The Story So Far...

Hi. I'm an unemployed software engineer. I've always said that I wanted to write, so I decided to use this little career setback as an excuse to write a novel.

I worry a lot. Sometimes I feel guilty and foolish for wasting time on this. Sometimes I think (probably rightly) that the whole idea behind this novel is stupid. Sometimes I think I'm putting too many ideas together. Sometimes I think the structures wrong.

All of this is a waste of time, because I'm going to write it anyway. But when I get stuck, or bored, or want to distract myself, I need to keep writing something. Well, this blog is going to be that something. It's also a waste of time, I imagine, but at least I'll have some history about what happened along the way.

Now for status. Since this is the first post in the blog, let's start with the big picture. I think this novel has three layers. The first layer is a detective story. I think I have the plot for that, more or less. I've drafted the first chapter, summarized the plot of the intermediate chapters, and drafted the final chapters.

The third layer is a character-based story which occurs within the detective story. The detective story is set in a dystopian future, and the character-based story, told in the first person, is an exploration of that dystopia. I have a sense for how that story should go... but it's got to service the plot.

The interaction between these two layers alone is enough to drive one insane. It would be a lot easier (I think) to write a purely character based story... but I'm doing it this way, in the hope that the detective story will create suspense, making the character-based story more interesting to read.

The third layer is the mushiest. It's basically just a matter of language, style and tone, but I have some contraints I need to meet. I won't explain that now, because I'm still working on the second layer, and I don't need any more negative thoughts interfering with that than I already have!

As for today: I went back to right after the first chapter, just a few minutes later, and started writing. The first chapter, as I've already indicated, is mostly detective story. This second chapter is mostly character-based. I need to establish relationships. The truth is, I'm finding that fairly easy. The hard part is handling exposition - how much to tell, and when.

Of course, I already know that answer - don't tell anything. Wait for the characters to discuss things naturally. When the draft is finished, if more exposition is necessary, add it in then. Unfortunately, easier said that done. I do love to explain things...