Does anyone here want to offer tips on writing mob/gangster stories?

Superficial familiarity with the mob genre is one of my biggest challenges. Another one being the main character is a woman and I'm a guy.

I checked the 'So You Want To' pages but I can't find a page for such a story despite it being so well known.

So any resources or advice?

Watch mob movies. Do research on google and wikipedia. If possible, read the book about the Cosa Nostra and whatever interviews with mobsters you can find. Also, big thing to remember. The mob is a fluid, changing entity. You gotta be very specific in what era you're researching, because values change (kinda like how omerta flat out collapsed in the seventies and eighties, leading to the largest influx of rats, finks, and sellouts in mafia history).

What about "new player" criminal leaders set in late 20th century to now?

edited 13th Oct '14 10:40:39 PM by Worlder

What works are about a rise to power? From Nobody to Nightmare. From a downtrodden face in the crowd to a cruel merciless tyrant.

The Godfather. Not so much for "downtrodden face in the crowd," but more for a man's rise into a cruel, merciless tyrant.

GTA is usually about a nobody rising to power, so that'd probably be worth a look.

Also really depends on what era you're writing. 1920s mafia or modern era gangster?

Or for that matter where the story is set. The good news is that, since most people don't actually have an understanding of organized crime, historical accuracy isn't something you have to go for. What you do want to do, is make sure that you give them what they are expecting.

For gangsters in an atypical setting I'd recommend Justified wherein one of the two main characters is a Harlan County, Kentucky drug dealer trying to rise in the world and achieve control over the county. It's essentially one long "rise to power" story, with a lot of setbacks along the way. Australian gangster drama Underbelly is also very good, showing the fluctuations within Melbourne's gangs over a multi-year period. And if you want to do "the fall" then British gangster film The Long Good Friday is a superb example.

Underbelly takes a long hard look at Australian crime from the Razor gangs of The Roaring '20s which was fought by two female gang leaders and Squizzy Tailor to the Italian mafia in the 70's and 80's (one of the detectives was the mother of the show's narrator and detective in the first series) before a woman tries to take down the Calabrians, then the prostitution and corruption of Kings Cross, the Melbourne gangland wars, and the women involved in each series. Plus it was all real, or a reasonable portrayal of real events (Roberta Williams went right off on how she was seen, but the important facts, her husband going on a execution spree and her relationship with Benji, that's fact if embellished.)

Obvious advice: Do the research into whichever kind of gang you're writing about.

Less obvious advice: Establish the settings and key characters early, because stories about a gangster's rise through the ranks tend to involve a lot of characters, and thus poorly-defined characters will probably get forgotten (example: when I saw The Godfather, it took me a while to grasp that the sister seen in the latter half of the movie was the same one who got married in the opening scene, because almost no emphasis was put on her in the opening.) Put special emphasis on showing relationships - you're writing about an organization in which people routinely kill total strangers on the orders of their boss. If you don't show what the Don has done to deserve the loyalty of his men, the audience isn't going to care.

edited 28th Oct '14 8:21:03 PM by StrixObscuro

Just giving you a note: Do not, as an author, lump in all Asian mobs with the Yakuza, or confuse the IRA with the Irish mob.

Racism was pretty endemic in the 1920s-50s, so the characters can often be racist themselves and modern people will understand, even if they don't like it. Just make sure that you do your research yourself.

I have another question about writing such a story.

What works are about a criminal leader trying to go legit and no longer live a life of crime, but the past continues to haunt the character via guilt and old enemies?

@Worlder: there are plenty, but most of them aren't all that good. Another facet of getting out of "the life" that often isn't touched on is this; you have to get all the way out. A buddy of mine got heavily into gang life for about five years, and he said he spent a further two trying unsuccessfully to get out of it. What kept pulling him back; old friends who "just needed help with one little thing". These were people he felt he owed his time to, because loyalty and past favors. Unfortunately, that "one little thing" always led to consequences, which led to more criminal activity, and it wasn't long before he was right back where he started. Eventually he had to move a long distance away and cut ties with everyone he knew.

It's the same as people who try to quit drugs; they have to give up all their old drug buddies, stop going back to all their old haunts, etc. if they want to get clean and stay clean. The guy I know put it this way: "You got to get rid of all of it. All your friends, all your places, any ink you've got, even the neighborhood you lived in. Giving up your friends hurts, because some of them are good people. But the thing that brought you to run with them is the thing you're trying to get away from, and there's no getting around that."

Hope that gives you some ideas.

@Worlder

Most of the goods one I can think of ultimately end in failure. Season 1 of Justified has a case in point, with former white supremacist Boyd trying to set up a church and do the right thing. Unfortunately, his connections with his crime boss father drag in him right back in, and soon enough he's using his church as a recruiting ground for vigilantes to use against his dad, all while trying to convince himself he's the good guy. In the end he winds up taking over his father's business after losing his faith. Really well done, but I don't think it helps you.

Cowboy Bebop has some of the feel you're talking about, but it's more Western than gang story. Spike ran away from the Red Dragon Syndicate to become a bounty hunter, but grudges from his ex-partner haul him back in several times.

edited 17th Nov '14 9:34:48 PM by AmbarSonofDeshar