Character
There will be two major characters in this story. I have thought a some-what lot about their names. I have decided upon, Sir Roderick Westrun, and, Sir Jason Thane. They are both Lion Knights, capable, intelligent and good characters, wanting the best for the realm. The story emerges from how different the actions, ideology and extremes capable, intelligent and good characters can be.
Each character is a reflection of the other, the story juxtaposing them to have the reader question their morality, decisions, ability and world view.
There is a blog post: https://carlywatters.com/2014/01/13/30-questions-to-ask-your-main-character/ ; by Carly Watters, a VP and Senior Literary Agent at the P.S. Literary Agency. It details 30 questions you should ask your characters to develop them and ensure they are well rounded and thought out. I have answered these 30 questions for each of my main two characters. But, those answers would be too long for this one post, so find the URLs below:
Sir Jason Thane: http://woolnetaron.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/a-novel-project-part-2-interviewing-sir.html
Sir Roderick Westrun: http://woolnetaron.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/a-novel-project-part-2-interviewing-sir.html
The two major characters of this story will both be part of a select group of heroes, called the Lion Knights. Essentially Royal Guards with authority to lead armies, investigations and uphold the law. While they possess no superhuman qualities, they are famed for their intense training, skill and commitment to the realm.
Why 'Lion Knights'?
Lions are cool. Knights are cool. Perfect combo.
Other reasons: lions are associated with bravery, royalty and leadership; three core ideas in my story. Lions are an animal associated with England, Norway and Normandy; key regions in the medieval period inspiring the fantasy genre.
And while, literal LION KNIGHTS would be awesome...
These lion knights would be human, but with a lion decor;
Think 'Hound' from Game of Thrones.
Final reason; history, backstory, maybe a spoiler, who knows, etc; the group earned its authority in the Kingdom and name by supporting a revolt against an Empire, liberating the land and founding a new Kingdom and legal system, seperate from Empiric rule. During the revolution, the Empire took titles and honours away from these Knights, commonly dubbing them 'The Rebellion Knights'. As a point of pride (pun intended), the group legitimised themselves within their new Kingdom and dropped the 'Rebel' part of their nickname to form the legendary group of 'The Lion Knights'. I don't know if I'll get the opportunity to explain that bit of pun-lore in my story, so I thought I'd explain it here, right now.
Structure
In the last blog post I wrote an outline for my story idea using the 3-Act Structure, with a mid-point POV shift between the two major characters. Since then, I have continued to develop and experiment with the structure of this story, which is important in determining pace, tension, and, the development of characters and ideas for the reader.
Depending on the structure of this story, it could be presented as a mystery, a thriller, an action-adventure, or, fantasy. The story I want to tell, I believe, is a thriller with the backdrop of ahistorical fantasy - not a mystery, as the set up of the story is learning who-dun-it.
I began fleshing out my story with a chapter-by-chapter plan.
I asked myself, if I were only allowed to explore 10 plot points, what would they be? I listed 9 and then couldn't decide on a tenth. So, I dropped the tenth.
After looking through the remaining 9, I decided I could merge two of them together if I took a different structural perspective. Then, it was time to experiment with order, story and sequencing. The story had major and minor beats and in chronological order, the pacing of those beats was waaaaaaaay off. That is 7 a's too many and must be reassembled.
Finally, I have decided on the following 8 points which the story must explore, using alternate POV between the main characters, switching from character to character between each chapter.
Yes, I am losing the Part 1, Part 2 structure which made the story stand out. Yes, I am squeezing the story tight. Yes, I'll probably end up changing it. But, I like concise, I like limitations.
Limitations breed creativity, and if the story begins to choke, then I will lighten the grasp a little. The important part here is to tell a great story, which is interesting from beginning to end, that does not drag and is not rushed. When writing and proof-reading, it should become clear if either of those situations are the case and I can edit the story afterwards.
Right now, it is important to use an effective and concise writing model to get the meaty part of the meal done, before adding veggies, pouring gravy and trimming the fat.
8 sections of a story, each weighing in at 5,000 words, that is write-able. Which takes me onto the next section...
Management
In management for this project, I am going to set myself the task of writing 5,000 words per week. Essentially, a chapter per week, using my super streamlined model for the story. I was not going to create a writing plan, and I still haven't made a detailed one, but after I watched the video below, by CGP Grey, a being productive guru in some circles; I do treat becoming an author, much like happiness is detailed in the video. I want to overcome that and not make this task impossible. I want write-able chunks that I can begin to pick away at and then a healthy-lengthed first draft to actually edit and improve, while maintaining my sanity and job performance.
As a side note, for the last I don't know how many years, I have been writing with the spell check off. I do this for blog posts, too, and for blog posts, I don't thoroughly read through them enough to catch them all, apologies. I do spell things wrong from time to time or jot the odd typo, but when writing drafts, the time it takes to go back and correct it, translates into the exact amount of time needed to break my concentration and take me out of the writing zone I was in. So, I stopped. This is a minor thing, which both ensures I proofread thoroughly and allows me to write uninterupted more frequently. Reflecting on your writing, identifying the problems and taking easy solutions when they manifest are important. This is just one example of a little change I have made, but it sums up the point well enough, I think.
Thank you for reading through this second installment of A Novel Project; catch ya next time.
