Now, if you will, fast forward your life from the early days in the classroom to present day life. You are probably around my age or older, eighteen, nineteen, whatever, you've now read thousands, nay, millions of letter, words, texts, books, poetry and anything else that encompasses the written word, it's needles to say that you're somewhat familiar with the workings of the English language, presuming you're out of that stage where you drop letters that aren't necessarily needed to create the correct pronunciation for a word or "TXT language" as it's known on the 'streets', but for arguments sake I'm just going to guess that you are. Anyway, you've got the language you call your own down to a fine tuned point.
By now, you've probably written a lot yourself, but who has read all that you have ever written? A handful of teachers, bound only by a universal grading program? Maybe your parents when you were younger, humoring your new found skills? Or perhaps a handful of people on the Internet, possibly that you don't even know. Think again of all those books you've read, but really think, include every text, not just one's of fiction or fact but everything. Needless to say, it's a phenomenal feat, but personally, do you know one author? One solitary person who has ever had the pleasure to say that they have contributed something of note to the world of literature? If you do you are a luckier man than I.
Because of these somewhat pessimistic thoughts I've decided to turn this into a positive and write something I can be proud of. Not just something that I can post on a meaningless blog on the Internet or show
my parents but instead, just something to let me be humble in the knowledge that I at least gave it a go. And at the end of the day, isn't that what it's all about? I can't imagine Howard Lovecraft just sat down one day without any practice and wrote some of the worlds most inspired horror stories or when John Tolkien came to writing the Lord Of The Rings books he hadn't sat down years before and devised his stories piece by piece, little by little.Having said this, I think I should mention that I'm not claiming that whatever I do end up spewing out will be anywhere near the level of genius that either of these authors have displayed, but it'll be my attempt at novel writing.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not entering into this with nothing, I've been conducting a small bit of research to help me along my merry way. I'd heard of an organization in the past that devised something called "national novel writing month" and that they have an active website, with advice about writing your first novel, everything from help with ideas and opinions right down to how many words I should be aiming for so that I don't send myself cynically insane. According to the website, if you dig deep enough, 50,000 words is an average for a first go. Why not, hey? 50,000 words, that's only about 200 pages. I can do that.
As well as this I've got some rough story ideas floating around the page, I don;t mind sharing these since first off they're pretty lame and second off they are almost bound to change by the time I actually get into this thing.
To start with, we have the general plot (I'm told this is something that I should have before anything I write can be considered a novel), so here goes;
Story
The story is about a lonely car salesman and a sadistic bookstore owner who are friends of convenience. Three years ago both of them were the prime witnesses in a murder connected to the city's biggest organised crime syndicate and have been moved together in a relocation program by the government. It starts in a large city, close to where present day London is situated, somewhere in an undisclosed future.
The earth is now set several miles below sea level due to the after effects of global warming finally taking hold on the environment. In a last ditch attempt to save humanity from certain doom the worlds superpowers joined together into a single communist government and began to encase the worlds most wealthy city's in huge, watertight dome's so they would not be destroyed by the rising oceans. Due to this a large portion of the worlds population was wiped out, anybody not fortunate enough to already be living in these city's or wealthy enough to afford a place in one of the overcrowded slums were drowned, left to starve on boats or killed by pirates.
A continual war wages under the waves between the government forces and democratic rebels, promising a better life under the water.
When the two main characters find out they they are possibly part of a government conspiracy with just as many pros as con's they're forced to choose a side to fight for.
Characters
So far, I ain't got much in the way of character ideas. I've got the two main characters down to perfection and ideas for the leaders of the government and the rebels, but that's it. Anyway, here goes;
Name: Seth Ryan
Occupation: Car dealer
Character traits: Intent on the surface, but aggressive underneath.
Short bio: This guy puts you in mind of a rabid dog. He has almond-shaped black eyes. His thick, scruffy, coffee-colored hair is neck-length and is worn in an unkempt style. He's got a small mustache. He is very short and has a graceful build. His skin is nut-brown. He has a low forehead. His wardrobe is plain, with lots of gray and brown tones.
Name: Elroy grimes
Occupation: Bookstore owner
Character traits: Antisocial and humble.
Short bio: This gentleman reminds you of a raging river. He has beady brown eyes that are like two bronze coins. His fine, straight, sand-colored hair is worn in a style that reminds you of a pile of leaves. He has a broad-shouldered build. His skin is pale. He has large hands. His wardrobe is plain and severe, with a lot of green.
More ideas and characters pretty soon, but that's what I've got so far, so it's not gold, but for a first try I don't think it's too awful. Feel free to comment etc.
And just in case you can't envision the city, I'll help you with some Bioshock artwork, which is where I got a lot of inspiration for the idea in the first place*
*The original idea was to have the city's raised above the ocean on huge floating platforms, but my brother told me that this would simply make the story "unbelievable", which I found rather ironic.
