A Maniac’s journey…
The story behind the story!
I have always been kind of a dreamer. I love good movies, watch Netflix up and down, even enjoy a good book occasionally. I cannot pinpoint a genre or type of story that interests me, but I have always been very selective on what I consume… especially since the plot of many books and shows is somewhat predictable. I felt like nothing could surprise me anymore. After seeing a movie I could go on a rant over the massive plot holes for days but most of the time I avoid just that for the sake of my social life. Nobody likes maniacs and I am certainly one at that.
Then one day, when it was really hyped by everyone, I started watching “Game of Thrones”. At first I thought… meh… Ned Stark is going to be King anyways, what’s the point?
Oh boy was I wrong…
The plot unfolded so extraordinarily well, that I could barely handle the void until the release of the next episode. I was hooked! That feeling faded pretty much after season 6 when they decided to butcher the whole show into an unwatchable mess. I was extremely angry, that something so great could be destroyed by lazy writing, a lack of interest and greed.
It was only after I turned to the books, that I discovered a whole new world! I was blown away by the brilliance of the author, George R. R. Martin, and realized that it was him all along that made the show so great. It was for his ideas, his passion and his way of plotting that got me so excited — After the show-runners ran out of foundation for their story, it went south miserably. Good things cannot be forced. Taking your time here would have payed off tremendously.
In the past I have always had several side projects with ambitious goals and always chased the next “big thing”. Luckily I am blessed with the skills of programming, which helps me to pump out and idea quickly and bring it to life.
Usually my projects revolve around technology, since that’s what I am most comfortable with, but I always like to challenge myself on topics I have less experience in, which is part of the reason I have started to blog — Something I have never done before.
I realized that many of my pet projects were lacking a vision and most importantly passion! I was just in for the quick money, which is never a good motivation, by the way! Also, my projects where neither making money, nor where they quick — I lost interest, which then led to their inevitable death!
In the back of my head I always remembered the fantastic worlds which George R. R. Martin had created for me and shorthandedly decided to do the same. I wanted to make people feel the way I felt, when I first read the books.
I found my passion!
I had an idea about a great plot in the realm of Sci-Fi. Even though technology interests me, have I found Sci-Fi always extremely boring to watch. Sure there are huge spaceships involved, with lasers and everything, but the plots of many stories in that realm just make me want to take a nap — yawn. I was thrilled to take on that challenge and wanted to change how I thought about it forever. I wanted to share my ideas with the world immediately and I started by writing my thoughts down and dreamed of having the next bestselling Novel in no time. In hind side I realize how naive and stupid I was.
I had no experience in writing and was unable to comprehend the dimensions of the giant abyss that opened up in front of me. I was surprised to learn how much it actually means to write a Novel. Not only was I unable to summarize my plot in a compelling manner, I was also struggling with its consistency. I stumbled from one plot hole into another — And it bothered me like crazy!!!
I found some great tools online that really helped me with my plot outline, but I was somewhat unhappy. They helped me to a certain degree, but no matter what I tried, I always got stuck due to the complexity of my plot. Some of you might say: “Well, then make it less complex, just get it out there”, which is exactly the opposite of what I was trying to accomplish. The world has enough shitty plots… It certainly won’t need mine if I didn’t get it right. I was trying out so many different angles and still am… I am sure many writers can relate to this — If not, let me know!
I have the greatest respect for anyone trying to write a Novel and even more so for anyone succeeding in it. It involves so much hard work, dedication and planning. It reminded me a bit of my day job, which is programming. While programming you plan a lot, you write a lot and most importantly you refactor your code over and over until you get it right. Creating a working piece of software might be considered an act of art by some. Much like creating a story, which is most definitely a piece of Art!
And yet, despite the similarities, there are one million tools out there that make the lives of programmers easier but very little for authors. The ones that exist look pretty much like Windows 95, which I am sure some of you like, but I feel the urge to change that and bring a more modern approach to the table. It is hard enough to come up with a concept of an entire world.
Shaping it and writing it down should be easy.
I kept thinking of how such tools would look like and came up with Plot Maniac. It is still under development, but a first prototype is on the way — Check it out!
