The Magic, a sentient force of power, has reawakened and seeks to corrupt and destroy the East. One girl just coming of age is joined by a host of unlikely allies in a race against time to find the clues needed to prevent it.
I start with the basic shape of the story, some major signposts I want to hit, a grab bag of characters and then I go exploring. I generally have a couple of sticky notes floating around and a sheet of graph paper with a list of concepts, events, ideas - connected by intersecting lines - more of a thought-map then a real outline. Beyond that it's limited 'pantsing' until I get a workable draft. I don't know about you guys, but my best ideas are in my fingers not my brain. AMOD exists within an established framework and history of my fiction, so there are a lot of limits and rules to what can and cannot happen that aren't immediately apparent. But within that there's plenty of room for weird cul de sacs of plot, fight scenes and such.
I'm actually loitering on the entry point of a new novel that doesn't take place in that framework and its surprising how exciting and terrifying it is.
If someone lurks on a forum that doesn't even technically exist yet, having superspy-ed his way in, does this mean he's the world's greatest detective?
