Would *You* Read it? Story Skeletons Thanks to Jim Butcher.
Apparently 2013 is the year of the Great Dental Meltdown. All my teeth have decided to fall apart NOW. My grandfather had dentures from a very young age, and always seemed very pleased with them. He’d spit them in and out and make clackety sounds with them. Fun! Well, now I understand why he liked them so much: I am ready to get a chisel and a hammer and just smash all my teeth out. 0.o
So my month hasn’t been as productive as I’d hoped.
The story so far: I’d just gotten back from my public library and I was pretty disappointed by the writing how-tos on offer. I just needed a bit of structure to plunk my ideas into. So I checked out Jim Butcher’s Livejournal, recommended by Michael R. Johnson, and the advice was amazing – simple and concrete.
A sad aside: I was all, “Who the heck is Jim Butcher?” But then I got there and was all, “Ooooooh…Jim Butcher.”
One of the things Butcher recommends is to distill your story down into two sentences, which Butcher calls a Story Skeleton. It looks like this:
*WHEN SOMETHING HAPPENS*, *YOUR PROTAGONIST* *PURSUES A GOAL*. But will he succeed when *ANTAGONIST PROVIDES OPPOSITION*?
This is the most awesome thing ever. It makes you want to hit yourself in the forehead with the heel of your hand, non? Because once you say it, it seems so obvious.
So I worked out Story Skeletons for the two most likely candidates of mine to ever be novelised:
1. When her almost-boyfriend is captured by Fairy Queen Lynn Ash*, T.F. Pigeon (waitress and minor water deity) sets off to Undermount to rescue him. But will she succeed when Queen Ash, assorted denizens of Undermount, and the Hamilton Street Railway get in her way?
For reference, pieces of this story are here, here and here. I changed the POV character, but I don’t know if that will stick.
2. When the mysterious Machine that supplies water to New Piller breaks down, Mesedsure must journey to the underground city of Foramen to find someone who can fix it. But will Mesedsure succeed when dangerous Outliers, hostile Foramenians, and Re himself gets in the way?
The one little piece of this that exists is here.
So, what do you think? Any preferences? I’m a little worried about the first choice, since I haven’t written much Urban Fantasy, though I’ve read some. :/ But I really have a pretty good idea where this story needs to go, and plotting will be more a matter of sitting down with a big piece of paper and some sticky notes. The second choice seem more up my alley but isn’t as fully realised as the first one. I’m not certain I want to have a deity (Re) as a character in the second one, unless he turns out to be an alien or whatever…
So…yeah. That’s the state of my mangled-y brain poo. Lemme know what you think.
*Everybody in choice number 1 needs a new name. I gave them all placeholder names and never bothered to change them…
I’m glad you found that link useful! It’s helped me, too.
Of the two choices you presented, I really, really liked the second. That one snippet you posted really grabbed my imagination, and I’d seriously love to see more of what Re’s punishment and anger does to the people.
I really liked how that little bit turned out. But where to go with it? Yikes!
I think I would prefer your first choice, but my taste runs more to urban fantasy/horror than to stories existing entirely in an alternate world. Both of your samples are nicely done.
I’d pick the one you would find more fun to read if someone else had written it. You’ll be living with that story continuously in your head for a minimum of several months. You don’t want to find yourself in the back seat six months from now whining “are we there yet?”
Butcher is one of the best plot builders out there. Just finished Cold Days. Great fun to read.
That’s one vote for each. The first is my favourite: but I’ve been sitting on it for a long time. I think it would be more fun to write. But we’ll see how it goes. Thanks for the input.
Then there is your answer. I subscribe to Steven Brust’s “Really Cool Theory of Literature,” which states simply that if the author thinks something is fun and cool, chances are that his readers will as well. If you think it would be more fun to write, then get to it. Re and his anger will be waiting for you when you’re ready for it.
And don’t even ask how long I sat on my current WiP before I actually started working in earnest on it. (Ten years)
Yeah this has been awhile: close to ten years anyway. Life happens…