Outlining a new novel, I have a dilemma and I could use some opinions. Here are the primary characters:
* A 92 year old man with a trauma in his past directly driving the plot. This man has the knowledge, equipment and expertise to address the crisis (disaster situation).
* A young hero (19) who will be the main physical force in their survival.
* The young hero's love interest.
* A bad guy, of course.
It will be written in limited third, from the POV of each of these four. These characters will act separately until they all come together (along with a few secondary characters) to face the catastrophe as a group.
The trauma in the old man's past occurred when he himself was 19.
So my dilemma is that I want to choose between the following, and can't decide which would be more appropriate:
Choice 1:
Write this as Young Adult - MC is the 19 year old hero. He is struggling to establish his worth in the world, and to find romantic/sexual happiness. He will find these things during the tough challenges facing him in this book. The opening scene is the present, the inciting incident is in the present although it is a consequence of long ago events. Those events are shown later in the old man's flashback or dialogue. I hate using flashbacks so another option is to open with the past event, showing the old man at 19, but then I won't be introducing my main until chapter 2. This feels a little choppy to me. I could make it a prologue but I really don't want to. There is some appeal to withholding the past event and letting it be a revelation later in the story. It's not crucial to the plot that it be up front, but it would be a dynamite hook opening.
Choice 2:
The old man is the MC. He is struggling with loss of independence and being weary of life, as well as not having yet come to terms with what happened to him way back when. He sees in the young hero a reflection of what he once was. Through the novel's disaster, he will make sense of his life and find peace. The opening chapter can be the past event, and the rest will flow well, as the MC will be in it from the start.
My dilemma is that the plot is more than anything, about events and issues surrounding the old man. However, I think a 19 yr old MC is much more palatable to today's readers, and more appropriate to this type of action story. Plus, the 19 year old is crucial to their survival and much more an active figure than the old man.
Am I overthinking this? Should I just write it, and let both the old man and the young hero BE who they are, each in his own POV voice? Then maybe by the end of the first draft I'll know which is the MC?
Can a book have two MCs? Do I really need to "designate" one over the other?
* A 92 year old man with a trauma in his past directly driving the plot. This man has the knowledge, equipment and expertise to address the crisis (disaster situation).
* A young hero (19) who will be the main physical force in their survival.
* The young hero's love interest.
* A bad guy, of course.
It will be written in limited third, from the POV of each of these four. These characters will act separately until they all come together (along with a few secondary characters) to face the catastrophe as a group.
The trauma in the old man's past occurred when he himself was 19.
So my dilemma is that I want to choose between the following, and can't decide which would be more appropriate:
Choice 1:
Write this as Young Adult - MC is the 19 year old hero. He is struggling to establish his worth in the world, and to find romantic/sexual happiness. He will find these things during the tough challenges facing him in this book. The opening scene is the present, the inciting incident is in the present although it is a consequence of long ago events. Those events are shown later in the old man's flashback or dialogue. I hate using flashbacks so another option is to open with the past event, showing the old man at 19, but then I won't be introducing my main until chapter 2. This feels a little choppy to me. I could make it a prologue but I really don't want to. There is some appeal to withholding the past event and letting it be a revelation later in the story. It's not crucial to the plot that it be up front, but it would be a dynamite hook opening.
Choice 2:
The old man is the MC. He is struggling with loss of independence and being weary of life, as well as not having yet come to terms with what happened to him way back when. He sees in the young hero a reflection of what he once was. Through the novel's disaster, he will make sense of his life and find peace. The opening chapter can be the past event, and the rest will flow well, as the MC will be in it from the start.
My dilemma is that the plot is more than anything, about events and issues surrounding the old man. However, I think a 19 yr old MC is much more palatable to today's readers, and more appropriate to this type of action story. Plus, the 19 year old is crucial to their survival and much more an active figure than the old man.
Am I overthinking this? Should I just write it, and let both the old man and the young hero BE who they are, each in his own POV voice? Then maybe by the end of the first draft I'll know which is the MC?
Can a book have two MCs? Do I really need to "designate" one over the other?
Good luck!
