Untitled Novel Project

[yahikochan]

So, I started writing a novel a little while ago, but I haven't gotten much out of it yet. Here's the idea that I've got.

The story starts out following a young man named Dean Parker in the middle of his high school basketball game. He's faced with the decision of tossing the ball to one of his teammates, or throwing the ball himself. Dean's a ball hog and doesn't trust anyone (his parents' divorce, and his mother's workaholic status seems to have warped him), so he makes the shot himself, losing the game. After becoming enemy number one at his school and getting bullied by his teammates, he gets assistance in picking up his things by a talkative boy named Gabriel Sleaves. Dean doesn't thanks him and doesn't think much of it, only promises him payback for the favor.

That night, Gabriel decides to cash in on his favor, surprising Dean at his window with a proposition: drive him to Mexico so that he can live with his brother.


So, yeah, that's the basic summary of the story, but the problem is, Dean and Gabe both live in Missouri and travel to Mexico (the wrong way at first, because neither of them have ever been outside of town), but the thing is... I don't know what the trip is going to be. I don't know what towns they can stop through, how long it'll take to get there, anything. I haven't even been to Mexico. I've gone and frustrated myself.

I've got the very beginning of it written. Message me if you want to read it.

[moonmomma]

I think you've got a good setup for a story, and what you need to do to get past your snag is to punch up the situation some more so that the story isn't only about the road trip.

There's *got* to be more to Gabriel than meets the eye. Why does his brother live in Mexico? (I take it from Gabriel's surname that he isn't originally from there.) Why does Gabriel want to go live with him? Why does he need some random kid from school to take him?

As for Dean, why doesn't he just say, "Yeah, right, go away" when Gabriel asks him to do this? There's plenty of other ways to pay back the favor of someone helping you pick up your stuff. Does he want to get out of town that badly? Does Gabriel have some other hold over him?

Also Google something like "Living in Mexico" to get an idea for different possible situations for Gabriel's brother. Is he a rich guy slumming on the beach? Does he work there for an international corporation? Is he a drug lord or immigrant smuggler? In the witness protection program? Going to college? Indian rights activist in the jungle-y south? These will give you ideas for your plot, too.

Answer these questions, and don't worry about how outrageous or unrealistic the different possibilities are. Hold conversations with the characters in your head or on paper/screen (talking out loud to them is generally not recommended, at least not where other people can hear you ;D ) Eventually, something will strike a chord and you'll go "that's it!!"

As for the actual road trip, try Google maps and also Google Earth (or the satellite view on the maps). There's even a cool feature that'll do a flyover along your travel route. That way you can get a good idea of the kind of terrain they'll be driving through, how many/how big the towns are along the way (a lot of it's going to be pretty remote) and these might suggest other possibilities.

The Holly Lisle website (linked in the Share Your Wisdom section, I think under "Sites on the Art and Craft of Writing") has a lot of helpful articles on plot and character development, so I suggest you go look there too for ideas on fleshing this out.

LOL, being the fantasy nerd that I am, I thought it would turn out that Gabriel's an evil genie or something ;D

Hope this helps. If you need more suggestions or pointers, ask any time!

[yahikochan]

I've got most of those plot points worked out, but I didn't really say much because it's spoilerific. But yeah, Gabe is the kind of guy who says a lot without revealing much about himself. He has his reasons for wanting to get away, but he doesn't reveal them right away. Dean however hesitantly jumps on the idea mainly because he's so unsatisfied with how his life is going right now and wants to escape. Dean's really doing it for himself.

So yeah, I'll tell you more, if you don't mind spoilers, but I'm hesitant to say right now.

[moonmomma]

okay, I get it. Those were questions that popped into my mind while I read your description. I'd suggest, at least to get you past your snag, concentrate on those things for now and don't worry about the specifics of the road trip. You can get a general idea of how far it is and what it's like from Google Maps (take advantage of the satellite views to see what it's like from Missouri to Mexico), and fill in the details of that later.

[yahikochan]

I've just had trouble getting Google Maps to work for me. I'll just have to mess with it and see if I can figure it out.