Over the last year or so, my focus when it came to writing has been short stories. There was something so rewarding about being able to actually write a full, albeit short, story from start to finish, without giving up halfway through because the backstory was too complicated or because I kept pulling a blank with the middle. I’ve really enjoyed building my library of short stories that span a wide range of genres and topics. It’s really helped me improve my writing and discover my personal style.
However, in the back of my mind, there has always been the novel I’d initially put on hold, sitting quietly in the corner. The one I hadn’t touched for over a year.
As a brief reminder, the novel’s basic premise is that two brothers, Monty (15) and Theo (7), are stranded in a world plagued by toxic red clouds of poisonous rain that encircle the Earth.
It sounds really simple, and possibly boring, but I promise you, there is much more to it. I’m just not quite ready to share more than that.
Unlike some of my past novel ideas, I really didn’t want to give up on this one. I was sure there was still something worth writing about, which is why I always told myself I would go back to it eventually when the time was right. Well, that time is now, because recently, it’s crawled its way back to the front of my mind, and I’ve made a lot of progress on its timeline. It all started when I ACCIDENTALLY wrote a whole chapter on it.
Yes, I somehow accidentally wrote a full chapter, and possibly more!
After I finished my most recent short story, Saving Today. My mind was a little bit blank when it came to new ideas, and to my surprise, that blank space was filled with my novel.
The problem was, I didn’t know what to write. The story had hit a brick wall, and I was worried that if I tried to force a timeline together, it would end up terrible and I’d feel even more defeated.
I need to spark new ideas. So instead of writing something ‘official’, I thought I’d write a mini side story that wouldn’t be included in the final piece. I decided on a bit of backstory for the main character, something that would gently reintroduce me to the world I had left behind so long ago, in the hopes that it would inspire ideas that I could use in the main story.
Fun fact: Writing a backstory is actually what I did when I very first came up with the idea of this story about four years ago. I didn’t really have a character in mind; I just wrote from the perspective of someone experiencing the world I was building, and seeing what ideas it would generate along the way.
Currently, the story begins five years after the ‘first storm’, meaning the world and its characters have already somewhat adjusted to the apocalyptic state of the world. In this side story, I wrote about the day the storm clouds first appeared. Where Monty is, and what might have happened.
It’s worth noting that I always intended to write a flashback of sorts and include it in the novel; however, the mini-story I was writing wasn’t going into huge detail. It was more like a journal entry where I quickly jotted down ideas as they came to me. There was little dialogue or description of the surroundings; it was more of a sequence of events. At least, it was at first.
I ended up getting really into this flashback, and as I wrote, I kept adding more details. Things were fitting neatly into place, and new ideas were popping into my head that massively helped the main story. (One in particular is something that I can’t believe I didn’t think of earlier when I had writer’s block!)
Before I knew it, I had over ten thousand words in front of me, more than I’d written for chapter one! I was really happy with what I’d come up with. Obviously, it was brief in parts, but the ideas were there, and that’s what mattered!
Soon after, more ideas sprouted from the top of my head for other parts of the story. Plot holes were filled, sequences were coming together, and now, as I’m writing this, new scenes are being developed that I’m very excited about.
I do still intend to continue writing short stories, as there are multiple ideas in the oven. But I am currently making the most of this wave of inspiration. At the end of the day, what I really want to do is write and publish a book. A proper book that can live on people’s shelves.
To do that, I need to write it.
Jake Grayson Writes 