There is a sense of accomplishment when you have gone beyond the first few pages.  Too many times in the past thirty years I started and did not finish a novel.  My first novel was at age 23 if I recall correctly.  It was science fiction.  The plot – if I dare call it that – was about a boy who hated school so much, he built his own humaniform (term I believe created by the great Isaac Asimov in the 1940’s) robot.  It was designed to take his place, of all things, in his robotics class.

In the next thirty or more years all I finished were sort stories.  I’m told that short stories are a good way to develop your skill set.  It focuses your attention on what is important.  It also does not give you much room for character development.  That is the challenge of telling a short story.  You have to be very precise with your character or it is two-dimensional.  Perhaps even worse.

In the first three chapters I had to stop, go back, and create a character sheet.  There are very complex sheets you can find all over the internet.  I took a hybrid approach.  If the character was a main character, I worked on a backstory for them.  If they are a minor character, I put only the minimal information to help bring them to life.

I found out two things about myself.  The first, I have no problem in creating a back story.  You know the sad part?  Here it comes.  The second, is that I deviated from the backstory.  Note-to-Self:  If you go to the trouble of creating a back story, make sure you follow it.  If you need to change it, change it.  But don’t move away from it and then try to understand your character.  Minor characters don’t need that much attention, unless later you decide to make them a major character.

How about the fight scene that gave me so much angst, you ask?  It is still hanging over me.  I like Mike and Helen.  I know they must have this conflict.  I just don’t want to see them fight. 

Ugh!