Prologue: My friends and I came up with a card game that involved 3 players, or factions. Each side had specific, well-balanced traits that allowed you to fight your opponent. But then we wanted to give it a back story. So after a couple of hours at the local Applebee's, we had a story. But it didn't have any characters; it was just a feasible story so that if one asked why these factions are fighting, we could answer instantly. We never developed the card game. But that back story has been rolling around my head for the past year. I decided to make the back story into a novel. It involves alien races, so I guess it's science fiction. Where To Begin? The internet is a great tool. I didn't know what to do now. I might be in a unique situation already having a rough outline of what is supposed to happen. At least I thought so. After a little googling, I found the "snowflake method" that one author uses to write. It is based on fractals, which is very cool. He states to write a one-sentence synopsis. Then you write a 1 paragraph synopsis. Then you create your major characters and write a one-paragraph summary about them. Then you expand your synopsis to two pages. Meanwhile, all along you are allowed to go back to any of the previous steps and edit them as you see where your story is taking you. Well, I was in a pretty pickle. I had to come up with a damn plot! But I did it. I have 3 main characters too. I also concentrated on naming things. Every noun has their unique name, from the planet, the alien races, to the characters' first and last names. This was a good creative brake for me, as the fractal method says nothing about naming conventions. Boy this is difficult for a first timer with no training. At first my protagonist was going to be Male 1, an alien scientist. I brainstormed him first. Then I wrote about Female 1, she's from the "nice" alien race. Then I wrote the antagonist, Male 2. He is the same alien race as Male 1, but now it seems his motivation seems the best point of view to take when writing the story. He's the one character that has everything to lose, and that will change the most. Disaster! Randy, the inventor of the snowflake/fractal method, insists on having three disasters, and an ending. What is a disaster? I have two already, and an ending. I had a brilliant breakthrough when I revisited Male 2 yesterday. It seems that his driving motivation for the evil he does is for his dying wife. And the second aliens, (residents of a new planet/moon) to which he is bringing evil upon, are the ones that can heal her if he would have just asked. (Or known to ask) Male 1 has been lost while I developed the genesis of Male 2. I am excited at the new angle, and am sad that Male 1 is now a bystander. Hashing it out Here is where you come in, members of writingforums.org. Am I going about this the wrong way? Is it okay to change things up so drastically? Can someone here help me out by allowing me to creatively bouncing ideas off you?
It's your book! I'd suggest not being too formulaic. Here is someone who knows a thing or two about writing sci-fi talking about story lines. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP3c1h8v2ZQ And even better advice on writing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmVcIhnvSx8&feature=related Good luck!
