I had an interesting conversation the other day with a colleague, during which I made an offhand comment about writing and made suggestions on how I ultimately figured out what novel I was going to write, even if I didn't necessarily know where it was going to go.
This individual knows I've been writing creatively, and that I finished my first manuscript, to which he stated that he "could never do that." Hogwash. I gave him the "write what you know" shtick as a rebuttal. Crucially, I detailed to him how I had exactly started, only afterwards realizing that I had never really before taken the time to analyze my own writing process.
Obviously everyone functions differently, but for the people who want to write a manuscript and don't know where to begin, I humbly offer the method that carried me through.
I'm not joking when I say write what you love, but there's more to it than that. I'm not a very structured person, but I find a loose and flexible framework allows me to head towards a goal, while permitting me still play around and not feel so constrained that I abandon the project. In the case of my first novel, I knew the genre I wanted to write in (science fiction), as well as the sub-genre (cyberpunk). Then I simply made a list of all the things I wanted to have in my cyberpunk story. Not a list of plot devices or characters, but things that I, in my childish brain, thought would be cool to have. I'll even embarrass myself and put the list at the bottom of this article (it evolved as I added to it in my writing). It didn't matter if I used some, all, or none of these items, only that they were there and they started giving me a foundation to work in. I could refer back to it when stuck and find an element that needed touching on, allowing me to move forward.
The second step was to take these elements and put them in an environment, which was actually constructed from the same list. In this case, it was a post-apocalyptic America, which had suffered a terrorist attack and was now economically ruined and politically unbalanced. Now there were pieces in motion, and as a writer I had a playground to work in.
The third step, now that I had a foundation, was to think up a character and put him in the environment. I was not even certain this was the main character (he turned out to be), but that didn't matter. I needed to explore my own universe. So I gave him a job, that of water scavenger, and a quirk, the goggles he wears, through which he views the post-apocalyptic universe.
The last step was much easier: I wrote. I explored the character, gave him a vector. Once given a vector, I found my character running into challenges, and that's when new characters would form, because interaction had become necessary, and the vacuum of the early universe began to fade as it became populated with lives, giving me a story. Of course, there were times when I would get stuck or change my mind, but the important part was to have that momentum. I feel people get too hung up on character creation, on minutia, on trivial details that ultimately do not do anything to tell a story. Yes, it's fantastic your character has a fully charted family lineage, and his residence is completely mapped out and detailed, and his physical characteristics are meticulously drawn. But what does he do? He has no purpose, no interaction, no vector. And that, for me, is where I found my story.
One last note, as I give everything away to my clamoring audience. In my writing I also had to reflect on myself to determine what kind of worker I was. I'll detail more later about how I overcame my inherent laziness, but more than that, I knew that this project would befall the fate of so many others unless I owned up to the fact that I edit my own works to death. I read, and reread, and re-reread, but I don't write. I lose my momentum, my vectors. So, in bold letters, in size 24 font, smack dab at the top of my novel was a note to myself: DO NOT READ, JUST WRITE. It worked.
The List:
What do you feel passionate about that can be expressed in the cyberpunk genre?
Border crime and illegals, as well as possible solutions. (this will be in commentary on the past)
Class warfare.
Federal worthlessness.
Gun control.
Climate change (global warming and possible ice age; might even have drought be a background plot point, followed by the relief of an ice age coming at the end, symbolically)
Things you want to include:
- predictions for evolution of the internet
- prevalence of portable devices
- power armor
- music?
- cybernetics
- genetics
- economics
- What year? 2120?
- lack of fossil fuels?
- megacorps
- flechette rounds, gyrojet
- some conspiracy, government or corporate, that has to be discovered and stopped
- incredulousness as to how things were (are now IRL)
- complacency led to our downfall; it has to come from within; rotten core
- border drug trade even larger with collapse of law enforcement > could lead to increased border militarization; drugs now supplied by the government?
- water trade > almost like drug dealing > involve character at start?
- terrorist/conspiracy government nuclear emp attack -- called “The Long Night;” millions die; marshal law
- Rogue general/colonel running own operation? Trying to reform US as he thinks is appropriate. Hard right commentary
- Does Ash die? What other characters are there? Is Ash even the main character?
- Does someone find, read, write a manifesto? Too didactic?
- Feds trying to locate command center for orbital weapons platform? Location information lost in Long Night? Could use for variety of purposes, including wiping out nomads, fringe groups, protests, etc.
