolation, the distortion of time, the costs of selfishness.
Introducing Blowtorch Len
In the novel’s first five chapters, Blowtorch Len never appears in person. The narrator only mentions him four times. But each time, it’s eerie or at least mysterious.
“…caused Nelly to freak out anytime she saw that old scamp Blowtorch Len McGregor or even heard his name..”
“Unless you’re careful, Blowtorch Len is your future.”
“This has got some serious Blowtorch-Len energy, I’ll tell you what.”
”The ridiculousness and sublimity of Blowtorch Len McGregor.”
Chapter 6 is dedicated to fleshing out Blowtorch Len while maintaining the mystery. The chapter begins with, “I bet you want to know more about Blowtorch Len McGregor.”
From there, the narrator discusses his looks, mannerisms, activities, speaking style, and more. But Blowtorch is still very strange. The narrator even highlights the things we don’t know about him (his actual age, family, career, past).
To understand Blowtorch is to understand everything, and I couldn’t give that away yet. It’s only Chapter 6!
Building the Mystery
I use another tool to build the mystery surrounding Blowtorch Len. The chapter is full of metaphors, allusions, and descriptions about mysterious things (e.g., religion, death). My goal was to have the reader feel spooked-out or just unsteady whenever Blowtorch Len’s name is mentioned.
Here are some examples of the mysterious language used in Chapter 6.
“the most unusual shrine attracting the most unusual pilgrim.”1
“four bollards—short, thick wooden posts—that look eerily like nameless headstones marking the eternal resting spot of this deceased and forgotten county initiative.”
“Antiques Roadshow-verified”2
“ghostly tableau”
“a decrepit ride at an abandoned amusement park”
“propinquity to the grave”
“You’d think rigor mortis had already set in”
“standing shiva by that sign”
“a mysterious community institution, like a haunted house or a long-deserted Ford Edsel deteriorating in the woods”
“bus-stop Mecca”
“more fey than freakish”3
“administered myself the Last Rites”
“quickly scrawled a will”
Thinking About the Prequel
I have three ideas for a mysterious stranger in the prequel. Each intrigues me. All are imperfect.
I know that one character will be a priest with a mysterious past. He’d be the inverse of Arthur Dimmesdale, the tortured minister from The Scarlett Letter. Instead of being a man believed to be holy while actually being sinful, my priest would be a man believed to be sinful while actually being holy. The problem for me is that his mysterious past is only one part of his character, and the other parts will be important. So he doesn’t exactly fit the mold.
One possibility is the evil former mentor of one of the two main characters. This mentor would be the lascivious advisor to the main character when she was in a Ph.D. program. I might want him to show up and unsettle the main character, giving me a way to reveal more about her past. But I want this main character to be strong. I want her to have put this awful man behind her. If the stranger has no power over her, he wouldn’t be that mysterious.
The other possibility is the first serious girlfriend of the other main character. He’s now a powerful, unshakeable man. Her arrival could enable me to explore his past—when he was a very different person. This could call into question the mystique he’s built.
For previous installments of this explanation-and-exploration series: Prologue: Setting the Stage Chapter 1: Introducing Key Characters Chapter 2: Forest and Breadcrumbs Chapter 3: Contradictions Chapter 4: Show Don’t Tell
About the abandoned bus stop Blowtorch frequents.
A show about items with unknown provenance.
FEY, adjective: having magical or supernatural powers or knowledge: