I had originally planned to write Dig Down in chronological order, but there was one major issue that kept me from starting: the scene where Rob comes to Preston asking for help. The dilemma was broken up into two problems. One: why would Preston refuse to help Rob. Two: the length of the scene.
I felt the length of their scene together had huge ramifications for the rest of the story. If it was too short, it might not only feel rushed but like it was one big exposition dump. If it was too long, I felt the shift from a conversation between father and son to that the chase that followed would be too jarring of a transition. I didn’t want the story to feel like Tuesdays with Morrie turned into Speed halfway through.
The idea to write Dig Down as two alternating timelines solved both these problems for me. Although half the chapters were devoted to the conversation between Rob and Preston, I could make them any length I wanted, and these chapters tend to be the shorter ones in the book. So the conversation is still a significant part of the story while the chronicles of Rob’s escape still take center stage.
This solved the pacing issues I thought would be present when I tried to write it chronologically. Just as the tension was ramping up or after an intense sequence, I could give the reader a bit of a breather with a more calming (though hopefully emotional intense) scene, before throwing them and Rob right back into the frying pan.
Structuring Dig Down this way also allowed me to flesh out Preston and the relationship Rob had with him even more. Until this point, my only description of him was that he was Rob’s father and was sickly. I had yet to determine, other than he needed the money for his medical expenses, why he would refuse to help his son out. Part of the reason for that was I just didn’t believe I could devote as much time to the character that I eventually did if I’d written Dig Down in chronological order.
I had originally envisioned the scene between him and Rob lasting as long as the opening scene in Dial M for Murder. That scene dishes out all the information you need to know methodically, just like the villain the movie centers around, but it also fit the tone and pace of the movie. One long scene like that didn’t fit the fast pace I’d intended for Dig Down. Now, by breaking up this part of the story, I’d create a new (but much more manageable) problem for myself.
If half of the chapters were now going to be devoted to the debate between Rob and Preston, I needed to be able to supply them both with ammunition to battle for so long. In order to do that, I needed to understand who Preston was.
What I came up with was that Preston was the opposite of Rob. Whereas Rob was lazy and always looking for shortcuts, Preston was a self-made man, and a strong believer in doing things the right way. He would have developed a steadfast routine and honed it over time, so that even when he was going through some tough times, that foundation would always be there to support him getting back on his feet.
But he’s also Rob’s father, and so even though they are fundamentally different, he’ll always have the best intentions for Rob in all his actions, even though Rob never sees it that way. When Rob is insulted by being offered a measly sales rep job instead of an executive position, Preston sees it as helping his son attain the discipline he didn’t receive when he coasted and underachieved through college. When Rob feels Preston is holding him back by not promoting him, even after he’s signed a record number of new clients, Preston views it as tough love, believing that Rob still hasn’t shed his lazy work ethic, and keeping him in the position until Rob is forced to learn the business. When Rob feels betrayed that his father would fire him, Preston believed he was choosing the lesser of two evils. Although Rob would be devastated being fired in the short term, Preston felt that if he continued to let Rob falter and drain the company’s money, there’d be no job for him in the future.
I went through the entire backstory I had outlined for Rob and gave a justification for every one of Preston’s actions that Rob would’ve felt was persecution. In doing so, I now had the framework for a great debate between father and son, that satisfied my need to make Rob look sympathetic on the surface, but would also reveal the love that Preston held for him every step of the way.