From story boards to character development

Story boarding done! The plot makes good, solid sense now. I feel so much firmer in my mind, not just on the particulars of this story but also of where I want to go with my characters. At this point I might just jot a few notes on some of the major challenges I’ve had to deal with in order to get to this point.

When I began the process of writing this novel I already knew something of writing, but I was a short story writer. A well told short story, generally speaking, requires one good idea. The stories I wrote didn’t require an ending that provided emotional resolution for the reader. In fact, when it comes to short stories I tend to pursue the exact opposite. I aim for equivocal endings. I often leave it to the reader to decide what actually happened and to ponder how this moment in time impacted on the protagonist beyond the frame of the story.

Transitioning to writing a novel has been challenging. I had my idea - it was a picture really. A succubus trying to survive today, eager to drink deeply from the swirling emotional feast surrounding her, yet forcing herself to scavenge the barest emotional sustenance she needed to survive. If I were to write a short story about this, I’d focus exclusively on that tension and just leave it there, a signature scrawled into the mind of the reader - a thought morsel to chew on, swallow and hopefully remember. Making this idea into a novel requires a story arc, characters to bounce off, a process of learning and change. I set the bar even higher for myself in that I want this character I create to feature in future novels. So I need to not only conceive of a satisfying ending for her first adventure but to have a clear thought on where to take that next.

What I’ve realized is that, while I may have the skills necessary to write a good tale, I lacked the skills needed to fully conceive, pace and plan it. Without that map I was constantly lost and frustrated, writing good scenes but not quite possessing the confidence to build one on top of the other. The story boarding I’ve been doing for the past month has been a big step toward obtaining my own process for crafting the overall shape of a novel length story. I understand a lot more now than I did and I think I can move forward with greater confidence.

The next step for me will be to texture my plot by building on my characters and settings. This will be my challenge for this week. I finally feel as though I am on more solid ground!