Maybe I should start at the beginning.

My all-time favorite male name is Samuel. For female name, it’s probably Sarah, with the h. So, it’s no surprise that when I want to wrote a little bit of story, I start out with Samuel and Sarah as character names.

I even started a story set in the Pokémon universe with Samuel Montgomery. The surname Montgomery isn’t a favorite of mine by any means, but I’d been pairing it up with “Samuel” for some time, and liked it. I knew a Kyle at the time, so I decided to use that as the rival’s name (for lack of being able to come up with a name for him). For some reason, I see Kyle as an “interesting” name. The spelling, the pronunciation, the look of it. It has this “rare” feeling to me, as if it’s not a common name you see very often. It felt it would work for a rival, someone who is not as common in a story as the main character. Giving him a sister named Sarah made everything fit into place.

I started with a Pokémon in a local competition for Samuel and Kyle. But then what? I needed them to travel across the country, from west coast USA to east coast. I decided to rename cities by rearranging the letters (such as San Diego becoming San Goedi; an idea which I may scrap) This meant using real city names, and that meant research. I decided to plot out one state per chapter, and have a set number of chapters, each which I’d give a creative title that would inspire the events of that chapter.

Essentially, I threw together a strict outline which I must follow, even if I come up with good ideas outside of it (they must be wedged into it somewhere) or failed to come up with any ideas at all.

I’ve since dropped the relation with Pokémon from the story, and some titles were adjusted to match, but other than that they have remain the same. And they have influenced the story’s development in good ways.

I think I might finally be almost ready to drop this strictness, as I snowflake the story.

The difficult part for me when writing different parts of a story is keeping them in order. One text per chapter. You can’t put the chapter number in the filename, because you might rearrange, or add or remove chapters.

Maybe chapter isn’t even the right word. In this story, a “chapter” can contain many unrelated events, one after another, as long as they are in the same city. Perhaps a whole new approach should be used. One folder per state/city pair can be used. Each state can be numbered based on its visit, with California as “1″. There might be multiple cities visited, so either the folder can contain multiple folders per city, or there can be multiple folders such as “1.1 San Goedi, California”, with the next city in California having a folder name starting with 1.2. From here, the events in one city can be split into multiple files, one for each event, and those can easily be moved from one folder to another as necessary.

That’s going way off on a tangent there. Back to there monolithic “chapters” I have the story split into right now. I put my outline here as a means of reminder to myself that which I must cast off. I will not be able to properly snowflake this story if this outline is constraining me as longer. This will free all my scene ideas that don’t fit into the outline, as well. I’ve included my almost-original chapter outlines. They’re only “almost” original because they’ve been modified to work with the removal of Pokémon.

Chapter One: Leaving Home: First Steps of a Long Journey

“Animal researcher Samuel Montgomery finally decides the time is right to leave his California home travel to New York, aiming to participate in the National Championship. Also heading out west are Samuel’s self-proclaimed rival, Kyle Johnson, and Kyle’s sister Sarah, who happen to be the targets of Rubin and Saphir, members of an organization known as the Solitary Rare.”

This chapter takes place in San Goedi, California. Outside of Kyle losing to Samuel in the local championship, and an introduction of Rubin, there really isn’t much at all that happens in California. This needs to be fixed, I’m sure.

Chapter Two: Uneasy Spirit: Mystery of the Bansee

“In a small town in Arizona, Samuel finds himself caught in visions from times long past. Local legend tells of a bansee, and Samuel is her next victim. Kyle and Sarah can only laugh at this unbelievable plight. Who believes in such a silly legend? A fierce storm sets the stage for Samuel to meet the bansee face-to-face, and confront the origin of the legend.”

Takes place in Neophix, Arizona. This idea worked for a Pokémon-based story, but it doesn’t work as well for what “Dragon Blood” has become. Banshee aside, I have things in this chapter that need to happen. I can drop the banshee part, but that leaves things hollow in the chapter. Also, the banshee part ties in to something in the latter half of the story. I want to keep this in, and successfully write in events to stories unrelated to Samuel’s goal, but which he becomes a part of along the way.

Chapter Three: The Great Sand Dunes: Friend in the Desert

“The vast deserts within Colorado provide harsh and treacherous environments for Samuel and Ty to train. When Samuel becomes lost in the burning desert, a young archaeologist takes him in.”

I think Cottonwood Grove, Colorado is the only place whose name I didn’t re-spell, other than New York City.

