Vince asked:
I have a 120,000 word paranormal called "Characters in a Romance" in which there is a cosmic black moment (explosion) and all the romance characters are blown out of their novels to all corners of the universe and they spend the rest of the book, like Dorothy in the "Wizard of Oz", trying to get back to their own novels.
They have many adventures along the way with their biggest problem being their inability to prove if they are real or fictional. Neither the real people, who were also blown up, nor the fictional characters are able to come up with a proof for determining who is real and who is fictional. Try to prove you're real.
They have many adventures along the way with their biggest problem being their inability to prove if they are real or fictional. Neither the real people, who were also blown up, nor the fictional characters are able to come up with a proof for determining who is real and who is fictional. Try to prove you're real.
What a great plot! I’m getting all sorts of resonances here
from post-modern themes about authorship and the uncertainty of “reality,” as
in Calvino, Ionesco, and more recently, Jasper Fforde in the Thursday Next
novels! I can see how this juxtaposition of “fiction” and “real” (especially
WITHIN a fiction!) will call into doubt the reliability of many philosophical
verities. I think the "proving you're real" is a great theme, but I better just deal with the basic journey today, as that's complex enough.
So to the journey question! I think the significant
challenge here is that you have several characters, and they probably each have
an individual journey (you know, from distrust to trust). So keep that in
mind—each probably has some individual journey to make within the overall
journey of everyone getting back to where they belong. (This might well come into play at the end of
the book, where perhaps some characters do make it back to their novels, but
others don’t—the individual journey might be a determiner of whether they make
it back or not. Possible example later down the page. J)
So you've set up that
as a group, they have this common journey of getting back to their rightful
places. I’m going to call that “home,” but I do need to point out that where
they started (in that book or on that world or whatever) might not be where
they belong. That is, “home” isn’t
always home. Some characters might find another along the way.
A few thoughts:
1. When in the book does the explosion take place?
What I'm wondering is... when does their common journey start? That is, is the
actual start:
Journey starts before
the explosion: Knowing who you are and your place in reality
or--
Journey starts AFTER
the explosion: Not knowing who you are or where you belong in the great
scheme of things
The actual placement of the explosion will make a big
difference here. If you think in terms of turning points (I’m linking to an article I
wrote laying out my schema of turning points, but other analysts will have
a different order and terminology), the explosion could take place at the
"Inciting Incident", which is usually at the end of the first scene
or first chapter-- the first event to set in motion the overall plot.
But you might want to spend 3-4 chapters establishing them
in their ordinary worlds, and have the explosion happen as the second turning
point (External Conflict Emerges). In that case, the journey would start back
in the ordinary world, and so you might need to think more about what would
make the ordinary world different as a starting point than it will be as the
endpoint. That is, if the journey really starts “where I belong,” and then ends
“where I belong,” has it really been a journey? How can you make it more than a
circle?
You mentioned Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, and she does end
up right back where she started? What’s changed? Her attitude towards home,
right? She started out feeling that she didn’t belong at home, and ended up
knowing that’s where she belonged.
If you have the explosion take place later, so that the
journey starting point is clearly “home,” then you might consider that there’s
a journey in subtext under that “geographical” one. What’s that underlying
journey—which have to do with how they feel about home, and how home feels
about them! Think about those quest novels where the young protagonist starts
out as a loser in his hometown, leaves on the quest, and comes back a hero
because he’s brought back the Holy Grail or killed the dragon or whatever. That’s
a journey from “home” to “home,” but there’s been a marked change.
2. Does everyone make it back to where they started?
Think about using that question as a way to hint at the individual journeys
within the common journey. Some alternative answers:
a. Denny doesn’t get back home because he failed at some
essential task on the way.
b. Sandy
gets back home, but finds it no longer fits her, and she leaves again.
c. Leo almost makes it home, but sacrifices that goal so
that another can make it back.
d. Charlotte
almost gets back home, but when she’s on the brink of returning, realizes she
never did belong there, and decides not to go.
e. Paul fell in love with an outsider along the way, and decides
to stay with her rather than go home.
f. Rorie got sidetracked halfway through, ending up
somewhere else, and stayed to help them battle some evildoer, and loves it
there now and doesn’t want to leave to go back home.
g. Louie, unbeknownst to the others, is a bad guy and in
trying to sabotage everyone else getting back, ends up destroying himself.
In those cases, each of them has some other individual
journey, and that journey’s destination isn’t back to home. Even if “home” is
where they belong and they get back there, they might need to
learn/do/accomplish something else to finally reach the destination.
Anyway, I think you might just keep in mind that there is a
common journey (everyone getting back “home”), but each might have his/her own
journey, and that individual journey could determine who actually does get
home, and what alternatives the others might find.
What do you think? It’s a great story, I can tell already!
And because I’ve been spending too much time on Youtube, a
few “home” songs:
