There are many things that many beginning writers don’t consider, but they are things that should be thought about. I’m not talking about the hours away from family, the strain on love ones, and the sleepless nights not understanding where you are heading in your plot line. However, these are tools that may lessing some of the above issues.
The standard things I tend to consider before writing a novel in thirty days in November are simple.
- Do I have character sheets for important characters?
- Do I have a description of the location in which I’m writing in?
- Do I have an outline or time line of events?
- Do I have a genre in mind?
When writing there is times you can make shit up (What’s her hair color? How about eye color?), and there are times where you need to research facts so your reader doesn’t throttle you when you meet them. Today, we’ll focus on the two types of research, broad and targeted.
Broad research is, as its name implies, looking at a subject, event, or time period from a 10,000 ft view. You don’t care about what color Ulysses S. Grant’s horse was or if he rode into battle bear back. You are only interested in the fact he existed and that he leaded a massive volunteer army into multiple battles. This can also be the hardest research because you don’t always know how deep you should go. I recommend setting a time limit and sticking by it. In my case, I decided an hour was enough time to refresh my memory on the basics of where General Grant was and who his competition consisted of.
I’ve finished my version of the Jathia’s Wager. The more I read the script the more I realize I have no interest in the character Jathia in any version I’ve seen so far. The character that peeks my interest is the teacher/guide (the guy in the “bowler hat” as a few have refered to him as).
That being said I may look at a story based on him in the future. However, I just don’t see enough of a plot arc to be inspired to write about him at this moment. I suspect it will take a while to flesh him out in the way that I think is best.
Anyways, the public forums is where I suspect to see commentaries since I don’t offer such ability
on my site (yet).
I’m slowly working on a second draft of Jathia’s Wager. I’ve heard back from my trusted first readers and those on the public forums. As a result, I have a laundry list of things I need to work on. However, don’t expect to see any updates until maybe the end of next week. I’m still mulling over a few comments made by my trusted first readers.
This last week I’ve been working on an alternative version to Solomon Rothman Films‘ Jathia’s Wager. To quote the press release he wrote:
Jathia’s Wager is a science fiction story about a young man living in an isolated community of humans, who must make a life changing decision about his future and his species.
As I read the script I saw it being more of a science fiction “coming of age” story. I also asked myself what would drive someone to leave behind their own “species” and give up their humanity with no hope of returning.
And if you can’t guess it… The reason I found was “love.”
Not saying it’s an original reason, but love tends to be a driving factor for many of us to do things we wouldn’t normally do when we are sane. And I didn’t set out to transform it into a love story. It just happened as I was attempting to resolve the main character’s motivation. =-)
With that being said I present my version of Jathia’s Wager – Draft 1 – A Love Story Envisioning.