This is what the page looks like now. Odds are it will only look worse
over time (not that it looks good now).
It appears I've not suffered enough and am, once again, joining the
madness that is NaNoWriMo. On this page I'll attempt to track my
progress, talk about my writing process, and come up with many plans
that I have no doubt I'll ignore once writing begins. Such is the way I
craft novels, and it's not pretty.
Unlike a weblog the newest entries won't necessarily be on the top of
the page. This means you need to scroll, but I may get around to
putting a calendar or something on top "for ease of navigation." I may
put pictures, too, to cater to those who don't wish to read, and to
make the whole thing look spiffy.
Right now (October 8) all I have is the title. I need to write a novel
around the idea of something, or some things, that can cause my main
character serious injrury or death, and how he or she responds to it.
With the title out of the way, all I need is motivated characters, and
how hard could it be to come up with those? Then, just sit down and
spend a month having those characters chase their goals. And they say
writing is hard!
Progress
Oct 10
I've moved the main char up in age a bit to nearly forty and given him
a wife. A local market will go out of business and be replaced by a
health food store. Meg will fall into its spell, maybe at the urging of
her friends. Leonard (and the Kevins?) will resist, at least at first.
Still no crisis point. Leonard, I guess, may be in the position of
choosing between pleasing his wife or being true to himself. I'm
thinking, generally, along the lines of we all make our own world and
reality, but I'm not sure if that will stick or not. At best it may be
a hidden theme, but I expect something more specific to spring from it
as I continue to think.
Oct 11
Last night I had a great idea but didn't write it down and, of course,
it's gone. I just hope my muse took note of it. I rely on her to see me
through.
Leonard's name isn't doing anything for me, but he may end up having an
affair with a girl at the new Organi-Mart, perhaps covered in clover
honey and strawberry sauce. That may be an indication that he's willing
to give up his old life, but I don't know if it will last or not.
Maybe, if he does, his wife will revert back, away from the natural
goodness the store offers, and attack him with a meat cleaver instead
of the Spanish stone morter and pestle.
Oct 14
As mentioned above, the main character's name keeps changing. Not his
character, just his name. I'm trying to elicit <?> a name
that
will invoke a sense of faithfulness, an easy-going, unquestioning
nature, a "common man." Ben, as he's currently called, won't be
insightful, problematic, or annoying, but he will be someone you'd see
at a bar laughing with his buddies and watching sports. I'm hammering
out the slender line of story I wish to follow, the waves and shallows
of his journeys. Ben will be influenced, heavily, by others, but will
have his own reasons for behaving the way he does. I hope I can get
that into the story.
Oct 20
It's been a week without much progress, not in this "progress" area.
Still, I've a week and a half before I need to start writing, and I
have a start. I think I know where I'm going, too, but November will
let me see what gets included in the story. My first, tentative plot is
below, but you'll need to highlight it to read (so you won't be
spoiled!).
The new organic market moves
into Ben's neighborhood and he visits, but isn't impressed. Some of
Ella's friends convince her to try it and the goods it carries, and she
ends up being converted. Ben grudgingly goes along. As he grows to use
it, he discovers Wildberry, a worker there, and they begin flirting and
hanging out. Ella finds out and it gets ugly. Wildberry dies and Ben
has to hide his grief. In the end, Ella's friends rally around her and
Ben is left with his old buddies, but the marriage continues without
spark or foundation.
I think it sucks. I need to do some heavy thinking.
Oct 29
If you went to the bother of looking up that tentative plot, above, I
congratulate you. I should also alert you that if you liked that idea
you may find the novel I actually write to be quite a bit different.
Even now I'm changing my mind, avoiding cliches, and hoping for
something different.
I'm trying to keep a couple things in mind, hoping that if I do that,
that I'll end up with a more-focused work. One of this story's elements
will be discovery. Ben, the
new Leonard (who I keep calling Sid), will be on the receiving end of a
series of discoveries. Each one, I hope, will present him with choices,
and what he does with them will affect those around him.
The other element I hope to keep in mind is my belief that we all
create the world we live in. A fired woman might see her unemployment
as an example of sexual discrimination instead of "good business
sense," and I hope to show that all my characters will be emphasizing
and discarding reality based on their prejudices.
I still plan on writing this is "simple" third person, past tense
format. I consider that the "industry standard" and haven't mastered it
yet.
Oct 31
This is when I typically archive this "planning page" and begin
documenting the writing page. I may yet do that, but first there's been
some major changes to my proposed novel. If, for some reason, you don't
want to be spoiled, just drag your mouse over the area below.
Ben now has a job. He's a
handicapper at a local dog track with hopes to graduate into being a
handicapper at a horse track. This answers several concerns I've had.
