Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Going crazy? Maybe just a little bit.

So we're at 67 days and counting until November 1st. For those that haven't read my previous post, you'll have no clue what I'm talking about here.

Anyway, even though I still have two months, I had a momentary freak-out yesterday at how much I still have to do to round out preparations for my story.

Yesterday afternoon when D and I got home, I started looking around online for a few more character/race names. It wasn't long before we were discussing one race in particular. Now mind you, I didn't have more than a vague idea of them in my head to start with, but D informed me that, with what I did have in mind, it'd probably be a good idea to have something more concrete (strenghts, weaknesses, etc). It turned out to be a good thing because not only did it make me think more about them, it gave me some more story-line. He even made a list of a few different things the race could be called and I've finally given the little critters a name.

That's not what put me in panic mode, though.

We continued talking and he asked the question, "So, have you decided where the story is going? Why the characters are undertaking this journey in the first place?" Um...well...kind of. So I had to think about that, too. I finally came up with the thought of creating a place that people think is a myth; just a bedtime story, and that my characters are trying to find it. There's a lot more to it than that, but I don't wanna get too much into detail yet.

I wrote down a few ideas and D continued tossing questions out there.

The basic beginning premise of my story is there's a 16 year old girl (my top main character), who gets pregnant, shipped off to live with her grandmother, and somehow gets transported to this magical realm. D and I began talking about the ages and experience of the girl's guardians once she's transported and I realized that they need to be older than what I originally thought them as. That meant that the girl needed to be older, which meant that I couldn't use the whole 'shipped of to grandma' idea. And that, ladies and gentlemen is when I realized that I needed to totally and completely rework my beginning. Which, in turn, led to a momentary, panicky breakdown. On one hand I was kind of purposely being overdramatic and it was kind of funny, but on the other I was thinking, "oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!" But, no harm done. I already had an idea for a different story using a chick in her early 20s so I'll just rework the idea a little and use that.

I realize, though, that I really really REALLY need to do a character outline on her.

Well, D is doing calculations on his computer for a job we're going out on later today and I think we're gonna mow today, too so I should probably use this time that he's busy to do some outlining.

Let the insanity begin anew!

3 comments:

Dennis said...

mmmmmmmmm!

My daughter the Author?
Very interesting considering POPS is a beader! Maybe a big irrelevance!

MasterQ said...

Hey there.

It's been practically forever, but that happens when one goes off the deep end. I'm doing much better and hope you and D are doing well too.

Kudos on the writing. I don't think I could nail myself down to a deadline like that.

Dreamer said...

Glad you're doing better...and thanks for the kudos. Just one month to go... arrrghhh!! hehe