Post by tally on Nov 30, 2014 13:18:40 GMT -8
Hey guys - I need your input.
I've been wanting to do a re-write of my 2010 nano novel for a while now, and I think I'm going to finally buckle down and commit to it. The thing is now I need a bit of help with the direction/plot of my story. Writing it all out for nano gave me a good sense of the general plot but I still feel like I have a lot of holes that need to be filled so I was hoping to get some opinions on my overall story so far.
So a brief overview:
"Limbo" is a place between life and death (a train station if you will) that everyone passes through when they depart the world of the living. Some people fly through without stopping (ex. if you die of old age, are at peace with your death, etc) and some people might stick around for much longer (if you're in denial about your death, you don't want to move on, etc). Clare is one of the latter. She is in denial about being dead and refuses to move on. Instead of finding acceptance and moving on, she decides that she will find a way out of limbo and back to life. As she spends more time in limbo, she learns its secrets and is then able to manipulate it to her will (change the landscape/weather/location etc). Also, Clare has been collecting souls throughout her time in limbo in order to grow her power.
Rebecca has a special ability - her dreams are a connection to limbo. This has been with her for her entire life, although growing up she did not realize exactly what it was (who's to say that her dreams weren't just dreams?). It was only after an encounter in limbo that she understands exactly what her gift is (she meets her deceased brother who gives a brief explanation).
This is where it gets a bit murky. I'm thinking from this point on, things start to feel off about limbo for Rebecca. Rebecca meets Clare in limbo through her dreams and Clare somehow figures out that Rebecca isn't actually dead. Clare latches on to Rebecca and tries to use her as a way out. This is really draining for Rebecca because now sleeping only leaves her more tired than she was before.
I see the end of the novel being the "defeat" of Clare where she is released from limbo and forced to move on. This also allows all of the trapped souls to be freed, and then everything is back to normal. I guess right now my biggest challenge is getting from that last paragraph to the ending that I’m visualizing. I also feel like I should be incorporating more “real life” into this story but I don’t know how. In my nano novel I had Rebecca visiting a ‘psychic’ who helped her manage once things got really bad, but I’m not sure if I still like that (if I keep it, it needs heavy editing).
Sooo yeah I guess, if you have any input or comments or anything that would be much appreciated.
I've been wanting to do a re-write of my 2010 nano novel for a while now, and I think I'm going to finally buckle down and commit to it. The thing is now I need a bit of help with the direction/plot of my story. Writing it all out for nano gave me a good sense of the general plot but I still feel like I have a lot of holes that need to be filled so I was hoping to get some opinions on my overall story so far.
So a brief overview:
"Limbo" is a place between life and death (a train station if you will) that everyone passes through when they depart the world of the living. Some people fly through without stopping (ex. if you die of old age, are at peace with your death, etc) and some people might stick around for much longer (if you're in denial about your death, you don't want to move on, etc). Clare is one of the latter. She is in denial about being dead and refuses to move on. Instead of finding acceptance and moving on, she decides that she will find a way out of limbo and back to life. As she spends more time in limbo, she learns its secrets and is then able to manipulate it to her will (change the landscape/weather/location etc). Also, Clare has been collecting souls throughout her time in limbo in order to grow her power.
Rebecca has a special ability - her dreams are a connection to limbo. This has been with her for her entire life, although growing up she did not realize exactly what it was (who's to say that her dreams weren't just dreams?). It was only after an encounter in limbo that she understands exactly what her gift is (she meets her deceased brother who gives a brief explanation).
This is where it gets a bit murky. I'm thinking from this point on, things start to feel off about limbo for Rebecca. Rebecca meets Clare in limbo through her dreams and Clare somehow figures out that Rebecca isn't actually dead. Clare latches on to Rebecca and tries to use her as a way out. This is really draining for Rebecca because now sleeping only leaves her more tired than she was before.
I see the end of the novel being the "defeat" of Clare where she is released from limbo and forced to move on. This also allows all of the trapped souls to be freed, and then everything is back to normal. I guess right now my biggest challenge is getting from that last paragraph to the ending that I’m visualizing. I also feel like I should be incorporating more “real life” into this story but I don’t know how. In my nano novel I had Rebecca visiting a ‘psychic’ who helped her manage once things got really bad, but I’m not sure if I still like that (if I keep it, it needs heavy editing).
Sooo yeah I guess, if you have any input or comments or anything that would be much appreciated.
