Ummm. OK, this is a really wussy response, but could you spend the next two days working on both of them, back and forth, and see which one shapes up better? [ducks] Seriously, though, I think they both have potential but it comes down to which one you think you can develop in a month's time. If two more days will give you a chance to either come up with a plot for the first one or spackle over the plot holes in the second one, or at least give you an idea of which one's more likely to firm up over the next couple of weeks, then it'd be worth it to dink a bit longer. Or maybe pick one and work on it for the next day and if you don't get an "Aha!" somewhere in that period, swap over to the other for the second day.
Some rambling about the first one -- you've got a protagonist, cool. What does he want? And why can't he have it? You need four years worth of plotline, even though (I'm assuming) you're not going to show every bit of those four years. So what does he want that he can't have? The reason he can't have it is the major obstacle, which he'll be trying to overcome during the course of the plot.
Since you plan on starting in two parallel timelines, one with him as a freshman and the other with him about to graduate, you have a decent idea of how he's changed over the course of his time at uni, right? How did he change? Are his goals at the end of school the same as his goals at the beginning? If not, how did they change and is he OK with that? How did he see himself at graduation, when he was just starting? Was that expectation fulfilled or not? If so, how did he manage it, and if not, why not?
Or maybe he didn't change, or at least not as much as he thought. Some people go to university with this expectation that they're going to be all smart and together and confident and cool and suave and whatever all else by the time they graduate and are ready to hit "real life," and then they're a bit shocked when it doesn't happen. That's part of growing up too -- figuring out that there's no point where suddenly everything's easy, where you've learned The Secret and it's all fun and coasting from that point on. Children think adults are in charge because they know the secret and look forward to finding it out for themselves, but a major point of maturity is realizing that everyone struggles, everyone's unsure sometimes, life isn't smooth and easy for anyone, that we just keep doing the best we can with what we have, forever.
This one might be doable because you have the beginning and the end (OK, I'm just assuming that the book is going to end some time around or shortly after graduation) and you just have to map out the path from Point A to Point Z. :)
Not enough info to ramble about the first one, but if it's just a matter of plugging holes in an existing plot, that sounds doable too?
no subject
Some rambling about the first one -- you've got a protagonist, cool. What does he want? And why can't he have it? You need four years worth of plotline, even though (I'm assuming) you're not going to show every bit of those four years. So what does he want that he can't have? The reason he can't have it is the major obstacle, which he'll be trying to overcome during the course of the plot.
Since you plan on starting in two parallel timelines, one with him as a freshman and the other with him about to graduate, you have a decent idea of how he's changed over the course of his time at uni, right? How did he change? Are his goals at the end of school the same as his goals at the beginning? If not, how did they change and is he OK with that? How did he see himself at graduation, when he was just starting? Was that expectation fulfilled or not? If so, how did he manage it, and if not, why not?
Or maybe he didn't change, or at least not as much as he thought. Some people go to university with this expectation that they're going to be all smart and together and confident and cool and suave and whatever all else by the time they graduate and are ready to hit "real life," and then they're a bit shocked when it doesn't happen. That's part of growing up too -- figuring out that there's no point where suddenly everything's easy, where you've learned The Secret and it's all fun and coasting from that point on. Children think adults are in charge because they know the secret and look forward to finding it out for themselves, but a major point of maturity is realizing that everyone struggles, everyone's unsure sometimes, life isn't smooth and easy for anyone, that we just keep doing the best we can with what we have, forever.
This one might be doable because you have the beginning and the end (OK, I'm just assuming that the book is going to end some time around or shortly after graduation) and you just have to map out the path from Point A to Point Z. :)
Not enough info to ramble about the first one, but if it's just a matter of plugging holes in an existing plot, that sounds doable too?
Luck! :D
Angie