I think I have finally done it! I have an idea I can actually write a book length story about. I always thought I was going to get an idea from a dream, as I usually can reap all kinds of details and bizarre story lines from my time spent in a slumber. This idea, however, was born of one of my daydreams, if I can really call it that. I have always heard the advice "write what you know". This story is going to have many elements of things or events I have experienced myself, so I should have no problem making things believable and hopefully, interesting. This idea started as a seed of a thought, as a what if? What if someone in a similar job to mine did this, or why is their life path taking them in a certain direction? What would make my fictional character want to work hard at her job? What is she trying to rise from? There has to be driving forces to compel this character to move on from her starting situation, so I plan to start this thing off with a bit of a bang!
It will be interesting thinking of the directions this character could chose and where she ends up going. I know for certain I have to write a compelling flashback in the story so readers will see why she is almost obsessed with one leg of her goals. A road trip will definitely be written in, have to have characters go the miles, even if they aren't real. I will have to do a lot of research to compliment the knowledge I already have, as I don't know some of the finer points of what will happen on my character's journey.
I have already decided on a name for this fictional girl. After all, she is sort of my "baby". Her name is Leah. Leah is wise and mature in many ways, but like many of us, she has things lacking in her life. The story I am going to write will be Leah forging her own way in the world, trying to right some of the glaring deficiencies in her life, and in some ways making peace with events from the past. After some brainstorming, and research, it looks as though this story will probably be over a span of five to six years in her life, maybe even longer, but that is still in the planning stages. I am not going to be writing a "mush" story. I don't think I have the descriptive abilities to make it interesting or enjoyable, so I will mostly be sticking with my main character and having her interact with a broad variety of supporting characters.
My research will be somewhat factual, looking up specifics of medical conditions and terminology, but I don't plan to just offer up medical conditions as they appear in a textbook. I am after all, imagining Leah as a real person to make her story and journey interesting to more than just myself as a way to while through a mindless task. That's where the root of the idea really started. It was a thought in my imagination during a time I was doing something which didn't require vast amounts of gray matter to accomplish.
Like others, I will adapt things I have observed from everyday life and use them as background and key elements in this story.
The next decision I need to make is if I should write it out by hand, do some editing, and THEN type it in to the computer, or if I should skip the whole "old-school" thing, and do everything, (other than my planning pages and research) on the laptop. I feel I need to hand-write some of it, as that is how I have always done my short stories, etc. (To date, I have only one story--a current work in progress, that I have typed up entirely on computer as a first draft.)
I will finish by saying I am excited, daunted, hopeful, and feeling inspired as I embark to write this story. I'm not looking to write a blockbuster best-seller, but I want to see if I can write a novel length story, keep it engaging and interesting, and hopeful leave potential readers with a feeling. I want a reader to see why Leah will make the choices she does, and feel good about them. There will be a wide range of emotions to write through, but I am looking forward to this challenge. The time is right.
