I think I’m getting somewhere.
When I write a novel, it usually starts to come together at about the midpoint. When I start writing, I just go with my gut and write what feels fun and engaging, once I get to the middle I start to figure out the themes, ideas, ending and emotional core. Today I’m starting to write chapter 5 out of 10 for Beach Knight, so the timing is right.
I already know what the main theme is, and I have some loose idea for a rug pull that could lead to a heavy emotional moment in the climax, I just need to nail down the specifics and figure out how the antagonists and secondary characters can all act as foils to the hero and say something about the theme. Sometimes all that just comes to me, this time I think I’m going to have to do some outlining and pre-writing.
Last night my wife and I watched Mortal Kombat (1995). Last time we tried to watch it, she fell asleep. It’s by no means a masterpiece, but I do miss when junk food movies leaned harder into their camp aesthetics like that; the gothic castles, the random huge room full of bones and ladders, the weird omnipresent crowd of shirtless oily ninjas.
I like it when works feel distinct, and on some level that’s what I’m trying to do with Beach Knight. I want to create a new aesthetic combination of elements that’s never been done, or at least has rarely been done.
There’s nothing new under the sun, but that doesn’t mean I can’t try.
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