Writing a New Era of an Old Conflict
As I mentioned the other day, I’ve been taking a look at some of my novels-in-progress. Now, while I should be working on story #2, which is the one I scanned in notes and stuff for, I instead feel myself drawn to story #5.
The other night, I resolved (somewhat) the plot hole that I had with story #5. The problem was that I needed a certain character to live, but there wasn’t a strong enough reason to let him live. A bigger issue is that the villains really didn’t need to be where they were. I’ve resolved that problem. Now, I just need to figure out how they are going to let the character live without having him ruin their plans.
This particular story is actually one of two stories. The part I’m working on is, basically, the prequel. It is the backstory I developed while working on the main story. It just makes sense to do the prequel first. For one thing, the events of the prequel motivate the actions of some of the characters in the main story. The main story has seven main characters.
The prequel has a story, but it doesn’t really have any main characters. There are two characters that were my main characters, but, in analyzing the story, I don’t know if they can really stay as the main characters for the purposes of moving the story along. The one is outside the sphere of activity. That is, he is not directly involved in the primary plot of the story. If he knew what was going on, he’d be able to do something about it. Instead, he doesn’t find out until later how involved he was. With the other character, he’s perhaps too good at what he does. He’s not going to be going through the personal struggles that are necessary to move the story along. There is no growth for either one of these characters.
Of course, the story could be restructured to show their earlier struggles and mistakes and the events that led them to what will be their big moment. That would be a possibility.
Another possibility is to focus more on the character-who-must-live. That’s the one I mentioned earlier as being the one I needed to keep alive though the villains (previously) didn’t have a strong reason to do so. This character is one of the seven main characters in the main story. So, drawing him out here might take away from his development in the main story. Still, it’s workable, except for one small factor: he needs to fail. I don’t think people would want to read a story about a character, only to see someone else swoop in at the end and save the day. Could work in a comedy, but I don’t think it would be doable here.
Through the midst of this, however, another character has risen to the top of the pack. There is a character that was an important part of the story, but wasn’t necessarily a major character. A while back, I had an idea for a character’s background, and I had two characters that it would have been workable for. One was in the prequel (this character) and the other was in the main story. I opted for this character, because I knew the resolution of his personal conflict, and that worked better with the plot of the prequel than of the main story. It wasn’t going to be a major plotline. It was only going to be a subplot, a B storyline. However, the more I think about it, the more I think that it might be workable to have this character be the main character.
So, I am currently tossing around ideas in my head as to whether this will work and how to make it work. It’s interesting that it isn’t the type of character or story I set out to write, but somewhat of a natural progression over time.
Maybe, just maybe, sometimes procrastination pays off.
it amazes me how when writing, stories just take on a life of their own and find away to develop the way the do. I think you did the right thing by going with the story that drew you in more than the one you scanned in! And I fully appreciate just how HARD writing a story really is! Keep up the good work!! I cant tell you the number of hours Ive spent just contemplating characters and what they would say!
Well, I’ve hit a stumbling block. I went into my file cabinet to get my notes, which contains character descriptions, plot points, and the backstory, and found the file was empty. I can’t remember if it’s in a folder or a 3-ring binder. Either way, I’ve spent about 3 hours searching now, and I have run out of places to look. I’ve even checked the same places a couple times, just in case I missed it the first time around. I’ve looked in places I knew it wouldn’t be, and was right. I have no idea where else they might be. Usually, if something isn’t in the file, that means I have it and am working on it. I’ll have to look again tomorrow to see if I misfiled it, but I can’t imagine that happening, and I already checked a couple files of things I’ve used recently to see if I had put it in there by mistake. Very frustrating. I wanted to scan those notes in too so I’d have them for easier access.
My favorite thing to happen is while writing later chapters, you uncover great ideas that require you to go back and basically rewrite the entire manuscript. It can be disheartening when you have to pilfer through 100,000+ words hahaha! Luckily for me, I’m not trying to write a mystery or investigative drama where every nuance controls a plot twist. My writing just doesn’t swing that way. Good luck Dan. Just remember, even if you never find those lost notes, you can still salvage the tale and possibly make it better than you originally had it. I can’t plan out a novel until after 10,000 or more words into it, which is where my real notes begin. I start with a very simple seed and build from it. You maybe a pre-constructionist style write, I really don’t know I tend to be a free former and my best stuff seems to happen if I don’t plan anything. One thing is for sure, after really dumping all my effort into my current project, I’m starting to learn how to construct a novel which will make my second much better than my first. Again . . . I wish you success in getting it done