Monday, February 14, 2011

Lightkeeper: A Love List

So today is Valentine's Day, and while I, like so many others, tend to deride the commercialism of it, I also have absolutely zero beef with the celebration and expressing of love. Because this is my writing blog, however, I'm going to channel this in a particular direction. A while back, I read a suggestion by an author that went something like this: if you feel like your interest in a story is flagging, it can be helpful to make a list of all of the things that drew you to the story in the first place. Like a reminder of why you two decided to get together in the first place.

I'm going to make my list about Lightkeeper, the solo novel that I started for NaNoWriMo back in 2009, and the one that keeps coming back to bug me because it just needs to be written so badly. Here's what I love about it:


It's got a lighthouse. Like, a really big one. Lighthouses are the best. I love them forever.

Really big, craggy rocks that jut out of a cruel and temptestuous sea.

Small islands in the north that are mostly cut off from the mysterious main continent.

An inscrutable agent of divine powers carrying out an awful, but necessary, punishment.

Three protagonists with no knowledge of each other.

Tragedy and guilt stemming from something that was completely out of a character's control; parallel quests for redemption.

Loneliness, estrangement, and suicide.

Ships and nautical adventuring.

It's based on a song by one of my top favorite bands ever, Sonata Arctica.


So, um, yeah. Kind of a crap list, now that I look at it, but it's what I've got. I'm sure there are probably all kinds of reasons why I shouldn't talk about the contents of stories I'm working on, but...screw it. If I can't ramble about my work on my own blog, then I don't want to do it. I'll still try to keep it kind of vague, and I won't post snippets of Actual Things, but this is about what you can expect to see from time to time.

You know what the biggest problem this novel has so far is, though? Hold on to your hair, it's a doozy.

I HAVE NO VILLAIN.

Seriously, I have a conflict that gets the protagonists out in the (as-yet-mostly-undefined) world, but I have no idea what they're actually fighting against.

This is a serious problem, and it's one that I've encountered a few times. I think I may need to start coming up with the villains and main conflicts before the rest, because my brain seems to shy away from them like there's a Doctor Who perception filter blocking me from seeing the whole thing. Like I'll get part of it, and then when it comes time to look at what, exactly, the climax of the story will be about, sorry, what was that? Was there a story there? I could have sworn there was, but I sure as hell don't see one now.

And that is why there is not more of this novel so far.

*headdesk*

Words Written Today: 520
Category: Two Captains Alt. Ending

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