Day 1 - Novel Outline beginning

I'm going to be keep track of my most recent novel on this blog. I hope to use it as motivation, and perhaps inspiration for other aspiring novelists. The story I'm writing is fantasy, set in the modern day, and involves wizards and dragons. In a way it is a bit like the Highlander movies where the magic exists but only a few know about it.

To start I spent a couple days writing out the rules of magic. Since I am a physicist, my inspiration was Newton's Laws, Maxwell's Equatoins, Einstein's Theory of Relativity, and Quantum Mechanics. Hoever, there won't be any math required when reading the novel, and I didn't use that much to formulate the rules.

To write this novel, I'll be using "Novel Writing Made Easy" by Andera Rains Waggener. www.novelwritingmadeeasy.com (In a way this blog will be a review of sorts of the procedure, as I tihnk the best way to review it is to use it.) I've tried to follow other write novel programs, like "First Draft in 30 Days" by Weisner, and not had the best of luck. However, I've been reading a lot of books about attitude, and believe that my problem has always been a belief that I can't do it. This time I am going to believe I can do it. And to hold myself honest, I'll be writing everything here on my blog. At least in the outlining stage.

Day 1 of Novel Writing Made Easy, the way I broke it down, was to do a series of "What if?" and "Why?" questions. I'll write out the results of today here:

What if? Why?

What if a Dragon wanted to prevent nuclear War?

Because all other dragons had been killed by a similar violent act when an asteroid nearly destroyed all life on earth.


What if Someone knew about this dragon and believed it wanted to start a nuclear war?

Because the dragon acts suspiciously and below the radar


What if someone suddenly gained magical powers?

Because of an accident which damaged their brain, causing their lowest state to no longer be zero magical power.


What if they had an accident that effected their brain? This accident would give them less physical ability, perhaps similar to a stroke.

They would end up joining some kind of support group.


What if they met someone there who had gone through something similar?

That person might have learned magic as well, but be avoiding it.


Why would a person avoid doing magic?

Because they hurt someone near them without because they didn't know what they were doing.


Why would a person still want to learn magic?

Because their injury had taken their life away from them. They would be desperate for something to fill the hole. They had lost their job, their family, even their way of connecting with their kids.


What if they discovered someone who wanted to do magic.

And they didn't want to teach someone else because they aren't a teacher.


Why wouldn't they want to teach someone else?

Because they saw magic as a source of power, so they selfishly guarded it.


What if the student got the person to teach them anyway?

The teacher would do so only reluctantly, holding onto power as long as possible, and using the student as a servent.


What if the teacher taught them nothing at all?

The student would break into the teachers private thigns looking for notes.


What if the student still couldn't find anything?

The student would try something desperate, and break into the bank vault.


What if they broke into a bank vault?

There would be photo's of them and they would become a criminal.


What if the student knew about this person trying to break into nuclear facilities and wanted to stop him?

Despite his being a criminal, he would search for this person using any tools he had.


What if the teacher came searching after the student?

The teacher would find him, and take back the document that was stolen.


What if the teacher had captured the student?

The teacher would have to decide whether to kill the student, or let him live with all the he knows.


What if the teacher had a magical item that drained magical energy, making the student just an invalid

The student would be depressed and think that he could no longer make it?


Why would the student still believe that he could defeat the man without any magical power?

He wouldn't. He would go to the police with his story and try to get them to beleive him.


What if he didn't have any evidence?

The police would laugh at him and not take him seriously?


What if he finally found the dragon, by sheer blind luck, and started to follow him?

The dragon would know about stalking laws and call the police.


What if the man was arrested?

The police would strip him down and take away the magical item.


What if the magical item resisted being removed?

They would cut it off him.


What if the magical item were cut?

The bound magic would be suddenly released (moments before the cutting) and there would be an explosion of unfocused energy.


What if there were an explosion after his arrest that gave him his magical power back?

He might see it as his destiny to escape and stop the dragon. His teacher might also learn of it and come hunting him.


What if he knew where the dragon was going and found a way to get there?

The police would be able to find him easily because of his injury.


What if he evaded police?

He would have to find a way to travel by the safest means possible across the country.


What if he discovered the dragon's hideout?

he would find a place to hide and wait, as well as discover what was going on here.


What if his teacher caught up to him?

He would have to fight a duel with his old teacher.


What if they fought a duel?

There could only be one winner and one dead.


What if they were interrupted during their duel by the dragon?

The dragon would have much more magical power and easily subdue them. Then it would have to decide what to do with them.


What if the dragon had them under his power?

Something would have to happen to resolve the plot.