Outlining a blueprint for THE VALLEN

The Wall of Jericho, artist's rendering, more information available here

The power of a blueprint (or outline) for a novel is perhaps best represented in the plot of the novel. (I spoke in a previous post about how Rowling's outlining technique for Harry Potter benefited the page-turning plot of her books...).

Memory spreading its branches through THE VALLEN

Memory interconnected and disconnecting bits falling away

In the beginning of novel development, I tend to research every teensy-weensy little thing. For THE VALLEN, I went over memory and walls and how to build walls, and where and why walls were built, and how memory is stored, the latest neurological science, how technology enhances or impairs our memory, whether all of this translates to knowledge—and if it does—then what kind of knowledge?

What is real?

What is real and what is not? What is fiction and what—truth?

In reading, then thinking, over The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle, I am conflicted with these very questions. It's Beagle who's brought them bubbling to the surface. What with his characters in one ethereal dialogue after the next:

"Spells of seeming," the unicorn said...
The magician answered: "[Madame Fortuna's] shabby skill lies in disguise. And even that knack would be beyond her, if it weren't for the eagerness of those gulls, those marks, to believe whatever comes easiest."

What's In Your Character's Pocketses?

Riddle Game by Tim Kirk

Ever watch The Dark Knight? When they bring the Joker in, there's a quick scene where Commissioner Gordon checks the notorious villain's pockets. What does he find?

"Nothing in his pockets but knives and lint."

Also, what about The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit? What does Frodo carry in his pocket, on a chain, from the Shire to Mordor? And why is Gollum so infatuated with what Bilbo has "in its nasty little pocketses?"

What our characters carry in their pockets

Characters and Dilemmas

In ground warfare terms, per the US Army’s FM 3-21.8, Infantry Rifle and Platoon, Chapter 1: Fundamentals of Tactics, it is not only essential to create a problem for your enemy—namely by shooting at them—but to create a dilemma. Namely, shooting at your enemy, cutting off routes of egress, and dropping artillery, bombs, mortars and whatever else you can on them in order to defeat your enemy or force them into a choice you (the author) want them to go in.

So too in fiction.