If you are still in school, you can take advantage of what you learn and put it into practice through your novel.
Today is the history edition, I'm only giving one example. (For time purposes)
A few weeks ago I wrote a 1,700 word paper on The Whiskey Rebellion. My book has a
rebellion in it, and I was able to break down TWR to it's most basic
points and do a similar sett up in my book.
The outline type thing is on the left, and the actual events are on the right.
Guy in power disconnected from people / The government is disconnected from the common citizen.
Does something that messes up the people's "normal" lives / The government passes 25% tax on corn/grain products
The people act (mostly) peacably to get the mess fixed / Farmers try petitions and go to Philadelphia to argue their case
The guy in power refuses to change / Government ignores farmers protests
the people get angry start rioting / Farmers upset and start rioting and refuse to pay tax
the guy in power tries to control the people and makes the mess worse /
The government demands that anyone who refuses the tax will be taken to
court to be tried. If this happens the farmers crops will be left
unattended and will likely die.
the people start going after anyone connected to the guy in power / Tax collectors are attacked in various ways.
Something else sets the rebels off, they cause major damage / Rebels go after one of the men who encouraged the whiskey tax, they set fire to his house
The guy in power tries to obtain order by force / Over 3,000 soldiers are sent to dispel the rebels.
(Various things can happen after this point, but I'm showing you how the Whiskey Rebellion unfolded.)
The guy in power arrests various rebels and the protestors seem to disappear, the guy in power "wins"/ The government arrests over a hundred rebels, the rest of the rebels dispel and disappear
Rebel's are punished, justice / The rebels are tried in court, however each one is given a presidential pardon.
The rebels ultimately get what they want / The Whiskey tax is removed by President Jefferson
By using this as my basis, I was able to see how a real rebellion unfolds. This gives my book a realism I wouldn't have had otherwise.
Do you have any tips on how to take advantage of daily things, from school to work to chores in improving your writing or story line?
