I will now try to explain as clearly as possible the setting and plot of the story that I've been working on for the last few years--the one I hope will become my first novel one day. Of course, not all the details are set in stone, but this is the general idea. Enjoy. :)
The story is set in the not-to-distant future, a mild dystopia (because I'm not going to the extremes of robot overlords and brain scanners, etc.), where a hereditary disease has mutated that nearly wipes out a generation. In response, the government attempts to wipe out the gene. Forty years later, the gene is almost extinct, but the government is insistent of snuffing out every trace. Those who have the disease must become wards of the state, usually lab rats in the search for a cure.
Kennedy Belle has the disease, and as her closest friend, Spencer has taken it upon himself to protect her. But, he might not have long. Kenn is fading fast, and the government is closing in on their trail. In addition, Spencer has to look out for his brother Cole and his troubled friend Amalia. Can Kennedy Belle's doctor find a cure, or will he have to say goodbye? Will hope come from an unexpected source, or is it too late?
Yes, I'm aware that the end of that sounded like the cheesy back cover of some Prama book, but if I take you through every painstaking detail, you won't read this. So, there you go! Hope you liked it.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
My love for my story has rekindled!
Yes, my story. The story. The one I've been working on since the beginning of high school. For the longest time I didn't even think about it--probably not since last November. But just as the school year was about to begin, I began to revisit it. Now, another round of prewriting is in full swing. (I'll post the plot in another entry, because some of it goes into tedious details that will only distract from the point of this one.)
Since I've been working on this idea for so long, it's gone through several overhauls in setting, each time growing a little closer to where I need it to be in order to get my messages across. I refer to it as a "mild" dystopia, only because it has been my mission in this prewriting go-around to stay away from some of the major dystopian stereotypes. Besides, the dystopia isn't really the point of the story, just a context which I can use to tell it. Therefore I don't want my message diluted by cheesy robot overlords and brain scanners, or whatever other ludacris thing you can think of. Actually, one of my earlier settings included a goddess and her daughter ruling over the futuristic dystopia. It was an interesting juxtaposition, but it didn't fit in with the rest of my story, so I scrapped it.
The characters have stayed basically the same, though now I am adding a few more minors just to flesh out the story's surroundings, and this time, I've added a lot of symbolism to several of the characters, particularly the three female leads and their relationship to the protagonist, Spencer. The only drawback of this is that I originally wanted the heroine-in-distress (how I refer to her, anyways) to be the focal point of the story in a very Lani Garver-type fashion (for those of you who haven't heard me say it a thousand times, my favorite book is What Happened to Lani Garver by Carol Plum-Ucci). However, I'm also realizing that that route would more or less be piggy-backing off of Plum-Ucci's setup and structure of her novel, and that I need to find my own way of telling the story. The plot still revolves around her, but the story becomes more and more about Spencer as it develops. Of course, you could argue the same thing for the plot of Lani. Maybe great minds think alike. (Or maybe it's copyright infringement. If anything, immitation is the sincerest form of flattery.)
As for plot...Well, I've never really had one. One of my biggest flaws as a writer is that I focus so much on characterization that I normally neglect the plot. I've done a few plot graphs for the story before, but they all turned out forced and uniteresting. Lately, however, I've been trying to take the advice of several authors who have exhorted us aspiring wannabes to listen to the characters, to the story they're telling, not the one we're trying to make up for them. Just last week, I finally tuned in to their frequency. Through a freewriting excersise in my creative writing class (thank you, Mrs. Weekman!), I suddenly had half the plot scribbled onto some loose-leaf paper, and I built on that in the days that followed.
My next great task in prewriting, though I've always had some vague concepts, is to nail down my themes and figure out how to infuse them into the story. Thankfully, I feel as if I have plenty to work with, and I have a few ideas, but I actually have to kneed them into the dough. I think of themes and messages as the yeast--the thing that makes bread bread, the thing that makes a great novel truly great. It's what separates the best of Young Adult Literature from the thousands of others that never make it farther than a teenager's bookshelf. I want to count mine among those few.
All of that said, I'm in no rush to actually write this book. Seeing how far the story has come already, I can only imagine where I can take it as I grow older and wiser. Also, I won't bore you with the details of how hectic my senior year of high school is going to be, what with all of my AP classes and senior activites and general pandemonium--hopefully, I'll live long enough to actually write this book. Still, I know that every wave of revisions is another healthy step towards what I hope will be a substantial debut novel.
Since I've been working on this idea for so long, it's gone through several overhauls in setting, each time growing a little closer to where I need it to be in order to get my messages across. I refer to it as a "mild" dystopia, only because it has been my mission in this prewriting go-around to stay away from some of the major dystopian stereotypes. Besides, the dystopia isn't really the point of the story, just a context which I can use to tell it. Therefore I don't want my message diluted by cheesy robot overlords and brain scanners, or whatever other ludacris thing you can think of. Actually, one of my earlier settings included a goddess and her daughter ruling over the futuristic dystopia. It was an interesting juxtaposition, but it didn't fit in with the rest of my story, so I scrapped it.
The characters have stayed basically the same, though now I am adding a few more minors just to flesh out the story's surroundings, and this time, I've added a lot of symbolism to several of the characters, particularly the three female leads and their relationship to the protagonist, Spencer. The only drawback of this is that I originally wanted the heroine-in-distress (how I refer to her, anyways) to be the focal point of the story in a very Lani Garver-type fashion (for those of you who haven't heard me say it a thousand times, my favorite book is What Happened to Lani Garver by Carol Plum-Ucci). However, I'm also realizing that that route would more or less be piggy-backing off of Plum-Ucci's setup and structure of her novel, and that I need to find my own way of telling the story. The plot still revolves around her, but the story becomes more and more about Spencer as it develops. Of course, you could argue the same thing for the plot of Lani. Maybe great minds think alike. (Or maybe it's copyright infringement. If anything, immitation is the sincerest form of flattery.)
As for plot...Well, I've never really had one. One of my biggest flaws as a writer is that I focus so much on characterization that I normally neglect the plot. I've done a few plot graphs for the story before, but they all turned out forced and uniteresting. Lately, however, I've been trying to take the advice of several authors who have exhorted us aspiring wannabes to listen to the characters, to the story they're telling, not the one we're trying to make up for them. Just last week, I finally tuned in to their frequency. Through a freewriting excersise in my creative writing class (thank you, Mrs. Weekman!), I suddenly had half the plot scribbled onto some loose-leaf paper, and I built on that in the days that followed.
My next great task in prewriting, though I've always had some vague concepts, is to nail down my themes and figure out how to infuse them into the story. Thankfully, I feel as if I have plenty to work with, and I have a few ideas, but I actually have to kneed them into the dough. I think of themes and messages as the yeast--the thing that makes bread bread, the thing that makes a great novel truly great. It's what separates the best of Young Adult Literature from the thousands of others that never make it farther than a teenager's bookshelf. I want to count mine among those few.
All of that said, I'm in no rush to actually write this book. Seeing how far the story has come already, I can only imagine where I can take it as I grow older and wiser. Also, I won't bore you with the details of how hectic my senior year of high school is going to be, what with all of my AP classes and senior activites and general pandemonium--hopefully, I'll live long enough to actually write this book. Still, I know that every wave of revisions is another healthy step towards what I hope will be a substantial debut novel.
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