I have little written for this chapter. If I want to use Carlyn (the archaeologist) where I already have him in later parts of the story, then he needs to be introduced here. I want to be able to tie this chapter in with the hidden backdrop story of dragons, as well as various actions of the Solitary Rare organization. Much work is required here.

Chapter Four: Troubled Reunion: Battles and Festivities

“After running into Sarah, Samuel decides to train for his first major battle. Also, he attends a local Irish festival.”

The chapter for Thiawic, Kansas is the second most empty chapter after the Cottonwood one. The Irish festival is meant to introduce Sarah and Kyle’s father, and has since become a method to really show what drives Kyle to compete. However, I need a festival in the next chapter instead, which makes things all the more difficult. By casting the outline aside, maybe I can merge the two into one.

Chapter Five: The Carp and the Waterfall: Legend of the Dragon

“It’s festival time in Missouri, pulling in battlers from miles around. Kyle becomes fascinated with the legend of the carp that became a dragon. Samuel discovers new enemies from the Solitary Rare. Sarah prepares to return home, for the start of the new school year.”

See? Didn’t I say there’d be a festival here in the next chapter, here in Ebanlon, Missouri? Merging this in with the prior chapter, Sarah could stay with her father and go with him back to California, so she can return there in time to start back in school.

Chapter Six: Solitary Rare and the Healing Spray: Enter Vicky and Jenna

“Samuel meets Vicky Edwards, an animal-nurse-in-training, as he journeys through Illinois. She carries with her a revolutionary new kind of medicine, a spray with the ability to heal almost instantly, which sets her as a target of two top Solitary Rare members: Iolyte and Amethyst.”

The story in Tontoma, Illinois here has changed in various ways since this bit was written.

Chapter Seven: Kind Kindler and Forceful Enemies: Protect the Heal Spray!

“A huge competition means points to be earned. With the Heal Spray in his care, Samuel first visits a kindler friend who works nearby, within Indiana. Iolyte and Amethyst are determined to obtain the Heal Spray, and use full force — against both Samuel and Ty!”

It’s off to Rhotba, Indiana. Let’s see, there’s the Heal Spray going into Samuel’s care. There’s meeting with the kindler (which ties in an event in the next chapter, but I also should write something in the California portion to also tie in with that, and perhaps bits elsewhere). There’s defending the Heal Spray. There’s the competition. That’s a lot to fit into one chapter. I’ll enjoy breaking this up into multiple files, and only hope I can keep them sorted. I’ve been unsuccessful in writing software to keep these organized for me, I’m afraid.

Chapter Eight: Victims of Fire: Rubin’s Past

“Ohio is the location of Rubin’s childhood. When his past crosses Samuel’s present, the two must work together to uncover a sinister conspiracy.”

Not much to say about the chapter in Arbaun, Ohio except that it would be the start of Rubin questioning his own present. It’s pretty self-contained to one event, although I can see more being added around it.

Chapter Nine: Poison of the Moon Pearl: Occult Girl and Many Good-Byes

“A glowing moon pearl contains mysterious powers, and its influence takes hold of Samuel. One girl in Pennsylvania holds the secret to the moon pearl, but Saphir has other plans for the girl’s knowledge. The direct effects of the moon pearl may be temporary, but emotions will take longer to heal, and paths fork.”

Arriving in Pennsylvania leads to a lot of major events. It’ll be nice to split them up a bit.

Chapter Ten: Mystery Water Beast and Saphir’s Drug

“A member of the Solitary Rare is causing trouble in New Jersey, and his sights are set on the a rumored hybrid. Saphir learns about Ty’s true identity as a tigon, and uses deceit in attempt to take this feline for her employer.”

In New Jersey, the drug was originally intended to be used against Samuel’s cat, Ty. This has been changed quite a bit, but the general idea is still there. Nonetheless, a lot happens here that can be broken up into bite-sized portions, rather than sitting all in one chapter, in one file.

Chapter 11: Begin Championship: Christmas-time Sports

“It’s time for the competition battles to begin! It’s also the holiday season, and Christmas is right around the corner, marked with a huge celebration in honour of combatants. When Kyle tells Samuel to keep away from the celebration, Samuel discovers what Christmas is truly about.”

Finally, New York. Never mind the sappy “discovers what Christmas is truly about” in there. A lot happens in New York. Too much for one chapter, one file.

Chapter 12 and Beyond

The original outline didn’t take into account a real story starting to creep in which would require sending Samuel to Africa after New York. I also had ideas written out for Brasil, but managed to lose them.

There, that’s out of the system. I can continue with the snowflaking now.