Plot-in 2016 (NaNoWriMo)

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Gribba

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-I'm struggling to figure out where Elliott's scars exactly come from. Back when I first imagined this, I defaulted to physical abuse from his parents, but that idea presents problems. To give a bit of backstory, one of the parents is a failed violinist (I'm thinking the mom, but it could be the dad), and at least for much of his life, they had an unhealthy obsession with pushing him to succeed where they couldn't. Elliott's skills capped out at some point, so they largely view him as a disappointment in the present and have given up on him, but pushing him to succeed and hone his craft early in life could give them a motive to abuse him.
[...]

If you go the abuse route it could be the parents. If the parents are people that are seemingly descent people on the surface and around other people, they can easily hide the abuse. The scars, as I do not know what they look like, I am shooting in the dark here, but could they be from the violin-bow? If so, that could tie the story together with the parents and his future. He has to break from the abuse, the violin and the scars it has inflicted upon him.


The motivation for the abuse could be that (if it is) the father, he is projecting his lack of talent and success onto his son, as his son, is not living up to the standard the father believes is the ultimate goal to reach. Also as Elliott gets older he can hide the scars from his mother, if she is not part of the abuse. On the other hand the mother can also be part of it, either passive bystander and unable/unwilling to do anything or she is convinced that this form of motivation, is needed to achieve the ultimate goal.
 
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Sage

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The violin bow was my first thought as well.
 

paddismac

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So I've written words... a step in the right direction I guess. But they aren't the words I intended to focus on for NaNo.

A bit of background —

Gamble started life as an MG novel with an eleven-year-old MC. It has since evolved (devolved?) into adult absurdism ripe with "questionable content".

In its current form, the cast has become much more of an ensemble, and the main character of the MG version has become more of the "catalyst character". I NEED her. And therein lies my problem.

Even though I've aged her up to fourteen, every single time I need her in a scene (which is fairly often), I go into MG mode, and start obsessing over whether or not the activities and conversations going on around her are "appropriate". All of my other characters suddenly start walking on eggshells, acting and speaking totally out of character, and I'm brought to a screeching halt.

I planned on using NaNo to push through all of Sophie's scenes (really important scenes), and STILL I find myself writing around her.

I wonder, do I really need to rein it in around a kid in adult fiction, or am I creating a problem for myself where none exists?? She won't personally be involved in anything illegal or immoral (whatever that is), but she'll definitely be aware of it.
 

Sage

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In adult fiction, I don't think you need to rein it in. Even if Sophie didn't understand the world around her, your audience would. I've had characters make sexual innuendos that went completely over a young POV character's head. I've had a more innocent YA character miss out on the obvious-to-the-reader/other-characters scandals going on around her. Just because your MC wouldn't necessarily process everything correctly, doesn't mean that she wouldn't perceive it.

But if your other characters are meant to walk on eggshells around her, make it an issue in their POVs.

Great, Sophie's here. What's the code for knocking out the guard so we can steal the gold? Oh, right. "Hey, Frank, don't forget to give the guard a nice hat today."
"A hat, got it. Hey, Sophie. What a fine goat you have there."
 

paddismac

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Thanks! This is what I was hoping for.

I will try to kick my inner MG censor to the curb for now (and if I get push-back later, I'll say that Sage told me to write it :greenie)
 

paddismac

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Didn't know where else to put this, so...

For any of my fellow spec fic writers (of all genres) — Do you ever have days when your logical, real world brain kicks in and says "Just STOP it! This could NEVER happen!"

At least once a week this happens to me. Sometimes it can lock me up for an extended period and I can't write a single word, not even do edits or revisions. Under normal circumstances I just sit back and forget about it, knowing it'll pass, but with this NaNo deadline, it's extremely unwelcome.

<sigh> Not sure that I'm doing anything other than whining here, but I guess I'm just curious if this happens to anyone else. (Or maybe other people's fae and demons and aliens actually DO exist and it's just my stupid gods and trolls and goats who are figments...)
 
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