Writing progress!

Last night I was up crazy-late. Know why? Because I wrote 4000 words on my young-adult science fiction series! Not only figured out how to get there from here re: a number of plot-holes in Book One, but also realized what Book Two and Book Three are all about and even wrote up their general plot structures! Woohoo!

I credit my "Aha!" moment to The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster. Thanks, chernobylred, for reading it to me! What a wonderful and lovely book. The revelation arose from thinking a lot about a couple of plot-forms, the quest and coming-of-age story, and suddenly I understood how they work. Also going through my mind as I was listening and thinking about the meta-story was The Lord of the Rings and the original Star Wars movies. Like every other spec-fic writer, of course I've been pondering for years about what makes LotR so great, analyzing the story and characters and so forth; same for Star Wars, among other things. But The Phantom Tollbooth was the key that unlocked the door to understanding this story form. Woohoo!

Those of you who've helped me brainstorm (or just patiently listened to me talk about) this book will be pleased to know that I not only found a love interest for the female protagonist, but he's also 100% biological human yet still every bit as interesting as the hybrid brother and sister heroes. And he's necessary to the story, helping them learn how to disappear and survive on their own while on the run. I'm so excited about this project! Hope to have three sample chapters complete by the end of winter break here at KU.

Oh, yeah, turned in grades on Monday, which is why I'm able to focus on writing like this ;-)

PS: I really need to come up with a decent working title for this. My Dad was an Alien doesn't really work, and YASF Series lacks a certain je ne se qua. Hm....

Best,
Chris

Writing progress!

Last night I was up crazy-late. Know why? Because I wrote 4000 words on my young-adult science fiction series! Not only figured out how to get there from here re: a number of plot-holes in Book One, but also realized what Book Two and Book Three are all about and even wrote up their general plot structures! Woohoo!

I credit my "Aha!" moment to The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster. Thanks, chernobylred, for reading it to me! What a wonderful and lovely book. The revelation arose from thinking a lot about a couple of plot-forms, the quest and coming-of-age story, and suddenly I understood how they work. Also going through my mind as I was listening and thinking about the meta-story was The Lord of the Rings and the original Star Wars movies. Like every other spec-fic writer, of course I've been pondering for years about what makes LotR so great, analyzing the story and characters and so forth; same for Star Wars, among other things. But The Phantom Tollbooth was the key that unlocked the door to understanding this story form. Woohoo!

Those of you who've helped me brainstorm (or just patiently listened to me talk about) this book will be pleased to know that I not only found a love interest for the female protagonist, but he's also 100% biological human yet still every bit as interesting as the hybrid brother and sister heroes. And he's necessary to the story, helping them learn how to disappear and survive on their own while on the run. I'm so excited about this project! Hope to have three sample chapters complete by the end of winter break here at KU.

Oh, yeah, turned in grades on Monday, which is why I'm able to focus on writing like this ;-)

PS: I really need to come up with a decent working title for this. My Dad was an Alien doesn't really work, and YASF Series lacks a certain je ne se qua. Hm....

Best,
Chris