Welcome to day 17 of PREPTOBER! This is a series of daily questions and prompts to help you prepare for this year’s upcoming NaNoWriMo!
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Today’s question is:
What is your main character’s unknown world?
Feel free to share your answer in the comments! I would love to hear your response!
Last time, we talked about your main character’s known world. This is their comfort zone. No change ever happens here, which is why they have to move into the Unknown World.
They will spend the entirety of Act II here, about 50% of the novel, so it’s got to be super exciting. Think of your main character as a rock climber, and you are the one belaying them into the next section of the book.
It’s up to you to decide how quickly your Main Character descends into the Unknown World.
For instance, when Frodo enters the Unknown world, he’s still in the Shire. He has to walk to get out of there of course! So the danger doesn’t escalate *super quickly*.
With Katniss, moments after she volunteers as tribute she is whisked away on a bullet train that pulls her deep into the capitol. She is basically scrubbed down from head to toe, forced to go on television with Caesar Flickerman and deliver an interview, then she’s put into training which is all more or less contributing to her survival in the games because she is trying to gain popularity. The more folks root for her, the more Haymitch can lobby for her, raise funds and send her supplies while she’s in the games. The most popular victor often wins.
Essentially, Suzanne Collins throws Katniss completely out of her comfort zone and into an intimidating world that’s almost as dangerous as the Games themselves.
So, how nice are you going to be to your characters? What makes sense logically? Katniss could travel at super speed to get to her Unknown World, whereas Frodo has to physically take his journey step by step.
How much contrast does your unknown world have initially? How does it transform over the course of your novel?
What is your main character’s unknown world?
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