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Oct. 20th, 2004 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pixiecrinkleHow to choose the big events in an internally driven novel?
The basic gist of my idea, is that as a young teenager my main character has a benign brain tumor removed. Because of reading a Stephen King novel, and a well-timed visit to a psychic a few years later, she becomes convinced that the tumor was actually her "lost twin" (dermoid cyst) or a source of now-lost psychic powers (her own hypochondria transforming to psychic powers in her mind). I have some idea that by the time she gets to college, while she knows her ideas are ridiculous, they are beginning to cause her trouble in personal relationships, and that eventually she comes to a sort of resolution with herself in order to function as a normal adult. I know I'll have at least the characters of her family, the "twin," a college roommate, and possibly a therapist.
My problem is this: I'm starting to work on some very rough outlines, and I'm having a big issues with feeling like I have "plot worthy" events. Since most of my idea revolves around the main character's perceptions (or maybe even delusions) of what is going on in her life, rather than actual things happening to her, I'm not sure how much of her daily life I need to get into it. How do you go about picking the major plot points when you're dealing with a character growing in a way she might not even like to talk about with others?
I'm thinking the novel has to be written from the third person, because I'm not sure I can make her both eccentric enough and convincing to a reader at the same time. So I obviously need some events to put her in to make this happen. Help????
The basic gist of my idea, is that as a young teenager my main character has a benign brain tumor removed. Because of reading a Stephen King novel, and a well-timed visit to a psychic a few years later, she becomes convinced that the tumor was actually her "lost twin" (dermoid cyst) or a source of now-lost psychic powers (her own hypochondria transforming to psychic powers in her mind). I have some idea that by the time she gets to college, while she knows her ideas are ridiculous, they are beginning to cause her trouble in personal relationships, and that eventually she comes to a sort of resolution with herself in order to function as a normal adult. I know I'll have at least the characters of her family, the "twin," a college roommate, and possibly a therapist.
My problem is this: I'm starting to work on some very rough outlines, and I'm having a big issues with feeling like I have "plot worthy" events. Since most of my idea revolves around the main character's perceptions (or maybe even delusions) of what is going on in her life, rather than actual things happening to her, I'm not sure how much of her daily life I need to get into it. How do you go about picking the major plot points when you're dealing with a character growing in a way she might not even like to talk about with others?
I'm thinking the novel has to be written from the third person, because I'm not sure I can make her both eccentric enough and convincing to a reader at the same time. So I obviously need some events to put her in to make this happen. Help????
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Date: 2004-10-21 10:44 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2004-10-21 02:43 pm (UTC)