Day 1,482 - Robots and Story POV

I didn't update yesterday, because I didn't write.

I spent from morning until evening yesterday with my wife and son at the DARPA Robotics Challenge 2015. I won't go into it right now, beyond saying it was amazing, and I saw more robots than I've ever seen in my life, as well as amazing people. A great experience, and one that I am sure will inform future novels.

I've decided, at least for now, to focus on my antagonists story. I had been writing the two (previously three) interweaving stories chronologically. Doing so has had its benefits for building out the framework, yet now that I am diving deep into the characters, I find they cannot be dropped for a time because it's a new chapter. They want to be heard!

So I will write the antagonists story until I come up dry. Then, the protagonists story. Any other POV's that are minor can be tossed in as needed. At the end, I'll trace their timelines, weaving them together into the final narrative.

Didn't write as much today. 362 words. Something is better than nothing, and I got a lead on a new chapter, so it's a win.

Day 1,480 - PTSD and Gender

As I've dived deeper and more frequently into my WIP, my mind starts thinking of it more often throughout the day. Where is the story going? What questions and dilemmas are arising inside of it naturally? What themes?

Probably the biggest one I have been pondering is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). There is a quite a bit of it in the story, as it centers around a group of people all dealing with the effects of combat and military service in civilian life. PTSD is manifested in countless little ways in life, and each person struggles with different aspects of it.

While in the shower (where the deep thoughts of the universe come to all), one perspective I realized I was missing was that of a woman. In fact, so far my story basely mentioned women. It's not intentional, it's just because the setting has been, by nature, a kind of "good ole boys" club.

But women dealing with PTSD have unique challenges and less support. I came across this quote from a 2013 news article:

"Of the approximately 280,000 females who have been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan in the past 12 years, 152 have died and at least 800 have been wounded."

That seems like a lot, and it is. Yet compared to men, it's far smaller. And this creates a problem. The support groups, like combat troops, are filled predominantly with men. And when a male gets home, other men are there to share in the pain and lift them up with somewhat familiar activities that work well with the American male psyche. But women... who do they turn to? Will the the stay at home mom, working professional, or nails, hair, and clubs groupie get it? Yes, some sympathy will be expressed, but the difference between the American ideals of a "fairer sex" and a combat woman who has seen lives taken and taken them herself are vast.

And so this brings me to a possible major revision to my WIP.

At the end of my first draft, I'm going to read through it with one major question in mind: Can this story work if the MC is a combat veteran women, not a man? What would I need to change?

I hope this novel is a major commercial success. It's certainly being written with that in mind. Would it hurt or benefit sales? Do I even care? I like the idea of the change. If I write it first as a male, it will help reduce subconscious attempts to soften her. She would be just as strong a protagonist as her counterparts. Not "women strong" or "women power". Just "strong" and "powerful".

I like women role models that break the mold and make people think. Perhaps this one can.

We shall see.

Also, wrote for 25 minutes and did 413 words.

Day 1,479 - Backstory and Timelines

One of the interesting aspects of writing The Militia is that I am writing in roughly the same time in which we exist. Current events shape it, and the characters exist within it. Any passing of time in the real world before completion can lead to a need to revise backstories of main characters as well as key scenes.

For example, when I start writing, Al-Qaeda was much more powerful. ISIS didn't even exist. The Arab Spring was still young, and bin-Laden had only died a few months prior. The Arab world has changed significantly since then, as had the world at large. Further, some characters now needed to be older, which affects how some parts play out.

Timing, you see, is important. My story, even outside of external influences, needed help with timing. I realized over the last few days that the MC has a longer backstory and setup. The early chapters about the antagonist were interspersed, but were months or even years ahead in time. It was throwing things off. I was saying "here's Mahfoud!" and he's on the scene, ready to go.

So tonight, I fixed it. Not completely, I had to stop writing so I could get sleep. But significantly. He now has a great backstory. He is *slightly* more sympathetic.And the timing is now fixed.

Made it through 593 words. Another record since being back. If I keep the pace as is, I would complete the first draft within four or five months. I hope to beat that.

Day 1,478 - A New Chapter

Sprinting went well. Starter at 12:08 PM, intending to go half an hour. Made it 50 minutes instead.

I really struggled the first twenty minutes. The action and placement of people was off in the active shooter scene I was working on. People couldn't get to where they needed to in a logical way.

I took a moment and imagined the entire scene again. I pictured it from the side, the top, from the shooter's perspective, and from the MC's point of view. And then I got it. Everything snapped into place.

Wrote 559 words and, more importantly, finished a chapter! It is my first fully original chapter completed since returning to writing. A scene that didn't even exist in writing until the story restructure a few days ago.

Awesome.

Day 1,476 - Action!

I had two opportunities to write today. One mid-afternoon, where I saw down and reviewed my questions from last night. After coming up with different possibility and imagining how each would move the story forward, I settled on one in particular.

Tonight, I was able to start my 30 minute sprint at 11:00 PM instead of 12:00 AM. A big difference in mental clarity. I jumped into it with the new direction and... it wasn't quite working. Five minutes of writing, another five figuring out why, and then I had it. It was too generic. I needed to make it more human, and less mass mayhem. Changed the venue, added a Senator and a teenage girl, and I knew I had it right.

With everything in place, you'd think it would be smooth sailing. A minute into the revision, and it was feeling dull and lifeless. There was an active shooter, which is about as far from dull and lifeless as one can get. The problem? I was writing in a kind of present tense that was impersonal. It was telling or relating the events, but there was no actual action. No dialogue, no real pace. It was like reading a police report.

With info of what was off in hand, I was able to quickly adjust, and ended up with 427 words. 77 more than the last writing sprint a few days ago, and better quality. I am one happy writer!