Am excited because I'm actually flushing out a story concept for a book myself. Surprisingly, it's not science-fiction, but just a "plain 'ole" story about a guy's life.
Have been thinking about writing a book for years, and have felt deep down my whole life that I was an author (although not necessarily a good one) and was going to write books. Have even considered the write a novel in a month gig to get started. (
Nanowrimo)
So, I'm first trying to learn a bit about the writing process and stuff like how to outline a novel, create a plot and flush out character profiles.
Btw, an odd thing happened to me on the way to the main character dossier - I seem to have become attached to him already. Kind of like when you watch a really good TV series, and you start to really like one of the core characters. I'm hoping that's a good thing, and not simply a sign of dementia!
Anyway, I'm just getting started with the idea, and have so much to learn about the writing process itself. I'm not a "do it and then see what happens guy". I'm more of a "think about how it's gonna work and figure out the important bits and then only dive in once it all fits together in my brain at a high level" kind of guy.
As far as the story, the idea is to open with a very young boy (the main character named "Charlie") being pushed into a room where he is to visit with his very old and sick grandma. Unfortunately, he's there alone and this beloved grandma tricks him into turning off her life support. She dies right in front of him, leaving a sense of guilt and betrayal, as well as the life long perceived stain of blood on his hands.
He lives life trying to earn back his own respect and tries to overcome through success. Charlie is an incredibly kind person, but unfortunately, every time he makes progress things fall apart. Despite a lot of optimism and hard work, he never seems to get anywhere in terms of material things, career, relationships, etc. His failures and loss are partly due to back luck, partly due to a naive view of the world, and partly because Charlie just doesn't think before he speaks. (I can't wait to write some of the dialogue!)
Eventually, after going through the wringer again and again, all is lost, even the few people that he always depended on when things he was down. So Charlie is all alone in the world, his health fails, and he's in a room just like grandma's wishing he could die and thinking of how he would do it...
Obviously, that is intended to be the climax of the book, and that's where the really interesting bit will happen, so I won't share that yet. But I'm convinced that this part will be a lot of fun to write if I ever get to it. By this point in the book, if I've done my job, people will care about Charlie as much as I do. Of course, there is the possibility that this whole story idea may be only interesting in my own head, or that I will kill an idea full of potential with bad writing. But to be honest, I'm only writing this book for myself anyway, so I figure I can't lose!
If you are interested in seeing the full book one day, here's the time line based on my progress so far.... A completed the story outline in 2020, followed by a first draft in 2025, and the nicely formatted e-book release in 2030. Hmmm. By that time, I may be in a hospital bed on life support, all alone in the world, wishing that... Nah, just kidding. Personally, I prefer the living option with lots of pain medications. I don't want to be the one to decide when it's time for me to go! ;-)