As I mentioned previously this blog used to be a tie-in to a screenplay I've drafted a few times called The Red Ray Lives. In the blogs, the main character of the story kept a "journal" of sorts that kind of fleshed out the backstory of the world, but that journal always had a set ending point, meaning the beginning of the screenplay. The Red Ray Lives is a superhero story, but its most important characters are not necessarily the superheroes that live within it. There's a huge backstory gap that exists for a couple of the characters that is just begging to be spilled out into a longer form. So, I penned the initial blog for this project and sat back and wondered, but then as I lay in bed the night I completed it, I could not get to sleep. My mind was churning with ideas! I broke the #1 rule of the writer and did not get out of bed to write them down, but I didn't have to- I knew these ideas were strong because they just kept repeating themselves in my head. I was also very tired physically, so no matter how strongly my mind wanted to do it, the body would have none of it.
I awoke the next morning and pulled up a blank word document, not entirely sure what to expect. By the time it was all over I'd written 2,400 words, and nearly all of that total is simply a character summary and that character's specific footsteps through the world of the story. I was utterly shocked. It has been a long time since I have really sat down and cranked out something new, something substantial, a solid brick for the foundation if you will. As a writer, I firmly believe that you must populate your worlds with solid, well-developed characters, or they will fail. One of my biggest criticisms time and again when watching films is a lack of character development. No matter the medium, character development is the vehicle by which a reader/audience/etc is introduced to and explores your world, and in order to sell that world to the intended audience they have to be a living, breathing character. Not only that, but they have to be a living, breathing character within this fantastical world of superheroes and make it believable that this is their world. If the character in the story is alive in their world then it is easier for an audience to open the door to it and step inside.
This also afforded me the opportunity to do some writing research, specifically on a couple of the major settings in the story. Thank the lord for the internet! Google Maps allows me to go to places I'll never really be able to go and to read all about them. After all, what good are solid, realistic characters in your story if you can't put them into a believable setting?
Wherever you are in your NaNo prep, I hope that this continues to fuel your inspirations and open up your dreams. Thank you to everyone who read the first piece and had so many kind words for me about it. As for me, I'm going to sit down with the outline again and see if I can't breathe a bit more life into it before I settle into a John Carpenter movie marathon. We're recording a podcast with some guys in Australia this evening, and I want to be prepared! Thanks very much for reading!
Nicholas Haskins
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