When I was a little girl, I was an avid fan of The Perils of Penelope Pitstop. Penelope was an heiress, always active in charitable projects, sometimes daredevil ones. Wherever she went, the Hooded Claw was waiting; plotting some peril she’d need her wits, help, or both to escape from.
This was my first experience with the chase, the main characters being pursued by someone as a major plot point.
I remember experiencing it much later in A Series of Unfortunate Events, both the movie and book series. Like Penelope, the Baudelaire orphans were stalked by a villain wherever they went in a number of disguises, plotting to get them and their fortune. Even less able to rely on help than Penelope, they had to use their wits to escape the perils their stalker put in their path. I was particularly struck by the end credits of the movie, done in a delightfully Gothic fashion where the very landscape had eyes and turned into their pursuer. It brought back memories of Lord of the Rings, Sauron, and how his eye often followed Frodo wherever he went.
That involved a chase, too, particularly the first part of The Fellowship of the Ring. Frodo starts out walking, aware he’s being pursued, but still able to enjoy the landcape and the company of his friends. By the time he arrives at Rivendell, it’s at a full gallop with the Ringwraiths hot on his trail.
Being hunted became a plot kink that particularly drew me into a story. Sometimes the chase was eternal without resolution. Sometimes it was toward a particular destination and climax. Almost every character I created for a roleplaying game had some sort of pursuer. Many of those concepts evolved into stories of my own. There was so much energy in the pursuit, even when it was a mild or romantic one, it drove the story forth. How would my characters react? How would this chase change? Would the one being pursued turn around and pursue the pursuer? Some of the most interesting tales involved a measure of mutual hunting.
What about you, dear reader? Do you enjoy stories about some sort of chase? Have you ever written such stories yourself?