Due to the fact that I have actually finished the first draft of Calibre, and don't really care too much to talk about the mundane editing process which I'm yet to begin, I'm probably going to start using this like an actual blog. With that said, onward...
Last night, tired impulse had me consider trying to do something a little more experimental with my time before beginning another large novel project. Funnily enough, though, the idea may be simpler when it comes to the storytelling side of it, but its complexity in structure will probably be enough to put me off the idea the moment I try to start it. Yet... that's what I thought about writing a novel less than six months ago, so I might as well talk about it.
At the moment, it's titled Erin Decides - Erin being an intentionally unisex name, as the character's identity to the reader is pretty irrelevant. It is going to be a create your own adventure. There's not really a better way to put it. And I'm well aware that, if you are my age - a nineties kid - your mind has automatically presented you (hopefully) fond memories of the CYOA Goosebumps books. That's not really the kind of thing I will be going for, though.
Instead of presenting the reader with a choice at the end of segments, Erin Decides will instead be a 'flowing' narrative - essentially a free-flowing narrative - in which the reader interacts via 'denial'. Because the reader is not Erin, Erin is able to make their own decisions. But you can deny said decisions. In context of a digital version, which will probably be the only kind, decisions are distinguished from the rest of the body of the story, like Erin doing something as simple as pouring themselves a cup of coffee. You can deny this decision, and thus the story changes accordingly. The idea is that the initial decisions made by the reader will create completely different scenarios (which means there will be no single plot for the experiment).
This will result in a huge web of possibilities - every single decision in the project will affect the story in some way, from obvious things like somehow lagging Erin's progress; to more complex interactions, most probably with other people, that will go on to echo throughout the narrative and affect it in ways that you will not realise unless you do it all again with minor changes. Yes, it is going to be fairly difficult to make, and I intend to do planning. I'm not particularly optimistic about it actually working, but it's an experiment! What's there to lose? Free time I'm currently spending on nothing, really.
Back to Calibre briefly... at the moment, I'm not touching it. I've decided to let it cool off before getting stuck into the editing. Plus, I would like to kick start another project, whether it be Erin Decides or Time & Place or Surrogate. Whatever happens, really. But I hope to brush off all of the errors and course-correct oddities in Calibre before my birthday. *shrugs* I'm not really rushed any more, but I still would like to move onward all the same.
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