NANOWRIMO DAY #4: Need some input

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Comment by Skot (Lost) on November 7, 2011 at 3:55pm

Thanks for all the feed back. I'm logging all you comments and using them as reference points along the way. I like the "documents" approach, I just want to be sure I can pull off something that sounds/looks accurate.

Comment by Omega on November 7, 2011 at 9:59am

How many words are you at now?

Comment by Omega on November 7, 2011 at 9:51am

I like Bruins comment alot. Maybe someone in Vegas who found it continues to record and so on and so on until it becomes more of a master file of the zpoc like those LZ303 videos, thru being passed around lost and found and people picking up where the last person left off leaving med docs pics notes additional information on the virus and events. It would evolve from one record of the incidents patient zero went thru,  to other cases or even other research. Ultimately making the book about the virus. The main character doesn't even have to be aware there's a record being kept by putting patient records and interviews and mixing journal entries etc information from him will seem more real.

Comment by Jennie T King on November 5, 2011 at 4:27pm

The Journal thing is pretty popular right now too I have read a couple books like that lately one of them being a zombie book which probably most zombie fans have read I haven't gotten to the firts one unfourtunatly the scond in the series is all they had. Day by Day Armagedon:Beyond Exile J.L. Bourne. Good book. I was considering writting a book for a while but it seems like every idea i have come up with has been used already makes it very difficult. For example the journal idea and finding something frozen in glacial ice as the source which is exactly what happened in this book. Definatly hard to come up with an original idea now a days.

I am sure either way the book will be good just because its been done before doesn't mean a person can't make it their own.

 

Maybe you could add a bit of "real time" in it by having the main character doing a video journal as well. That way its still going with the journal feel but those parts are not written in past tense. The events will be taking place as he documents his life between journal enties via a video camera it would still be first person but during the action and not the aftermath of it. Don't know how you would incorperate that just figured its another angle to consider. 

Comment by The Bruin on November 5, 2011 at 12:25pm

If you want it to look found, why not try make it look like actual medical reports and whatnot?  A lot of medical form blanks can be looked up online, then it is just a matter of making it look "official".  You could use any number of forms...maybe the main character survived the main event but never made it past Las Vegas...he brought this stuff with him so that he could take it to some authority figure he thought could break the story and let people know what happened/really happened.  Something like:  Protagonist is taking notes, things at St. Teresa are getting hectic, security gets a little lax, he finds some reports and hides them with his journal, reads them, reacts to them in the journal, etc.  By that reckoning, the second narrator could be a medical doctor of some type, maybe someone who is trying to debunk something about St. Teresa?  Keep writing!

Comment by Tanner Ruffin on November 5, 2011 at 6:47am

this sounds sweet!!!

 

Comment by Ttens 25 on November 5, 2011 at 5:54am

Maybe you could switch between first and third person viewpoint, so while you have the immediacy of the main character's thoughts, you can also get the wider perspective. Off the top of my head, like in 'I Am Legend', where the Will Smith character is talking directly to the camera, outlining his scientific endeavours, then switches to a regular format as we follow him around. So, your main character is writing his journal in first person, then when he's finished, switch to third person to bring in a grander scale of what is going on.

 

Alternatively, your second character could be exchanging letters with the main guy (although this would be difficult to explain how post-apocalypse, depending on how bad your world has gone). Your second character could contrast your main, and as you say give more insight into specific plot points. I would think introducing a second character would be a great idea, to add more layers.

 

Either way, much respect for taking on such a tough task, and I hope it goes well for you.

Comment by specopssurvivor on November 5, 2011 at 5:49am

Just a thought.....what if the author starts loosing it and an "alternate personality" that he's developing starts making journal entries.  I know it's a bit out there.

Comment by Omega on November 4, 2011 at 10:42pm

Do it that sounds really cool.

Comment by Laz on November 4, 2011 at 11:55am

Maybe the main character finds a child who is alone and lets the child write in the journal to show their mummy/daddy for when they "find" them or because their mummy "rang ahead" and told you to tell the child to write down their thoughts etc

 

maybe get Ava to write them by making a game out of it eg 'pretend youre on a desert island with only your second favourite toy, mummy and daddy are coming to find me soon/ I'm playing hide and seek with mummy and daddy and they are really good at hiding'