Posted February 04, 2010 at 13:28 (General)
Since I am beginning the work on a new book (novel) I thought it might be fun to share the progress with everyone. Plus I'll have the advantage of documenting my progress (and pitfalls) as I move along. I hope that you, dear reader and/or fan, will follow along and gain a better appreciation of the work that goes into the book that you read through so quickly and hopefully clamor for the next one. Without further ado, I begin.
Before actually setting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) I needed an idea. Since my books deal with houses or buildings that tell us their stories, and since I've written about three houses already, I had decided a few months ago to write about a different kind of structure. Ah, but what structure should that be I asked myself. Firehouse, no; church, no (although there would be all kinds of stories here); general store, no; banquet hall, getting warmer; dance hall, aha!
Next step for me is to get a visual of the place that I'd like to write about. Last week was spent in browsing the internet for pictures of old dance halls, dance pavilions, banquet halls, anyplace where dancing is the norm. One picture doesn't quite do the trick - at least not for me. I need to see a few pictures or sketches from various time periods in order to put together an historical concept. I finally found three pictures that put it together for me.
Late last week I put together the time line for my story. Based on my research dance halls were at the height of their popularity from the turn of the century (1900) through the late 1950s. So my story will begin shortly after 1900 - at least that's what I'm thinking now.
So, you say, now the story begins. Not so, say I. Who are our characters? How will they interact with each other? Will I follow a main character(s) throughout the story or will I need a series of vignettes with new characters for each? Should there be a common thread that binds all of the characters?
The answer to those questions lies in the backstory for each character. This past week I have created a profile for two of my characters given them names, a family history, a physical description, how they come to be involved with our dance hall (still need a name for the dance hall, though) - basically, everything you'd ever want to know about a character goes into their profile. Some of it won't be used in the story but a lot of it will. This creates for me, the author, an in-depth knowledge of the characters who will be working with me for the next year or so. Of course there will be new characters as work progresses that will be suggested by the main characters but I'll deal with those as they appear.
These things are merely the groundwork for Book #4 - I hope you'll enjoy following along with me as I undertake this writing endeavor. I would love to hear your comments or suggestions. Happy researching!
Posted by Marion at 13:28 2010-02-04 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
