I'm off to work (distracted by a few personal events, however) on a new project. I've tentatively named the novel EMPOWERED, but am also considering EMPOWERMENT as it is the more commonly overused business buzz-word. EMPOWERED, however, fits the story better.
I don't know if I've previously mentioned my thoughts on novel naming -- so far all my Corporate Thrillers have a name that is my jeer at business jargon. One day I simply sat down for an hour and made a list of the many words I used to hear on a daily basis -- word that made me cringe. Probably first and foremost of these was the un-word "Incentivize". I managed to work that one in as the name of my second novel.
Anyway, EMPOWERED is little more than a broad concept currently. I know the themes I want to bring out. I have a basic idea about the plot line. I know I want to write story in first person, for two reasons. The first one is first person is just easier for me -- I can put myself in the main character's head and see the world through his eyes. The second reason is this story will focus on the conversion of a good man to a bad one, in the broad sense, and I want to bring out the rationalizations he goes through making the decisions that take him down that slippery slope.
This part of a novel is hard, but very satisfying. I use Randy Ingermanson's Snowflake method (See links in the right column for more information), which is a great fit with my natural left brain dominant way of doing things. Somewhere along the lines as this project is progressing, I will also be doing the first editing pass on LESSONS LEARNED THE HARD WAY, my non-fiction book. But first I need to scrape together enough time to print a copy of the first draft. Well, maybe next week.
