Still alive too!

I'm taking a more outline-drive approach, on the assumption that once I've got the story charted out from start to finish I can sit down and bang it out in one shot. At least that's how it used to work for me when I was writing papers back in college...so very long ago...

Anyway, I've settled on my Samurai story. The essential conflict is that the protagonist is going to die, and must achieve inner peace before his end. The setup will be three parts: a beginning, where the situation is established - I'm still hashing details, but the upshot is that the protagonist is taken prisoner by the Shogun's men. The protagonist's family has been killed and the murderers are still at large, but for complicated reasons the samurai has either been framed or is being held for dishonoring the Shogun (I'm working towards a situation where an advisor of the Shogun is a traitor and caused the protagonist's family to be killed, but in defending his family the protagonist killed several of the Shogun's better men. He's brought dishonor on the Shogun and must be punished, even if we know it's bull).

The second phase of the story will take place as the samurai is in prison. This will be shorter, but will build the tension: will he be pardoned? Will he escape? Will he be rescued? This will end with a definitive "no" to all of those question: he will either be executed in shame, or may choose the honorable alternative and take his own life.

The third section will bring the climax of the conflict: not whether he can escape death, but rather whether he can face it with dignity and calm. The tension will build here as he realizes there is no escape and tries to compose his thoughts, but is torn by all the things yet undone, including avenging the murders of his family. I am thinking about whether or not to have a friend (probably his second) promise to avenge his family, but have to mull that over: I don't know if I want to have an external motivator for him to finally reach his inner peace. The story will end with the samurai commiting sepukku in a state of transcendent calm.

My challenge as a writer will be to build tension in the reader, but avoid the false tension of "will he escape" and focus instead on the turmoil in his head, and whether he will die in a state of chaotic despair, or die with calm and peace in his mind.

Should be fun!