The MacGuffin by Diane Burton

"In crook stories it is almost always the necklace, 

and in spy stories it is most always the papers."

— Alfred Hitchcock

I’m working on the fourth book to my Outer Rim series, The Spy. The bad guy—introduced in book 1, The Pilot—has his fingers in government, industry, religion, everywhere. They call Hallart a galactic gangster. Through his minions, he’s into every aspect of life. Yet, citizens go about their everyday business, oblivious to how he’s changing their lives. And not for the better.

One brave man infiltrated Hallart’s organization. In the five years, he’s been undercover, Quin worked up through the ranks until he’s as close as he’s going to get to the gangster, the inner circle. His time is coming to an end. He’d better get out before he’s exposed. But he has one more task. One that will bring down the organization and expose all who work for the gangster.

All he has to do is find . . .

Here’s my frustration. I don’t know what he’s searching for. If the story took place in present time, I’d guess a code book, a ledger, incriminating pictures, something like that. But this is science fiction, and the story takes place in the future. I’ve used terms like plexi-sheet instead of paper, an electronic reader instead of books. Where would a gangster keep his records?

Or is that really what Quin needs to expose him?

No one knows what he looks like, except his trusted inner circle. You’d think that a picture or holo-vid would expose him. Here’s the kicker I introduced in book 1: he’s a shape-shifter. And not just one shape. He can shift into anyone. I guess I should have thought more about that when I invented him six years ago. LOL

In the movie Casablanca, everyone wanted letters of transit, something resistance fighters (and just about anyone) needed to get away from the Nazis. The interesting thing is, in the 1940s, there was no such thing. It was a gimmick for the film. In Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps, it was the plans for a silent plane engine. In Pulp Fiction, it was a briefcase. Movie goers didn’t know what was in the briefcase. That wasn’t important. In Star Wars: A New Hope (Episode IV), R2-D2 is the object. In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indy and the Nazis had to find the Holy Grail, the chalice Jesus supposedly used at the Last Supper.

Alfred Hitchcock called such an object a MacGuffin. It’s something everyone wants and is searching for. In the film, or book, the importance is how the object impacts/influences the characters. Finding the object is the motivation for the characters. It’s not important what the object is.

Back to my story, I’m a third of the way through. I know where it’s going. I know how it will end. But because I don’t have a name for the object of Quin’s search thing, I’ve been using the infamous “xxx.” It’s not important what I call it, but I do have to give it a name. Hence, my frustration. Maybe I should call it “the MacGuffin.”

Suggestions?

In your stories, have you ever used a MacGuffin? What was it?