Next month we’re going to talk Beginnings: decide on the promises you want to make to your readers in your story. Then outline according to those promises.
Original outline (using short story structure from RMFW 2014 panel with Betsy Dornbush) for the first story I'm working on:
Story Problem
External - Need to secure right of passage through Panamanian territory/airspace.
Internal - Crippling shyness? Sent along to learn to deal with others.
Character - Protagonist - Cabin Boy
Character - Antagonist - vs Eclipse? Spanish? Unsympathetic Captain?
Character - Local Native authority
Character - Albino Eclipse crew leader
Inciting Incident - Crew sent to secure treaty for airspace rights for the next period. Protag’s father initially supposed to lead the expedition, but pulled out at the last minute.
Obstacle - But I don’t want to be a cabin boy! At least, not under this other captain. This is going to suck…
Tough. You’re going anyway
I don’t like this guy.
I don’t like you either, brat, but we’re stuck with each other.
Call to Action - Locals are not in a negotiating mood - it’s the season of the eclipse, and that takes priority.
Obstacle - They demand cabin boy’s participation in the eclipse ritual or else the deal is off.
Point of no return - Cabin boy left with locals - crew to stay away during the eclipse, return afterwards. If ritual succeeds, all will be well.
Obstacle - Failure. Cabin boy runs away from his captors, catches up with his crew.
Black Moment/Dark Night - Crew unsympathetic - everything’s riding on this. He’s turned back over to the locals.
Final obstacle overcome - Ritual is largely symbolic, but very important - keep up appearances. Man behind the curtain? Locals know perfectly well what causes eclipses, after all.
Moment of peace - treaty secured, sense of accomplishment.
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Promises Made:
Adventure Story
Interesting location - Panama Colony AU
Interesting characters for protagonist to interact with - Local Indigenous population
Action oriented plot - need to work on this, as the interior is getting top billing
Coming of Age? Character development, at least
Interior dialog vs. External dialog - conversations with other characters to show growth over time.
Make this a little more secondary - as noted above, this is positioned as an action story.
Conclusion: I need to develop much more detailed outlines before I start writing.
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