Project 30 Challenge, day 1
Progress Report
I'm off to a rocky start, unfortunately. I did a bit of planning and a tiny bit of writing, enough to hit my 10 minute goals, but not really enough to feel like I've really started something new. Plus, I had to rework the opening scene three times as I tried to figure out how I wanted to start the story.
Beginnings are always tough. I know there's always editing to make things better, but I feel like if I don't get the opening at least a little right then I'm not getting the story off on the right foot. Because I write organically, learning who the characters are as I go rather than pre-determining who they are, then it's important for me to get the beginning right.
What usually happens is I'll start off with a passive scene, then as I write I'll realize things about the character, and go back to rework things to show who the character is in an active scene instead. It takes a bit of work, but it's worth it in the end.
Factoid
The main point of view character is a young nun (currently) named Roselia (roh-ZEH-lee-uh, /ɹoʊˈzɛːliə/). Normally I struggle with naming characters, but this young lady came to me with a name already attached, so that's one time-consuming checkbox done. I don't know a whole lot about Roselia yet, especially not her history and how/why she's on this particular cathedral ship, but what I do know is that she can sing, she's pragmatic, and fairly calm in stressful situations, like the cathedral ship coming under attack. I think she also works on the bridge crew, but I'm not for sure on that one. I just know where I left her off she was pushing upstream against the flow of crew and passengers making for escape pods in order to get to the bridge.
Inspiration 1 – The Problem of Evil
Last week I watched a video called Divine Horror about the titular niche horror genre. It may be an uncomfortable video to watch for some, as there are creepy visuals and disturbing content, so use your discretion. I don't watch a lot of horror, since I am a scaredy cat and can't handle jump scares or particularly scary imagery1. I am fascinated by it anyway, and love learning about the little niches under the wider umbrella. Divine Horror is a small subgenre where, within the story God or gods exist, but that fact is not comforting but horrifying. In the video, the creator, Haedal, uses the tabletop war game Trench Crusade, the indie video game Blasphemous, and the analogue horror video series The Mandela Catalog as examples of this genre.
Around seven minutes into the video, Haedal talks about the problem of evil, or the Epicurean Paradox. If you are unaware of what the problem of evil is, it is basically a paradox theorized by the Greek philosopher Epicurus where because evil exists, God cannot be all knowing, all powerful, and all benevolent. Haedal lays it out quite nicely, logically going through the paradox and using it as his basis for describing what Divine Horror is.
I've known about the problem of evil for a couple of years now, but there was just something about this video and the way Haedal explained it that really got my mind turning. Because what if there is a solution to the problem of evil that shows evil can exist alongside an all knowing, all powerful, all benevolent God? What does that look like? How does one go about discovering that answer? And how does knowing the solution affect a person's life? These are questions I want to explore in the new project.
I'm not looking to write a feel-good, cozy, or happy story. In order to examine the problem of evil, I have to actually examine evil without softening it or making it a modern "really just misunderstood" kind of evil2. Because I write organically, I don't know what Roselia is going to find, what she's going to go through, or what answer she will have when she comes out on the other side.
The first draft is for telling myself the story, after all.
Thoughts to share? I have a contact page now!