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 | C. Dennis Moore Horror Has A New Home |
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I didn't work any on ELI this morning, but I did think about it a lot, and what I want to accomplish with it. Later on, I was thinking even more about it and I started thinking about the difference between a character-driven novel and a plot-driven novel. So far, I think everything I've written has been entirely plot-driven, because I have a plot in my head and I want to tell that story. The characters usually come out of that. I don't believe I've ever been in a situation where the character came first and the story then evolved out of that. Well, maybe once, with "Epoch Winter", which hasn't been published, so you probably haven't read it. That was one time I remember very clearly having the character in mind first. But that was it.
I think the problem there stems from certain antisocial tendencies in me. I don't care much for people, and in not caring much for them or their company, I don't take too much time really getting to know them. Unfortunately, I think this also leads to a lot of not understanding people and how they work, which in turn leads to me writing some pretty flat characters who are obviously there only to serve the plot.
It's something I struggle with, and I've tried here and there to let the character take control of the plot, but more often than not, my stories just don't come to me like that. In almost every story I've written, it was a case of an idea concerning the plot, whether a particular twist on an old cliche, a certain climax I have in mind, or whatever. And then I start writing the story and let the characters evolve out of that. Honestly, sometimes the very idea of a character driving the plot baffles me. Other times there's a moment of clarity where I understand how it works, only at those times I have no characters in mind demanding to be written about.
ELI is definitely a story where the plot came first, however in this case the plot hinges on how well this one character is written. I mean the story is about him, so, you know, he's gotta be good, right?
So a lot of today was spent thinking about Eli and his personality, his habits and whatnot. Almost 4000 words in, it's something I hadn't taken into consideration yet--and it's a first-person narrative! So I have to do something to make Eli not just the narrator or the main character, but the driving force behind the entire novel. Hopefully without resorting to cliche tactics like the jumpscare in a horror movie. Not that there are jumpscares here, that was just an example of the type of cliche writing I want to avoid in personalizing this character. You dig?
So what did I do with my morning while I wasn't adding words? I downloaded
WHAT TIME IS IT?!?! |
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