It feels like one step forward and two back. Or maybe because I'm so used to rushing around in life, I'm not giving the time to things. What does that say about the future of art?
I have a decently structured act 1 but I went over over some 'brainstorm your story' resources online to know for sure what I want to say or what my character represents. It's so easy to get all muddled up with all the words and adjectives out there.
The other element is plot. Once act 1 was reasonably sorted, I got to the time and setting. I've always imagined this novel to be in a fictional setting ie. not the current city I live in but a different universe. It's not sci-fi though. Just a different set of rules for how the society works.
I haven't zeroed in on whether it is set in the current time or in the future like 2070. I feel I need to learn from teachers ie. books and I've put together a list of books that would suit this purpose. I finished 1984 recently, reading the Handmaid's Tale at the moment and will check out the Hunger Games series soon plus a whole repertoire of other stories. Maybe this will influence my Netflix choices this month.
While it's tempting to just dive into plotting, so I can boast of how many words or chapters I've written, I think this is where the story is actually created. Maybe this is why so many authors are reluctant to talk about their work when it's in progress. We may feel we have our plot figure out but then oh no, something stops us or we need to do 3 months of research to finish that chapter.
I want to make this process as fun as possible for myself. It is so tough to take time to read. I just want to get on with my social media aspect of the day and I look at it as a chore, it's not fun and I don't allow myself to get lost in it anymore. I think I really need to change the way I'm associating to reading, as it will affect my writing and eventually the reader of my book.