Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Research is ace

Sorry it's been so long since the last blog entry. I had a very draggy and stressful summer. Apart from my week's holiday with the family at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival which was great.

And it was at that we went to see a one-man show called "Winston on the Run". About (true) events in the life of a young Winston Spencer Churchill during the Second Boer War. Which included one incident that, if it happened in a story you would be disgusted at the author's use of Deus ex machina and yet it really happened.

I had been flailing around looking for something new to write - based in the Voidships steampunk universe - and this play inspired me. Yes, it will be about the early life of Winston Churchill - but an alternative Winston in our alternative universe - and that's all you're going to get on the content.

So this evening I forced my posterior into the chair and had a good hour and a bit researching the background to the book. I've already done some research on Winston and his family - really quite juicy stuff - but that's all very well but a story is really driven by the antagonist.

The best stories feature the best antagonists - and they have plans; good plans; plans that have genuine purpose; that have meaning. The antagonist is the hero of his story.

I can't say I have it nailed down, but I have an inkling. More thought required.


What's on the turntable? "Dreamer" by Supertramp from "Crime of the Century"