Evolution

This is a post about how my story idea evolved as I plotted it in October.

I knew going in this year that I wanted to write a serial adventure, a great journey type story. I  tried it in 2011, continuing the adventures of characters I wasn't ready to let go of after I finished their story the previous year (an actual complete story written outside of Nano ifyoucanbelieveit.) I made two big mistakes there. One, I didn't plot enough. I knew where the characters needed to go, I just wasn't exactly sure how they were going to get there. So at 15,000 words I hit a block. Normally I would push through it, write complete junk just to get the characters moving and hope it would all work out. But that led me to my second mistake which was that I cared too much.

One of the rules of NaNo is to go in with a fresh idea. Using NaNo to finish something you've already started can lead to disaster for some people, because they're so attached to the story that they can't let go and shoot for getting it written over getting it right. My original story was finished, self-contained but I guess I had too much invested in these characters, because I just could not bring myself to pull my usual word padding, even if it might lead to something awesome. I stopped at 15,000 words. (And oh, going back to look at that document to verify the word count sent happy tingles through me, that's how much I love those characters.)

So this year I decided to try again. Serial adventure. Brand new journey. But I had no idea what.

Honestly, I was still thinking about those other characters and was secretly hoping I could figure out a way to try again.

It was in the Plot Doctoring forum where I got the seed for Throp. Someone had a princess who was going to be sent from her castle and placed in the care of some fairies in human form. That story was about a princess but I found myself wondering about the guy who has to take the princess from the castle to wherever she's going. Not a guard... I didn't want to write about a guard or a knight or someone like that. I wanted to write about a totally average guy. Average people going on extraordinary adventures is my favorite kind of story. I tried to picture the guy who would be the least happy about accompanying a princess on a trip and that guy became my main character.

So originally, the princess wasn't even really a person. She was a catalyst, a reason for Throp to have to leave his home so on the way back Something Terrible could happen and send him on his great journey. But what Terrible Something? And furthermore, why the hell is Throp doing it anyway? She's a princess for goodness sake. They can't spare a single guy with actual training and authority to go with her? What kind of second-rate kingdom is this?

The princess answered both of those questions. She doesn't want to marry Prince Stupid-Head so she arranges for a commoner who can be bribed out of putting her on the ship. When Throp turns her down she runs away and becomes a MacGuffin for Throp to chase down. Great Journey, hurrah!

Even that gave me trouble, though. Throp did not strike me as the kind of guy who would go far out of his way to chase a princess. If he hadn't found her dangling from that tree, I believe he would have spent a few hours wringing his hands before giving up, going back to the castle, and telling them the whole story. It would have been terrible for him, but I don't think he would have the skills or the gumption to chase her down. He wouldn't even know where to start. 

I had to put him on the ship. A few miles from home against his will wasn't going to cut it. I needed him to be so far gone that getting home in itself would become the Great Journey, because that would be the thing he would want above all else. And I had to send the princess with him.

As I plotted, I realized she was still a great plot driver. As long as she was around, things would be more difficult for Throp and more interesting for me,  but she was also a great character in herself. She complemented him - a reckless wise guy to his straight man homebody - while still having goals of her own.

In chapter four, when the princess switched gears from delicate to determined, I knew I had made the right decision.