Below is my plot summary for NaNoWriMo. I decided to follow in Ahavah's footsteps and give "The Snowflake Method" a whirl at structuring this one. The current plot is the happy ending. I was toying with idea of making the MC a martyr whose death instigates peace, but it seems kind of hokey. Please let me know which ending you think would prove more powerful.
Thanks a Ton,
Ryan
Conner Wilmont, a leading disaster prevention analyst for the United Americas Government (UAG) tapers off government mandated drugs that enhance his analytical skills. Signs of a coup surface and the UAG turns to him for consul. Conner fails at containing the insurrection. Embroiled in civil war, Conner struggles to reconnect with the one emotion he can use to restore peace…empathy. He becomes a double agent, working both sides to gain perspective. The UAG discovers his dual allegiance and puts him to trial for treason. The press covers the trial, intending to show a saboteur while Conner uses the exposure to instigate a cease fire. The tenuous peace forces the UAG court to show leniency and they release Conner.
[This message has been edited by thedeathkillersareback (edited October 27, 2005).]
Posted by Kolona (Member # 1438) on :
I like the martyr ending, especially since you're ending on only a 'tenuous' peace. His death would underscore that fragility. However, the reading public prefers happy endings, so writer beware.
Posted by apeiron (Member # 2565) on :
There's a recent scifi movie with this same plot (almost), but I can't remember what it's called. Starts with an 'R' I think. It's like 1984 with drugs to sedate people's emotional reactions. The MC--who dresses very matrix style--works for the government to take down those who don't take their doses. His wife was killed for being a violator. A few years later he stops taking the doses (can't remember why--I think because he had to kill his partner for being a violator or something like that). He has to keep it from the gov't, and the risk of his own son turning him in (VERY 1984). He starts working with both sides, helping the violators' movement while still keeping his job.
Anyway, I recommend trying to find that movie and watching it first. See if your story brings anything significantly different to the table. (Doesn't it stink when someone else gets there first?)
Posted by Elan (Member # 2442) on :
I would NOT recommend reading a similar story first. Write your own and it will BE your own. There are bazillions of "similar yet different" stories out there in the marketplace. If we all had to come up with only truly unique ideas, we'd have a hard time writing anything.
Posted by thedeathkillersareback (Member # 2894) on :
The movie you're talking about is "Equalibrium". It's a good flick, but I think my goal with this book is to show how one man's discovery of empathy can effect the world, instead of going the action route.
I plan on presenting the civil war as the setting for Conner's reconnection with his emotional core, instead of making the war central subject matter of the story. Whether or not the end result turns out to match my initial plans is another thing altogether.
Thanks for comments one and all,
Ryan
Posted by TL 601 (Member # 2730) on :
I think this sounds like a pretty interesting premise, and if I read the back of a book with a blurb talking about it, I'd probably flip to the front of the book and read a couple of pages. 'Cause, you know, that's how I buy books. If I liked the first couple of pages, I'd buy the book. If not, not. But you've got a striking premise, in my opinion.
Posted by john d. clark (Member # 2977) on :
The comment about "Conner tapering off analytical enhancing drugs" seems a little out of place in the plot summary. It does give it more of a Sci-fi feel (right?).
Maybe Conner discovers he's mentally ill and has to start taking psychotrophic drugs in the middle of arbitrating the civil war, and has to deal with his own emotional inner conflict while trying to arbitrate a global one?