The Little People From Start To
Finish Part 3
Once the main characters were
established along with the setting and circumstances for the story, I then
introduced the main villain. I did not want to reveal him right away, but gave
hints to let the reader know that he was there.
I tried to build anticipation for
who and what he was, what his motives were, and what he was doing. I wanted to
slowly reveal what was happening with him.
For me, when I am writing, it is
like a movie that is being played in my mind, being continually created by my
imagination. I just write what I see there. Sometimes the story flows quickly,
but at other times I hit stumbling blocks and have to step back and think about
the direction it is going. It isn’t always easy. Sometimes the story doesn’t
flow well, or doesn’t make sense so I have to go back and rethink the
direction. That, or if I have an idea about an element that I want to add but do
not know enough about it to write it properly, I step away so I can rethink the
situation or do research to properly explain whatever it is that is happening
at that part of the story.
Writing can be very similar to doing
design work, illustrating, drawing, painting or many other forms of art. The
one difference is that if you make a mistake, you can go in and correct it. In
some forms of art, that isn’t always easy to do.
For the length of time that it took
to write the first draft, which seemed like a really long time, that is usually
only a small part of the whole process. Once the first draft was done, I think
I ended up rewriting, changing and adding to it probably at least four or five
times.
As the story progressed, I began to
try and tie all of the characters together and provide relevant arcs. I wanted
to give every character a purpose. An example of this is Adam’s grandparents.
Not only do they help provide background information, they also tie in and help
bring about important information and pivotal elements that are key to the
story. Elements such as Adam’s Native American heritage, the magic necklace and
rattle, going to a Native American Pow Wow, buying gifts for his new friends,
the villain’s spies following Adam as he spends times with them, etc.
Another element that I built into
the story was the progression of time as related to holidays. When I was a
child, the assorted holidays were always a time of family, excitement, fun and
fellowship. Holidays always mean different things to different people, but for
me, especially as a child, it was an important time to be with family.
My father and grandparents always
tried to make those times special. Whether it was hunting for candy left by the
Bunny at Easter, shooting fireworks on the 4th of July, dressing up
and trick-or-treating at Halloween, eating together at Thanksgiving, or opening
presents at Christmas, each holiday was spent together and I wanted to share a
little of that togetherness in the story.
More in part 4
