On finishing The Mean Mind
The Mean Mind probably has more notes, outlines and various errata on it than any other novel I’ve written.
And yet it still remains unfinished.
While I hit 50,000 words while working on it in NaNoWriMo 2012, I didn’t actually finish the story and the outline I had was vague, especially around the middle (or second act) of the story. I also made a late game change to a major aspect of the plot, bringing in time travel of all things, then expanded the scope to saving an entire world and doing so meant the good guys first had to defeat the bad guys. Maybe I thought I’d have a sequel in which the world was actually saved. The Green Mind.
Hmm, now it actually sounds kind of appealing. 😛
The reality, though, is I’d only retain parts of what I’d written, no more than a few scenes, and the rest would be started over from scratch, using a new, more complete outline. So while it seems like this novel already had a lot of the work done, it really doesn’t.
But I like the basic idea and the antagonist (not the villain) was a fun character to write, because he really didn’t care what anyone else thought, and acted accordingly.
If I decide not to pursue a revised The Mean Mind, what else is there?
Journal ideas
I have my journal of ideas. It mostly lives in the Drafts iOS app and when an idea hits me, I tap the complication for the app on my watch and dictate the idea. If I’m in a place where talking into my watch would be socially unacceptable, I type out the idea on the phone version of the same app.
Looking over what I have, if I prune out ideas for blog posts, dream fragments and other miscellany, what I’m left with is the following:
- People who have died have learned how to breach the gulf between the living and the dead and the living must stop their [plot] somehow, even though the dead obviously can’t be killed.
This is kind of intriguing, because how *would* you stop an evil dead (person)? The twist was they would be more like ghosts and less like zombies, so shotguns and chainsaws would not work. But thinking over it now, I still have no clue what the actual conflict would be, so this is probably best left as a neat idea, better-suited for a short story, perhaps.
- Only see someone in the window reflection on train, never in the actual seat. Tries to make eye contact through reflection.
Another idea that smacks of multiple dimensions/realities, this neat premise also seems better-suited to a short story. It feels like a Twilight Zone thing, possibly building up to a terrible twist at the end.
- Time travel. Sent back 20-30 years but with all memories intact. What do you charge? How do you live knowing what may or may not happen?
Oh lord, more time travel. When will I learn? The answer is never. This is the best of the three in terms of an idea that could be fleshed out to novel length, because it has so many possibilities, once you establish the rules of the time travel. One thing not mentioned here is the original idea I had was the person would not just go back 20-30 years, they would also go back in age, so the 40-50 year old protagonist would become 20ish again, but with the 20-30 years of memories still intact. How would you deal with that, even apart from the question of trying to enact big picture changes (stop a disaster/assassination, etc.)
This one is good enough to go on The Short List. I’ll get back to that in a bit.
Brainstorming -or- The Delicate Sound of Blunder
I don’t have anything to add here, as I’ve not done any official or even unofficial brainstorming. I’ve mulled from time to time, but not enough to have anything stick. I may devote some time to this soon™ and revisit with what comes of it (if anything).
The Short List are the stories I think stand the best chance of getting spun into a workable NaNoWriMo effort.
The Short List
The Mean Mind – unfinished 2012 NaNoWriMo novel
Time Travel Idea – a person in their 40s or 50s travels back 20-30 years in time, regressing back to their younger age, but still retaining all of the memories they had accumulated
As you can see, the short list is currently living up to its name.
My next task will be to do some brainstorming and to look through other various notes and bits for any other ideas, add them to The Short List, then winnow out all but the final few deemed the most worthy. At that point I’ll outline the remaining stories and see which one sings and which one just lip-syncs.
