Two Ideas, One Story

[Anomally]

Awright! So, I have the beginnings of a story. It's Historical Fiction, based off my grandfather's experiences in WWII. In real life, he once met a girl in Holland when his regiment marched through. Sixty years later, he and this woman meet again, and realize that they know each other.

What I was wondering was: should the story's plot focus more on the alter ego of my grandfather, with his experiences through the war, his meeting with the girl in Holland, and his later years, when he meets the lady again?

Or should the story's focus pan out a bit, and follow both my grandfather's story and the Dutch girl's experiences in Nazi controlled Holland as well? This version would be more war focussed and would not cover much of my grandfather's older years aside from his second meeting with the Dutch woman.

Both ideas have their merits, and while I'm slightly leaning towards the first, I'm not sure which one would be more interesting for the audience. The second might jump around too much, and feel disconnected, and might be more difficult.

Also, does this plot seem interesting enough? World War II stories seem to be fairly common. But this story was to good to pass up.

[Crazy Ivan]

Why not cover each story equally?

[Marcelo]

merge both ideas. Focus more on your grandfather's experiences, but once in a while return to the nazi controlled Holand. This way, readers will feel intrigued by both your grandfather and the girl, as both points of view may be interesting.

[Banzai]

Why not start with the reunuion- and then return to the war-era through memories and recollections.

[(Mark)]

Why not start with the reunuion- and then return to the war-era through memories and recollections.

Yeah, set the whole thing in a diner where these two are talking about what happened to them.

[Daniel W]

This would make a magnificent book. The way John Flanagan writes is by focusing on one character in one chapter, then on another in the next chapter, and it rotates around all the different main characters, but i would have to say i agree with Banzai. Write about them meeting, then go back again. But it might be a bit tricky to make it all work with that.

With a bit more thought, i suggest that you go with the first one. Make it focus more on your grandfathers war experience, and make the meeting between the two just a minor bit of the story, but then they meet again, and then the woman tells her story to your grandfather.

[Anomally]

Thanks very much! Lot's of stuff to consider, I kind of like the reunion thing, and the rotating between point of views between chapters.

I've only finished the first chapter so far, I'm starting on the second today, so there's plenty of time to decide on what direction I want to take. Oh, and also, is about 3000 words per chapter the right sort of number for an average sized novel? I don't want to make a huge, Tolkien sized monster of a book, but I want it large enough to take a while to read. I sort of whip through books in a couple of hours, so I'm not a very good judge on the size of the book and how long it would take the average person to read one.

Thanks again for your ideas!

[Daniel W]

I always find around 300 pages to be a good size for a book. As for words per chapter, i've never paid attention to that.