Brainstorming – The Magdon: Generations

Brainstorming project 2017 (for a 2018 release I expect)

Well, this morning while doing my Workout Circuits on the landing (my timing soundtrack playing and Star Wars: The Force Awakens playing on the laptop) I had an idea. Just a fleeting idea popped into my head and all of a sudden the workout was muscle memory and raised heart rate of course, but I was going through the circuits as my brain had its own workout playing out the idea.

I have, for weeks now, been toying with the next project. I drafted the opening to a project under (WT) – Working Title “Reaper” but have failed to fully connect after the first thousand or so words.

Then today I asked myself if I had really done with The Magdon story?

Well, the answer is quite simply NO!

Although the original stories (the five parts of The Magdon Series all foretitled Origins Of The Magdon) chart Archy’s adventures they all happen in the past. Occurring between 1916-1939(ish). Is there still room for the future? For the story continue and bring in a whole new story of characters?

But of course, there are, the whole thing is about family, growth and development so I decided to run with the rough idea and scribble down a brainstorming sheet.

[image error] Brainstorming sheet – The Magdon: Generations (WT)

 

I have shown these before, but today I decided to film myself as I wrote my ideas down. I’ve done a little video of my scribblings which came from the one idea, the one word that will be the WT of this part of The Magdon project…

GENERATIONS

I instantly fell in love with the idea which is good. I don’t think the story has been told in its entirety as The Magdon is a force of mystery through the five-part series. They are in this case the foundations. Once they are told then I can run with larger books I think which will be a stand-alone story for the first phase.

Everything will link back and I aim to bring in some characters from the past as a link but they will be the five pillars of this story which will feed from but seriously grow beyond the Origins aspect.

If you can’t tell I’m rather excited by the story and while the picture of my brainstorm sheet will be shared there are so many secrets on it that I’ll have to make sure you can’t read too much. Of course what is on the sheet is very much my basic ideas. I need to rip open the new leather-bound notebook and start jotting the ideas down “officially” as it were by my standards.

I’ve still got about 11 chapters left to write between Book 4 and Book 5, but I am more than happy I know where they are going, I know that story inside-out by now, and it is just a case of formalising the details and story.

This, however, is a new beast.

In my head, I have a franchise (yes I am well aware I am dreaming as if I am something big) but you know what….while I have faith in my story then I would be daft not to run with it.

In my brainstorm sheet I have set myself some tasks which include:

Location research – I have decided local locations that will be non-specific features (so they need photographing and documenting as I have decided not to place the story in a named place rather “the English town”)
Names – come up with the new character names

So I am aiming to document my research and idea formulating along the way, entries may be short, may be long, may be infrequent but you’ll see this project from start to finish hopefully enough so that you are invested and want to know the next generation of The Magdon Series.

I am very much a VISUAL creator. In my head, I like to watch my ideas, something like a film (one day I’d love to make a film of my ideas, but that’s a massive dream) so I like to take pictures that inspire me as if they are bookmarks to my ideas in real life. Hopefully, as I go along, I can share what I see, what it inspires and show you in the end what it becomes.

If you’re interested, you can take this journey with me (as long as I remember to share it with you). This will be a novel by definition, as in novelettes which form the Origins Of The Magdon part of this world!

A novel in fiction is defined as being in excess of 40,000 words

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_count