Approaching the On-ramp

Yesterday was finally the day I began working on my outline for Spirit Hackers. I had thought for a bit on how to do this (computer, dictation, etc) and I finally decided to go at it 'old school' and get out my Lefty Notebook (did you even know those existed?!?) and get some basic ideas down on the page. One thing that I wasn't expecting was my wife to engage me in conversation about the book and what plot I had figured out so far. To my surprise, there wasn't much that I really knew of the book or the story at all. I really just had a basic premise, my character names, and my title. This is where I know my wife rules.

She seemed a bit confused in what the story was, even after I explained it a few times. In doing this, I saw that my story didn't make sense and by getting frustrated in the point not getting across, I realized I had a lot of work to do. For the next half-hour we talked about the story and why the characters were doing what they did. I bounced some ideas off of her and she provided some of her own. It was the spark I needed.

I proceeded to get some basic, yet important information down for all four characters in the book: backstory and motivation. I also hammered out some possibilities for the consequences of the antagonist's actions. I was also able to link up the M.C.'s role into the possible climax of the book. The page I began still isn't full, but at the same time I have some good details figured out. At this point I believe I need to get each person rounded out and then I can also work on the timeline of the story & back-story. Once those are set, I can begin re-writing the book.

I've updated my sidebar removing the indefinitely-on-hold Mars story and adding a lot of N/A's for S.H. I think that the pages I had written will be scrapped, to forever live in a junk file in my 'Writings' folder. I don't want to get rid of them but I think that starting with a clean slate will work best for me. It's a good feeling so far and I think that I can do this. My goal is to make this the best book I can write and really get it out for agent representation. Of course only time will tell how realistic that is, but I want to be a writer. I want to be a published writer. I want my name out there somewhere, even if I only sell a few copies. I want to be Aaron Crocco: Published Author!