As I mentioned in a previous post, the provisional title of my new book, Bruno’s Choice, was unlikely to survive. It was too similar to Sophie’s Choice, and may have given the impression that the plot bore similarities with the famous film, which it most certainly does not.
The new title is A New Allegiance, which is relevant to the plot without giving too much away. There is still no guarantee that this is the title under which the book will be published when it is finished, but I am definitely happier with it than I was with the original.
Of equal significance is a major plot development. It became clear to me very quickly that the story would not unfold to its best advantage if told purely from Bruno’s perspective. There is a leading lady in this book, and she is called Alice. As things were, she would have been introduced into the narrative later than would be ideal. Therefore, the book, although still told in the first person, now has two narrators, two protagonists. Those passages narrated by Bruno are prefixed (BRUNO) while Alice’s passages are (ALICE). This will allow me to fill in the back stories of both characters before they meet for the first time. There is a precedent for this treatement. In his Game of Thrones books, George R.R. Martin has a huge cast list, all with their individual stories, but linked to all the others. There are several threads running at once, so the narrative shifts from character to character continuously. Thus, he entitles each chapter with the name of that chapter’s protagonist, so that the reader will know who that chapter is about.
Another element in my thinking came from the Fantasy writer, Stephen Donaldson, author of the Thomas Covenant series. He insisted that his work only really took off when he combined two ideas instead of working with one. He called it a gusher. Now that I have brought Alice in earlier than anticipated, I finally realise what he meant. Suddenly, a whole new reralm of possibilities has opened up to me, and I have the makings of the book that I wanted to write.
I have now passed the 20,000 word mark (about 70 pages) and all is going well.
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