Start out with your conspiracy base line plot (what is the bad guy's plan) and then shade in how the protaganist is going to weave in and out. That's probably the best plan.
One suggestion on how the protagonist can get dragged (or enticed) into the fun is to imagine the plan going off perfectly... and then deciding on where, how and why the plan can break. Then see how well you can involve the protagonist. For example, if the plan requires three henchmen riding three identical breed/size/color horses to be at a particular location at a particular time, replace one of them with the protagonist (as his/her horse happens to fit the bill perfectly) as the scheduled henchman was in an instantly-fatal riding accident.
The traditional method of involving the hero is a death. It's not quite a cliche, in and of itself, because let's be honest: when someone you care about has been murdered, it's an excellent excuse to stick your nose in. But never forget that what
makes it a cliche is how you write it.
The more intricate, well thought out, logical, devious--but only when it really furthers the baddies' plot, the better the hero will be.
So start with a solid evil plot, with really interesting intelligent bad guys with motivation*--once it's iron clad and logical, then start foiling the attempt. Does that make sense? The additional shading would come from how the bad guys adapt to the hero's foils.
I'd toss in a thought from method acting (or RPGs, depending on your tastes). If you can create fully-realized characters for the villains (plural is deliberate), you can also figure out what they would overlook or misinterpret. It works best if it's a genuine character flaw, in that they ignore something that would have put the hero in their clutches because of a prejudice or phobia or something similar. Building their failures on the lack of a particular fact or set of same slides dangerously close to what's known as a Vizzini Gambit (named for the character in "Princess Bride" who thinks he's the smartest player in the game but is fatally incorrect). Check it out
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VizziniGambit, but be wary: tropes can ruin your life.
*don't overlook that the first motivation is never a single motivation but several. The bad guys will each have their own motivations for being involved. PLUS the best twist is when we find out a secret motivation of the main bad guy, who has kept the motivation secret from his own left hand person. --Those are the ones where only the psychopathic readers understand the psychopathic motivation (uhm think Hannibal Lecher) OR some classic books of this type--the motivation seems sound, but even the main bad guy doesn't understand his/her own unknown deep seated psychological motivation for doing the deed...
If you can imagine the villains really clearly, then try imagining the circumstances that brought them all together to form the plot. It sounds a little too "Legion of DOOM - We are evil!(tm)", but it might also help clarify their personalities, motivations, and so on. Perhaps one of your villains IS a villain in their own right, but another honestly believes that the plot will benefit the world (or whomever that particular character cares for). This might be a conflict that the protagonist could use to his/her advantage.
Or another twist, 3/4s of the way through the bad guys (or one bad guy) realize(s) that their motivations are diverging from each other. So a hero vs bad guy, becomes a complicated mesh of hero vs bad guy vs bad guy--forcing an unlikely hero/bad guy alliance. Yeah that would be a cool one too! (hasn't 24 used this one?) The reverse would be just as likely in real life. hero and hero helper vs bad guy and the hero helper realizes that his motivation is going to drive him/her over to the bad guy's side, whether the bad guy knows it or not...
Good idea! You're trying to write a conspiracy story, so things
will get complicated. I suggest starting with a fairly straightforward story (the villains' plans falling into place like clockwork), then adding complications at a rate you can handle (involve just the hero, diverge one of the top villains from the rest of the cabal, set one of the second- or third-tier henchmen to personally eliminate the hero, etc.) Experiment with inflicting circumstances on the story that neither the hero nor the villains could have anticipated; I'm thinking of Hurricane Katrina's effect on Dean Koontz' "Frankenstein" series, here, as he had set it in New Orleans from just before 2006. Who knows? It'll probably take the hero by surprise, but the villains might even be able to accellerate their plans...
heck I could keep going on those for forever and ever..... oh and don't forget.. MUST HAVE TICKING CLOCK DEADLINE!
Yeah, those would hook me in...
Yup, me too. Nothing like time-pressure to force all involved parties to greatness... or foolhardy stunts.
Good luck, and please keep us posted!