- Ash as immigrant persona when coming into the city; looked down on negatively
This individual knows I've been writing creatively, and that I finished my first manuscript, to which he stated that he "could never do that." Hogwash. I gave him the "write what you know" shtick as a rebuttal. Crucially, I detailed to him how I had exactly started, only afterwards realizing that I had never really before taken the time to analyze my own writing process.
Obviously everyone functions differently, but for the people who want to write a manuscript and don't know where to begin, I humbly offer the method that carried me through.
I'm not joking when I say write what you love, but there's more to it than that. I'm not a very structured person, but I find a loose and flexible framework allows me to head towards a goal, while permitting me still play around and not feel so constrained that I abandon the project. In the case of my first novel, I knew the genre I wanted to write in (science fiction), as well as the sub-genre (cyberpunk). Then I simply made a list of all the things I wanted to have in my cyberpunk story. Not a list of plot devices or characters, but things that I, in my childish brain, thought would be cool to have. I'll even embarrass myself and put the list at the bottom of this article (it evolved as I added to it in my writing). It didn't matter if I used some, all, or none of these items, only that they were there and they started giving me a foundation to work in. I could refer back to it when stuck and find an element that needed touching on, allowing me to move forward.
The second step was to take these elements and put them in an environment, which was actually constructed from the same list. In this case, it was a post-apocalyptic America, which had suffered a terrorist attack and was now economically ruined and politically unbalanced. Now there were pieces in motion, and as a writer I had a playground to work in.
The third step, now that I had a foundation, was to think up a character and put him in the environment. I was not even certain this was the main character (he turned out to be), but that didn't matter. I needed to explore my own universe. So I gave him a job, that of water scavenger, and a quirk, the goggles he wears, through which he views the post-apocalyptic universe.
The last step was much easier: I wrote. I explored the character, gave him a vector. Once given a vector, I found my character running into challenges, and that's when new characters would form, because interaction had become necessary, and the vacuum of the early universe began to fade as it became populated with lives, giving me a story. Of course, there were times when I would get stuck or change my mind, but the important part was to have that momentum. I feel people get too hung up on character creation, on minutia, on trivial details that ultimately do not do anything to tell a story. Yes, it's fantastic your character has a fully charted family lineage, and his residence is completely mapped out and detailed, and his physical characteristics are meticulously drawn. But what does he do? He has no purpose, no interaction, no vector. And that, for me, is where I found my story.
One last note, as I give everything away to my clamoring audience. In my writing I also had to reflect on myself to determine what kind of worker I was. I'll detail more later about how I overcame my inherent laziness, but more than that, I knew that this project would befall the fate of so many others unless I owned up to the fact that I edit my own works to death. I read, and reread, and re-reread, but I don't write. I lose my momentum, my vectors. So, in bold letters, in size 24 font, smack dab at the top of my novel was a note to myself: DO NOT READ, JUST WRITE. It worked.
The List:
What do you feel passionate about that can be expressed in the cyberpunk genre?
Border crime and illegals, as well as possible solutions. (this will be in commentary on the past)
Class warfare.
Federal worthlessness.
Gun control.
Climate change (global warming and possible ice age; might even have drought be a background plot point, followed by the relief of an ice age coming at the end, symbolically)
Things you want to include:
- predictions for evolution of the internet
- prevalence of portable devices
- power armor
- music?
- cybernetics
- genetics
- economics
- What year? 2120?
- lack of fossil fuels?
- megacorps
- flechette rounds, gyrojet
- some conspiracy, government or corporate, that has to be discovered and stopped
- incredulousness as to how things were (are now IRL)
- complacency led to our downfall; it has to come from within; rotten core
- border drug trade even larger with collapse of law enforcement > could lead to increased border militarization; drugs now supplied by the government?
- water trade > almost like drug dealing > involve character at start?
- terrorist/conspiracy government nuclear emp attack -- called “The Long Night;” millions die; marshal law
- Rogue general/colonel running own operation? Trying to reform US as he thinks is appropriate. Hard right commentary
- Does Ash die? What other characters are there? Is Ash even the main character?
- Does someone find, read, write a manifesto? Too didactic?
- Feds trying to locate command center for orbital weapons platform? Location information lost in Long Night? Could use for variety of purposes, including wiping out nomads, fringe groups, protests, etc.
- Ash as immigrant persona when coming into the city; looked down on negatively
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