Off on a Tangent -- Again

Artwork of Francesco Paduano

Non-writers often ask where the ideas for novels come from. For me, the story ideas are everywhere. From news stories, novels and movies, to daily observations. Take the evening news, pick one story and ask "what if...?" Add a twist to the reported facts. Dig deeper into the story. Add or subtract a character to the factual story.

My most recent tangent away from Curse of the Blood Stone occurred while watching a typical adventure movie. The hero and his sidekick rescue a beautiful damsel and foil the antagonist's plans. Granted, the beautiful damsel in this case was brainy and resourceful. But the little lightbulb went on and I asked, what if...?

What if the "rescued" damsel turns the tables on the pair of adventurers and uses them to achieve her goal? And what if the damsel falls for the sidekick instead of the dashing hero?

I already had the seeds for a heroine planted with the working title Galactic Empress. I tried folding in the adventure tale twist and actually came up with a story that has a doable main plot with feasible subplots. The main characters are young adults in the 15-17 age range. The setting is a space opera. The plot is a bit of Indiana Jones meets Princess Leia. Hmmm.

Just in time for NaNoWriMo. Although -- I don't think I'll commit myself to 50,000 words  this November. But I do hope to attend the local library's session on writing a novel in 30 days. Any hints on speeding up the writing process will be appreciated! I'm still applying the Six Core Competencies and Snowflake methods to developing my latest novel. I've been scribbling ideas in a grid-lined composition book and I have a binder full of research. I've even settled on pictures of the main characters (some well-known actors in their younger years)!

So we'll see where this tangent takes me.

I am such a Gemini! *sigh*