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.
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.
posted by Nodrog at 00:27
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