The Big Question, Part 4

 FINDING YOUR BIG QUESTION IN POPULAR CULTURE

Was there a movie you saw recently that has stuck with you long past the time you walked out of the theater?  Did the characters' emotional dilemmas strike a particular emotional cord with you?

If so, that movie may have given you a Big Question that resonates with you.

Analyze the movie to figure out the Big Question, then consider how you would attack that same Big Question in your novel.

This doesn't mean you should regurgitate the plot and world building of that movie, but that you should find your own way to talk about that Big Question.

The same holds true for a book, play, or TV show.  

I already had my Big Question when I conceived STAR-CROSSED, but I used Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" with its images, language, and situations to help create my Big Question's resonance.

THE PREMISE BEFORE THE BIG QUESTION

You don't need a Big Question first. Often, I start with a premise then use it to develop my Big Question and the rest of the novel. Here's how I developed STAR-CROSSED.

The plot premise came after I read a novel which used sexual slavery as sexy fun and titillation. Horrified by the book's treatment of women, I had the evil thought--what would happen if men were the sex slaves, not women?

By switching the genders, I would be able to make my points about the inhumanity of such treatment and the corrosive results on a society as a whole. I would also have one heck of a romantic adventure setting on another planet.

Since I had two sides already--slavery versus a free society, I knew I wanted to create a Big Question that would examine it from a narrow angle of one person's choices.

The question I decided on was “What do you do when your morality conflicts with an immoral government?”

Since I was aiming this novel at the romance market, I needed both a hero and a heroine. I asked myself what kind of heroine and hero did I need to tell the story I wanted to tell.

Since women are powerful on this world, the heroine would have to be from this society. She would have to be brave and willing to sacrifice everything for what she believes in, have enormous kindness and sympathy, and be totally ignorant of men. Mara d'Jorel was born.

The hero couldn't be a member of this society because the men on Arden are trained from birth to be protected darlings who don't worry their pretty little heads about anything. 

Something about him, beyond his looks, would have to attract Mara so she would consider taking a sex slave against her moral beliefs. I made him a famous scientist in Mara's field. ("He's not a man, he's a scientist!")

He would have to be worthy of her emotionally by having enormous love, kindness, and courage, but he would need some flaw which would drive them apart. The flaw would somehow reflect the premise of the story.

I decided that he wants a woman to love him for himself, not for his fame, looks, and wealth, and no relationship is more shallow and less likely to go beyond looks than sexual slavery. He would have to be insecure and distrustful of any woman's attachment to him. Earthman Tristan Mallory was born.

In later lessons, I'll talk about how I added other characters, built my world and its history, and created my story arcs.