Post by tyroctar on Apr 10, 2010 20:10:20 GMT -5
Well, first off I must humbly admit that I do not have any super powers. Shocker, I know.
But I need help trying to decide how to move forward with my speculative series. The first book is coming along slowly, but after Mount Hermon Writer's conference I'm not sure if I am beginning the series correctly.
I start the first book with Walker, my protagonist, waking up underneath his bed. After panicking and his parents finding him underneath it, his parents can't figure out how he made it under the bed. He hadn't gotten up in the night and there is no sign that he simply rolled out of bed on his own. His parents then remember a man they met two days after Walker was born 8 years ago who told them Walker was a Nazirite.
I pick up the next scene 10 years later, Walker is a freshman at a junior college and his powers have developed far beyond their first appearance that winter night when he was eight. The plan was to go on and let the readers experience the powers Walker now has from Walker POV, which is highly resistant and jaded toward these amazing gifts. He has all the gifts of a hero and yet he wants absolutely nothing to do with them. He wants to be a normal human being.
The rest of the book goes off on how Walker's attempts to ignore his powers makes it far more dangerous for those around him when evil demonic forces begin attacking the college. Walker, with the guidance of another Nazirite must choose between indifference and letting those he loves suffer, or embracing the powers he mortifies.
This was my original idea. But after to talking to some of the amazing authors at Mount Hermon, John Olson and Randy Ingermanson in particular, I see there is still some work to do. John suggested I stay at the very beginning and show each power as it manifests itself. the only problem is that I originally saw them as coming up slowly over the process of several years, even when we meet Walker he has yet to experience every power he is capable of.
My original plan was to start each book, which looks to be 7, with a short prologue style chapter, in which a different power manifests itself. This is to avoid the first book being all back story, which the main character already knows, and still let the readers see how the powers originally manifested and how they are each connected in some way to Walker's character.
I realize the status quo of stories of this genre, like say Spiderman, Superman, and most stories of where a person is suddenly endowed with great powers is that you follow them as they learn as their lives are changed by these powers. I envisioned Walker as different, Walker is to the Nazirite gift, what PB is to Jelly.
I am prepared to go back and rewrite what I have already written, which I have done with many projects, many times, but I wonder if in this case it is better to stick it out and try something that is against the MO. The knowing how to be teachable and when not to be teachable kind of thing.
So here is what I need feed back on. Do I stick to the status quo and follow Walker through his transition into a Nazirite (by the way this is not the same thing as an Old Testament Nazirite, similar but not the same) or do I go with my original idea, and have my readers meet Walker as a young man with remarkable skills but has no desire to embrace them? Any feed back would be welcome. And maybe if it would help, I could post the first chapter sometime later. Thanks!
But I need help trying to decide how to move forward with my speculative series. The first book is coming along slowly, but after Mount Hermon Writer's conference I'm not sure if I am beginning the series correctly.
I start the first book with Walker, my protagonist, waking up underneath his bed. After panicking and his parents finding him underneath it, his parents can't figure out how he made it under the bed. He hadn't gotten up in the night and there is no sign that he simply rolled out of bed on his own. His parents then remember a man they met two days after Walker was born 8 years ago who told them Walker was a Nazirite.
I pick up the next scene 10 years later, Walker is a freshman at a junior college and his powers have developed far beyond their first appearance that winter night when he was eight. The plan was to go on and let the readers experience the powers Walker now has from Walker POV, which is highly resistant and jaded toward these amazing gifts. He has all the gifts of a hero and yet he wants absolutely nothing to do with them. He wants to be a normal human being.
The rest of the book goes off on how Walker's attempts to ignore his powers makes it far more dangerous for those around him when evil demonic forces begin attacking the college. Walker, with the guidance of another Nazirite must choose between indifference and letting those he loves suffer, or embracing the powers he mortifies.
This was my original idea. But after to talking to some of the amazing authors at Mount Hermon, John Olson and Randy Ingermanson in particular, I see there is still some work to do. John suggested I stay at the very beginning and show each power as it manifests itself. the only problem is that I originally saw them as coming up slowly over the process of several years, even when we meet Walker he has yet to experience every power he is capable of.
My original plan was to start each book, which looks to be 7, with a short prologue style chapter, in which a different power manifests itself. This is to avoid the first book being all back story, which the main character already knows, and still let the readers see how the powers originally manifested and how they are each connected in some way to Walker's character.
I realize the status quo of stories of this genre, like say Spiderman, Superman, and most stories of where a person is suddenly endowed with great powers is that you follow them as they learn as their lives are changed by these powers. I envisioned Walker as different, Walker is to the Nazirite gift, what PB is to Jelly.
I am prepared to go back and rewrite what I have already written, which I have done with many projects, many times, but I wonder if in this case it is better to stick it out and try something that is against the MO. The knowing how to be teachable and when not to be teachable kind of thing.
So here is what I need feed back on. Do I stick to the status quo and follow Walker through his transition into a Nazirite (by the way this is not the same thing as an Old Testament Nazirite, similar but not the same) or do I go with my original idea, and have my readers meet Walker as a young man with remarkable skills but has no desire to embrace them? Any feed back would be welcome. And maybe if it would help, I could post the first chapter sometime later. Thanks!