NaNoWriMo Notes: 2017, Part 1

Going back and editing, tightening up the introduction. I'm doing a few things that I think fiction should do more often.

First: The theme is made obvious and clear at the start. Within the first chapter, the core question/conceit/theme should be spelled out . Not like, the narrator saying: "What can change the nature of a man?" But conflict must be clear. If the reader reads your first chapter and can't say: "This is a story about X (plot) that discusses Y (the theme)," go back and fix that first chapter.

In this case: "This is a story about a mid-level manager in a soulless corporation that discusses choice/freewill." The details of the plot don't have to be given away, but the reader better know what they're committing to for the next 40,000+ words. For example, in Jurassic Park, you don't need to know the entirety of the plot, but after the first chapter, you can confidently say "This is a story about a man trying to create a dangerous theme park that discusses the limits and dangers of science."

Second, our hero's flaws must be apparent from the start. One thing I hate about movies, in particular Super Hero movies, is opening with a demonstration of the hero's *power* instead of the *flaw* we want to explore in the narrative. The openings of Predator and Aliens are great. The fatal flaw that jump starts the action is clear from the start, to whit, our heroes are cocky, working on bad/unreliable information, etc. We want to root for them to overcome their flaws, but we know that they *are* flawed.

A non-action example: Big Fish. Both of our protagonists in the movie (the dad and the son), have their strong and weak points made clear right at the start of the movie, and the theme is made apparent. It isn't subtle, and it works.

Anyway, time to go back through again now that I hit my ~1,600 words for the day and make them better words. I'm normally *against* editing during NaNoWriMo, but the first couple of sections are so crucial to getting a tone, setting and style for the piece that I'll break the rule for that.