NaNoWriMo Prep Project

2021 - Day 29: Plot: Premise Revision

Oct. 29: - Plot: Premise Revision ▼

Now that you have spent a month planning your novel, revise your initial premise. Identify the following:
(1) Setting(s). Where does your story take place?
It starts out in a small, seaside town that ostracizes Zayda for being a witch. She is bullied by the popular girls who see her as a beautiful threat and seen as a challenge to the popular village boys.
The town, the aunt's old Victorian house and lush gardens, the school ?, the dunes, the ocean, the forest.
It moves to a big city - NYC - where she can both lose herself and find herself. To do that she must overcome a variety of tests that challenge what she really wants.
Washington Square Park - and its buried bodies (ghosts), Central Park, Coney Island, Greenwich Village, NYU campus, Bobst Library and Carnegie Hill area.

(2) Protagonist(s). Who is(are) your main character(s)?
Zayda Gallagher (Z) and Trace Wilder (T)
(2b) Flaw(s). What is(are) the protagonist's major flaw(s)?
Z - fears her power and talents as they keep her set apart, lets others bully her without standing up for herself.

T - love and compassion for his mother and sister is both a good thing and a bad thing in that it hold him random to his Grandfather's tyranny.

(2c) Goal(s). What does(d) the protagonist(s) want (or want to avoid)?
Z - she wants to love and be loved for who she is, she wants to be accepted for who she is

T - he wants to be free of his Grandfather's tyranny - free to follow his dreams and love the woman he choses - the one he has always felt a connection to.

(3) Conflict(s). What's keeping them from their goal(s)?
T's mother knows Z is a witch and threatens to expose her in order to keep the two of them apart.
T's Grandfather is a tyrant and he wants T to take over his business - together with his cousin Daniel - there is also conflict there. Grandfather also has a young woman picked out for T to marry and advance their power and wealth.
T's Grandfather does not think Z is the right sort of people for his grandson (he does not know she is a witch - but if he did, he would ruin her)

(4) Antagonist(s). Who or what is creating the conflict(s)?
Trace's mother and Grandfather.
The city itself is also something that needs to be overcome - as Zayda can feel the emotions of all those around her - a leather coat and gloves help to dull this sensation. Contact brings images with the feeling of emotions.

(5) Resolution. How does it all turn out in the end?
Zayda is able to save someone T's mother loves and so she changes her mind about her - becomes a reluctant ally in the end.
Trace (Z's love gives him the strength) confronts his grandfather once he knows his sister and mother will be okay - their lives are important to him and his Grandfather uses them as a way to keep Trace in line - threatening to cast them all out if he does not comply

(6) Theme: What is the theme or moral of the story?
Love conquers all. Prejudice can destroy if you don't examine the roots of it.

(7) Outline: Update your outline as needed.
This will be done on Plottr.