Preparation 2 - Characters

I'm thinking that the working owner is a guy called Steve. Don't know why, just seems to work.

Steve is not to be confused with Bruce from Scotland Street by the way. AVOID DERIVATIVE THINGS LIKE THE PLAGUE.

He is working, but perhaps not in the professions.
He's only been working for a while - perhaps a year? He was away from his place of study (Glasgow? or just nonspecific Scottish/British city?) for a bit, but has come back to 'base' (home is elsewhere, somewhere a bit more rural).

He's just bought the flat, on the agreement that his friend will stay with him, so he at least has one rent coming in.

Perhaps the friend is the student who is struggling, not studying. Then again, perhaps not.

Six is a good number: Two shared rooms and two singles in a four-bed property.

• Steve - owner, working


• Steve's friend - honours student, writing dissertation - cynical and tired. Either took year out or did extra year abroad, and was a year behind Steve anyway.



• A couple of friends (female) who are first year, a bit naive, didn't get organised for residences and responded to poster in Student Union.



• A student who keeps himself to himself, has struggled to keep up with work, virtually dropping out - struggles to pay rent and contribute on other fronts.



• A strong female personality, also doing dissertation but far more positive and organised - a 'super-motivated zoom person'.

Sounds like a good collection of people. Names will be required shortly.


First person narration probably won't work as well if this is a six-handed ensemble piece - it's better for a 'one main character job'. Third person is probably better. But on the other hand, I don't want just to do a fast changing first person every short chapter as in Heinlein's 'Number of the Beast'; perhaps simply 'one turn each' would do better. So there are six sections to the book (autumn term, Christmas hols, spring term, Easter break, summer term, period up to graduation?) with each one being the main character for one section, and taking the bulk of the 'action'. This suggests one crisis resolution at the end of each section for the narrating character, with perhaps secondary resolutions at graduation time for all?

OK that's enough for now. Where's that flea spray?

Preparation 1

It's August the umpthingth, and NaNoWriMo is only a couple of months away. I have far too many things to do, so this is a brilliant idea to take up more of my time.

Probably I can do this on the train to and from college, or possibly not. I won't be able to post until I get home, but still...

It's worth a go, I feel - maybe 'writer' is what I will be when I grow up...

So, what does one need for a Novel? (looks better than novel, don't you think?)

My previous attempts have generally started with titles - somehow that works for me, I think. But for a title you need an idea. As someone once said (?Malcolm Hulke, writer on Doctor Who) 'all you need for a good story is an original idea; it doesn't have to be your original idea!' Also Bono said 'every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief' so if nothing else, I may be in good company.

Other things:
Plot
Characters
Structure
Progression
Scenes

The usual old saw is 'write about what you know'. From this and my previous experience, I can say - write sci-fi or fantasy as it's what I know in the sense that it's what I read most of. However this may not be my best plan. Next thought, please!

Something Christian? Hard to do without being cheesy and/or unrealistic. However, these should be no obstacles to a hardened WriMo!

Perhaps a novel centring around five or six characters who happen to be Christians, and who struggle through life like anyone else - their Christianity central to their lives, but not central to the plot, so that the novel is not simply mugging its readers to convert at page-point. Don't want to make it too similar to 'Friends' but then the dialogue isn't going to be tightly written jokes every step of the way so I'll probably be safe from that one.

Perhaps a flat that has a mix of students and newly graduated working/non-working people. The novel could then take place over the period of an academic year.

Some would be cynical and tired (doing Honours dissertation, perhaps?), others eternally fresh-faced and optimistic. All have connections to the local church (or churches? perhaps only one, saves on confusion). Perhaps one who is a resolute atheist, or agnostic - or not so resolute - but has connection to church in other ways.

If Christianity is not central to the plot, something has to be - the climactic build-up over the academic year with unexpected twists and turns. If the academic year is central, then perhaps most of them are students, with just one working person (the owner?, also knows at least one of the students from previous year), and one who is theoretically a student, but struggling to fit in/go to classes/has depression? Then the climax could be Graduation, with a parallel development for the non-student(s).

So is it omniscient narrator stuff, or told from the 1st person? Alternating first person? Told in flashback?
I've done the 3rd person narrator before, I think, so might try 1st person.

OK that's enough ideas generation for now. Let it percolate a bit before tying down some more info tomorrow.