What a Novel Idea!

From Barns and Noble. If you're interested, check it out here.

Zach and I went to Barns and Noble for my birthday so that he could pick up my present:  my own copy of Dragonlance Legends.  He said they did have an annotated edition that was what he was looking for, but it was out of stock.  He gave me the choice between Dragonlance Chronicles or Dragonlance Legends.  That was tough... Chronicles was what got me into the whole series, but Legends focused on my favorite character, Raistlin, and effected me so deeply.  Seriously.  My mom called me as I reached the last few chapters of the book and I reluctantly answered the phone.  After I spoke, she was in a panic because I was crying so much.  I explained, no nothing was wrong, but I was finishing my book.  (I knew not to delve into detail with her because she has no interest whatsoever in fantasy genres of anything.)  I finally decided that, since Zach had a collective copy of Chronicles encompassing all three of the books, that I would get Legends, another collective copy encompassing three books happening after Chronicles.  I didn't see the point in having two copies of Chronicles; I justified it as "Well, when we get married, we're going to merge our libraries into one."  Dragonlance is a great series and you should read it if fantasy is your cup of tea.  I would suggest beginning with Chronicles; then you can go and read the beginning and ending of your favorite characters' stories.

I said all of that to say this:  Every time that I go into a book store, I always find myself thinking "I could do that."  Looking at some of the lackluster books that you can find on the shelves, I know that I could...and it would be better than some!  Sure, I've started a lot of stories, but rarely have I ever finished them.  I always find myself writing aimlessly -- no direction, no solid plot...  Not to mention that about halfway through writing it, I would notice that I had stolen so much from other movies or books that I loved.  (In 6th grade, I wrote pretty much my own version of Harry Potter, using my friends as the main characters.)

This time, I decided to take a more structured approach.  I know that it is going to be truly difficult for me to map out every aspect of the story before beginning.  Still, I know that it is necessary for me to actually find a way to finish a story.  My downfall is plot.  Sure, I create an overarching plot line, but how do the characters get into the main conflict of the story?  Why should they care?  They're going on this epic adventure, but it seems that I never divert from the overarching plot. 

For example, a story I was working on in junior high school consisted of two main characters who somehow befriended a dragon (I'm fuzzy on the details).  He informed the two that there was an evil dragon that was searching for and item known as the Dragon Orb and was going to destroy it once it was found.  I don't remember exactly what it did or anything, but that was the main plot.  So, they set out on an adventure to find this evil dragon and rescue the Dragon Orb.  (Later, when I was reading Dragonlance, they used dragon orbs, too.  I was so excited because I remembered using that in my story ages before I had even heard of Dragonlance.)

That was all there was to the story....Ronin and Tera looking for the Dragon Orb.  How did I expect to make them find it?  One day, they just trip over this piece of glass, unearth it, and oh hey, look.  The Dragon Orb.  I realized even then that my plots were really thin and that my characters had no idea what they were doing.  That's all well and good so long as I know what they were doing, why, and how it would effect the story as a whole, but I didn't.  I had no idea what I was doing.  I just had this idea one day and wanted to expound upon it.  I can see the value in that, but I never went back to attach it to anything.

This time, I wanted it to be different.  I wanted something that I could look back on in a few years and be proud of, even if I found flaws in it later.  Something that I wouldn't be somewhat embarrassed of like I am with "The Fate of All Dragons" (original title, huh?).

I did some cheesy Googling ("how to write a novel") and found some pretty useful links, actually.  One was particularly useful:  "How to Plan out a Novel" on WikiHow.  Honestly, I didn't see that coming.  I followed the steps to creating my folders on my computer.  I started with characters, since they are what I am most familiar with.  I found a -- no joke -- 18 page character description and profile template on DeviantART which I am modifying to fit my uses.  I thought it was great because it makes me think more in-depth on my characters.  I can tell they're becoming more realistic as I fill it out.

My story is a steampunk fantasy adventure based (loosely) on a Dungeons and Dragons campaign that Zach and I ran.  We spent a great deal of time developing the world, races, etc. because there was no real set of steampunk D&D rules that we could find.  I am more than familiar with my character as I played her, but I don't know if Zach would want me dictating how his character would think, feel, and act.  I thought about changing the name so that I could do so. 

I don't know how well collaborative writing would go in cases such as this.  I feel like it would be like reading the Inheritance Series (Eragon, Eldest, Brisinger, and Inheritance).  I loved the books, I mean, who couldn't?  It's medieval Star Wars.  (Slight spoiler alert?  This is Luke. He's a farmboy.  This is Eragon.  He's a farmboy.  He lives with his uncle.  He lives with his uncle.  His father is the bad guy.  His father is the bad guy. Seriosuly, replace the word "sword" with "lightsaber", the word "magic" with "the Force", and the word "dragon" with "X-Wing" and it's the same thing.)  After Eragon and Roran got separated, the chapters would switch focus.  One or two chapters would focus on Eragon and his adventures, then the next one or two would focus on Roran and his adventures.  I don't know about you guys, but I tried to be done with the chapters on Roran as quickly as possible.  I feel like that's how our writing would be.  And it would make me feel bad.  I'm not saying that my chapters would be preferred over his, but the thought of people reacting to a set of chapters in the same way that I reacted to the chapters on Roran makes me sad.  (Another quick little rant on the Inheritance series that is somewhat unrelated:  It was supposed to be a trilogy.  You don't publish in your first book "Part one of the Inheritance trilogy" if you are not 100% sure that your series is going to be a trilogy.  It said the word "trilogy" in the first two books.  I noticed the change in Brisinger and it drove me a little nuts.  End rant.)

I'm utilizing the research folder a lot more than I thought I would, too.  I feel that it adds a sense of credibility and realism to the story.  I realize the use of aether crystals and airships is a bit unrealistic in itself (lest you're talking about blimps), but considering my story is based around the period of time where aether is discovered, I thought it would be a good idea to do a little light research on the types of ships from around the 19th century...especially the required crew size.  I also thought it useful to look up crew hierarchies and implement those.

The only thing I'm stuck on is the plot right now.  I have two main, overarching quests right now:  I have my main character's personal quest, and I also have a common goal for the entirety of the main characters.  As of right now, I only have one side quest.  I feel like there needs to be more...  Right now, I feel like my plot line is too thin...  I always get stuck on the plot!

Maybe starting to develop the main antagonists would help me in my development of the plot... What are his/her motives?

Sigh.  I've logged a good few hours on planning already and still there is so much to be done before I can even begin writing...  Hopefully this has helped my writer's block some.