#Nanowrimo: Kernel Idea Examples

The last post was about the Kernel Idea.

Let’s look at some ideas

• Character:  “A housewife and female assassin must uncover the truth of the men in their lives in order to save their own.”  BODYGUARD OF LIES
• Plot:  “What if a Federal agent investigating a murder, finds out it’s connected to an illegal CIA operation?”  CHASING THE GHOST
• Setting or scene:  “An international treaty bans weapons in Antarctica:  What if the US put nuclear weapons there and lost track of them?”  SHADOW WARRIORS: THE CITADEL
• Intent/Theme:  “Connection leads to a full life.”  DON’T LOOK DOWN.
• “What If”:  “What if people going into the Witness Protection Program really disappear?”  CUT OUT

John Saul at the Maui Writer’s Retreat ran a seminar called “What if?” where he had writers put their one sentence up on butcher paper and analyzed it.  He made sure every word in the sentence meant something.  For example:

What if Mary has to stop a band of terrorists?

How could this be improved?  What does Mary mean?  How about ‘a housewife’?  How about making her a special housewife with an anomaly:  What if an obsessive-compulsive housewife?  However, that term hints at a comedic tone.

Stop a band of terrorists from what?  How about ‘assassinating the president’? so we understand what’s at stake.

This gives us:  What if an obsessive-compulsive housewife has to stop a band of terrorists from assassinating the President?

That pops, but it makes me wonder how we balance the comedic possibility of the OCD with the high stakes thriller of the assassination?  Do you see how your idea raises questions?  Both good and bad.

The Importance of Your Kernel Idea

• It starts your creative process.
• Remembering it keeps you focused.
• It is often the core of the pitch to sell the book.

I stress this in my teachings because this one idea is critical to the writing process. It’s the one thing I believe every writer should start with, or at the very least, find it before getting too far into the draft.

I also believe every writer should have this on a piece of paper, post-it note, or taped to their computer screen where they can see it at the beginning of every writing session.

A different point of view can be a way to tell a story that’s already been done in a fresh way.  In Beowulf the monster had his story to tell and John Gardner did it in Grendel.  Who was the madwoman in the attic in Jane Eyre?  She had her story and Jean Rhys told it in Wide Sargasso Sea.  Jane Smiley put King Lear on a present day farm and called it A Thousand Acres.

Whenever I watch a film or video I try to figure out what the original idea the first screenwriter had.  For example, in the movie True Romance written by Quentin Torrentino, there is a scene at the end where there are four groups of people in a room all pointing guns at each other in a classic Mexican standoff.  Rewatching the film, I can see the entire movie driving to that one climactic scene.  In an interview, Torrentino said that scene was the kernel idea.  He didn’t know who the people with the guns were (that’s character); where the room was (setting); why they were in the room (motivation); whether it was the beginning, end or middle of the movie (story and plot); what the result of this stand-off would be; etc. etc.  He just had this vision to start with.

When I watched the movie The Matrix, the scene that stuck out to me was where all those people were plugged and being tapped for their electrical power.  I almost sense that was the kernel idea—the screenwriter read or heard that the human body produced X amount of electricity and sat down and thought what he could do with that idea.  I think he then came up with the concept of the Matrix itself as a follow on.

Kernel Idea and The Pitch

• Sometimes they are the same.
• Sometimes they aren’t.
• But they should be very close.
• The Kernel Idea is your tool for your writing.
• The Pitch is your tool to sell your writing to someone else.

When I teach the Novel Writer’s workshop in a small group, we spend an enormous amount of time on the Kernel Idea. The participants will talk out their ideas, push each other to focus on the excitement and when a writer nails it, it will send a shiver up everyone’s spine. This is the reason it is foundation for your writing and for your pitch. It excited you, therefore that idea will excite your readers, whether it be editors and agents or end consumer readers.

Focusing Your Idea

When you write your one sentence down, check to see what the subject of the sentence is:

1. Character?

• Protagonist, antagonist?
• Plot?

1. Check to see what the verb is.

• Positive or negative?
• Action or re-action verb?

What If?

• Start your sentence with “What if . . .”

Each word must mean something to the reader.

Don’t be a secret keeper.

• “What if a thief was using a movie set as a cover for heist?”  DON’T LOOK DOWN.
• “What if mankind didn’t originate the way we thought?”  AREA 51

Another way to try to figure out what the core of your novel is this:  What is the climactic scene?  This is when the protagonist and antagonist meet to resolve the primary problem that is the crux of the novel.  This is what the entire book is driving towards.

Check out your one sentence idea.  What is the subject of the sentence?  Is the verb action or reaction?

Share your Kernel Ideas!

Write It Forward!