For one, the opening scene was going to disclose that a health food
store was taking the place of a loved, local market. Now they'll both
be there, competing. The health food place will be a large chain and
will take the place of a failed bowling alley.
I liked that idea when I
started coming up with it, before I had the bowling alley idea given
me, but it presented a gap. If the health food place was going to take
six months or so to be renovated before opening, that left a horrible
spot in my novel to fill. I could see introducing the new store in
chapt one, but then I had nothing for chapters two through four, say.
Now that Ben has his job and his hopes to advance, I can fill the start
of the novel with that.
Not only that, but the dog
track can introduce another thing that Ben's wrong about and let me
bring in issues of animal cruelty. It's going to be tough to make
someone who's so frequently wrong about things likeable, but I intend
to try. I hope to make those who correct and instruct him have some
flaws, too, so it's not so obvious that it's white and black.
That's the thing. Ben is living at his own peril, as well
as that of others. I don't wish to champion his cause, just make him an
enjoyable person to spend a couple hundred pages with.
Okay. I'm back. I hope the novel comes out okay.
Also, although I keep going back and forth between Serious and Severe Injury or Death, I think I've settled on Serious. Please adjust your expectations accordingly.
Characters
- Ben and Ella Kersey
- Kevin and Veronica Mims
- Kevin #2
- Zachary Doss
- Wanda Pope
- Tonya "Wildberry" Hamlin
Twice in my life (so far)
I've been
friends with two Kevins at the same time. This magical coincidence can
only mean that I should once have a main character who, also, has two
friends named Kevin, so that's what's in store for Leonard.
I'm creating web pages for all the characters. Leonard's name may be
changing. I'd like Owen, but that is now associated with Owen Wilson.
I'd like Boris, but then I think of swarthy, dark fellows.
Leonard's name, which never went to Owen or Boris, is now Evan. His
wife is no longer Meg, but Jocelyn. And, their last name is Jefferson.
Hah! You wish! Halfway through this month (Oct 14), and I'm leaning
toward Ben and Ella. Sadly, not the Fitzgeralds.
Plot
Here's where I should
indicate what I think the story will entail. Right now it's up-to-date.
I'm figuring on Leonard and Meg living by a small, local market that
changes into a groovy natural food emporium. Leonard may end up having
an affair with a girl who works there (a natural thing), and things
will grow as his comforts are removed because they're no longer
healthy. Maybe he'll be whittled down, surrender most of his identity,
and adopt a new way of life.
I've come up with what I believe will be the final scene. The import of
that cannot be stressed enough. Since I don't outline, or have much of
a trail laid out, the one thing I need to have is a target, an
endpoint. Now that I know what I'm writing toward, I can spend November
with my eye on that final scene as a prize, keep it in view, and try to
construct a web to lead me there.
Ideas
Here's all I have so far:
the title.
The main character will go through a series of life-changing
experiences as he or she discovers that the world is changing around
them and much of what they do is found to be deadly. In much the same
way that we've learned to use seat belts, helmets, avoid most foods
that taste good, and avoid pissing off people with whom we disagree,
this character will be faced with the necessity to change.
His arch-enemy might be that guy who poisoned the Tylenol back in the
70s. That guy, alone, has changed the world, and not for the ease of
anyone except corporate lawyers. Or, I may take a different tack
entirely and just have the main character fall in love, which can be
deadly in its way.
Here's a list of once fun, now illegal or discovered-deadly activities
that Leonard might engage in. If you have any other suggestions, please
let me know! (wrimo -at- half-dozen.net)
- Smoking
- Drinking
- Bike riding (helmets, puddles)
- Skateboard now requires body armor
- White bread
- Breakfast (eggs, bacon, ham, sausage)
- White rice
- Seat belts (no more kids laying in back window)
- Ground beef (now has directions, can't order rare cheeseburger in
restaurant)
- Butter
- Trans fats
- Humor must be PC
- Sun bathing
- Letting kids run around outside without supervision
- Racing full speed on snow sled down crooked trails
- Dodge ball
- Jungle Gyms
- Celebrations where everyone brings food to eat (Pot lucks)
- Trick or Treat
- Diet sodas
- Sleeping around
- Drinking water from streams
Scenes
As I think of things to
add to the
novel, I may or may not remember to include them here. Again, it would
help me immensely to have them all in one place.
"I don't like this pillow."
"The pillow?"
"It's keeping me up. I don't sleep well at night."
"You can't do better than this" -- may be Wildberry's answer to
everything that doesn't earn a shudder and an "ooh, yuck."
"Honey. Phone. It's Kevin."
"Which one?"
Someone or some party may go up north to see about Sasquatch , see a
bear or something, and die of fright.
"It happens. Happened."