I’ve decided I’m going to document my thoughts, struggles, and triumphs while I write my WIP, The Atlantic Bond. You can check out a short blurb on what I hope the story will be about HERE. This is a way to vent so I don’t resort to pulling hair from the roots, or even patching up a window where my computer went through it!
So what have I done for the past few months since the idea for The Atlantic Bond (still a working title) materialized in my head one late evening three months ago? Well…a bunch of nothing up until three weeks ago. I could blame some of it on my move from VA Beach to Charlotte. But I have to confess, I was trying to get over my finished MS that I’ve now put on the back burner. So to purge myself of the lost of my first love, I forced myself to sit down and hash out a rough draft of a beat sheet for my new WIP. Don’t know what a beat sheet is, check it out HERE. (Thanks Larry Brooks, you’re a god send!) After I completed about half of my beat sheet, I began formulating what my world would look like. World building can be fun, even exciting. But if you don’t know where to start, it’s frustrating with a pinch of torture. Instead, I used The Scriptorium – World Building Basic Worksheet for Science Fiction/Fantasy. It was a life saver. It forced me to think about things I don’t know if I would have thought about if I hadn’t had the prompt to do so.
Once I had a basic idea what my world would look like and how it would function, character development was next. This is probably my favorite part. Coming up with my main character was simple. I already had a good sense who I wanted to be my main character months ago. Filling in with minor characters was also fairly simple. However, finding the right antagonist gave me pause. I’m still trying to decide if it should be one person, or a society as a whole. One more thing to hash out!
With my characters prevalent in my mind, I begin to write. But as usual, I’ve thrown myself a huge challenge right out of the gate. My first scene involves my main character, Skye Thornhill, taking her final test to become a Jockey pilot. I know nothing about flying, not to mention dogfight maneuvers or the like. Research, HERE I COME! After spending a day in a half researching dogfights, I start to get my opening scene down. This presents more of a challenge than I originally assessed.
But this girl, like this cat, loves a challenge! So this is where I leave you. In my next post, hopefully I will have conquered the first chapter, maybe even two! Until next time, keep writing and reading!
