Where was I? Ah yes, I’d just completed my competition entry and was feeling smug about my preparation (I didn’t win by the way).
Anyway, I now had a number of potential storylines I could follow both for my own purposes, and just in case I got a mail back saying ‘that wasn’t quite right but almost, do you have any others’. A long shot, but despite never joining the scouts I do try and follow their motto of ‘be prepared’. It also meant I had a few potential stories to develop and tinker with in my own time.
But the good news is that my noggin had come up with a couple of fascinating new characters, and a new historical period to play in, which I hadn’t considered before but which was fascinating. And with that, I also started a bit of historical research into tropes, contexts and historical events which seemed relatively under served in fiction. And there was some great stuff in there that further inspired me. Looking back through the various notes I’d taken in putting together my original idea I realised that quite aside from the competition, this could easily work as a standalone franchise idea (if that isn’t mixing my terminologies too much). In essence, I had characters and a setting which would work outside the constraints of the competition and without reference to any of the required components of said competition. And I thought that the USP and setting were strong enough to support not just one story, but a whole series of them. If you recall in a previous post I talked about the Conan-Doyle, Christie or Chesterton approach.
There is still the challenge of being enthused enough about an idea to commit to writing and marketing a whole novel but I realised I may actually have that. And one of my persistent challenges has been the lack of a genre, franchise or reason for a reader to return to my next project. This resolved that. Even better, the concept would work equally well as novel, short stories, audio or screenplay, which would give me a raft of writing challenges to attempt.
I had a list of potential settings, and as I was on a roll of trying new writing challenges, I thought I’d try the approach taken by genre tv shows, or also DungeonMasters (those who know will know what I mean!) and create a ‘Bible’ for my new baby, combining descriptions, backstory and reference points. A lot of the detail will never make it to print, but acting as a hugely expanded backstory or sourcebook it really helped me round out the characters and some of their motivations. Only just begun of course, as this is a potentially massive document and will be ongoing, but I just need to make sure I don’t get too distracted from the actual writing.
I did investigate the various writers’ software which is available, but having looked through I think I’ll stick with Word and Excel, as they provide everything I need. That and a notebook on the coffee table, one by the bed, the little notebook in my coat pocket and the notes function on my phone, so I can record my inspiration as it strikes and write up later.
So in a relatively short period of time I’ve created a folder of plots, the sketch of a novel, and a series of vignette short story ideas. At the moment this is the way I think I’ll go, as it gives the flexibility of freebie short stories, web and magazine placements, and a book of the stories.
But I’ll keep you in the loop of what I’m doing.
Stay safe,
Kit xx