Breakthrough! I have found my novel.

I've found my novel!

 It's not the one based on my dragon dream that I discussed in my last post, also I didn't find it by sprinting my way through trying to piece together a first draft bit by bit.

It's been swimming around in the back of my mind for these last couple of months since I started this blog but each time it kept trying to tell me about itself I ignored it because it wasn't what I had in mind for the kind of thing I wanted to write.

I was keen on writing some sort of fantasy related thing. Not necessarily straight genre fantasy but I was pretty determined to write something that involved mythical and imagined creatures in some context.

The novel i'm setting out to write from this day forward is more of an adolescent coming-of-age story, in broad terms at least. My friend Erin commented a few posts back that she imagined me writing something along the lines of Catcher In The Rye or High Fidelity, and again in broad terms this comes from a place that's similar. But different too, possibly inspired from a place inside of me where inspirations like Hunter S. Thompson and Kurt Vonnegut will always live.

One of the reasons I kept ignoring this idea was because I really didn't want to write a semi-autobiographical story, and this book will be definitely along those lines.

Reading Vogler inspired the outline that i've written so far. His chapters about the world the hero lives in before the adventure starts and his outline of the Mentor archetype made an impression. Yes my story will have a Mentor character. I can see him in my mind and i'm pretty happy with him.

Also Rex Pickett's words must have had a positive influence on me. I mentioned in my last post that he thinks it's very important for the writer to have his main character living in his mind in order for the writing to be successful. I have a character in my mind, he's been with me these last couple of months and actually I was nearly going to use a version of him in the Gnome thing I set out to write all those posts ago.

He's inspired by an artist I admire. That's all I want to say on that.

This is it! I can feel it in my waters.

I've written a broad outline for myself, and i'm setting to map out the world my character lives in. The relationships and institutions that make up his world. The way i've done this so far has come naturally, and I can see a path ahead of me that has appeared amidst the fog i've been stumbling around in.