Creating a New World

I thought I would begin this process by explaining the groundwork for Watershed.  I started this project only about a week ago, though the basic idea has been brewing in the back of my mind for five years.  I started a story back in high school called New World.

Though I've lost the outline for the story, I remember vividly the premise.  A deluded scientist detonates some kind of bomb that feeds on the planet's oxygen.  As the world is engulfed in flame the scientist activates a shield around a small South African city.  The rest of the book follows the lives of the survivors as they try to rebuild.  This latest project was initially titled New World as well, and though the inciting incident and level of worldwide destruction have changed, its strength lies in the same idea of rebuilding and renewal. 

So back to the beginning of Watershed.  After watching Shaun of the Dead for the twentieth time, I began to play around with the idea of a catastrophe that destroyed civilization, but without zombies.  As I worked out the base elements of characters and a general outline, I stumbled across a year old reality show called "The Colony", a social experiment that was very similar to my story.  I threw away some of my outlines and started again, trying to steer the plot away from events played out in "The Colony" so as not to seem like I was plagiarising.  Looking at my new draft however, I realized that it was a carbon copy of the short lived CBS drama "Jericho".  I tossed aside this copy as well and was about to give up on the idea all together.

Later that day I received a call from my girlfriend, Joy.  During our conversation I mentioned my attempt to start writing again, and she relayed to me that her roommate was taking part in the National Novel Writing Month (www.nanowrimo.org).  After the phone call I decided NaNo might be a good way to keep me focussed.  I joined up and began writing.

Though I now have a general idea of the direction the story will take, I'm letting it write itself.  I am sure elements of "The Colony", "Jericho", Shaun of the Dead, and numerous other disaster films, but that is going to happen with any genre that an author enjoys.  My goal is to produce a wholly original work, but I cannot escape my influences.  Hopefully, I can pay homage to them without stealing the work of other artists.

Tomorrow, I'll post a teaser summary and possibly include a character sketch or two.

Thanks,

Matthew