Murakami sat at his desk, hands on his keyboard, staring at the blank laptop screen before him. He knew exactly what he had to write, what he had to plan. Yet, for all his hair-tugging efforts, there were still no words on the page.Tired and annoyed at himself, Murakami splayed his hands across the junk-filled table, resting his head on his keyboard. At least this way, he wouldn"t be staring at an empty doc.u.ment. He watched the piles of paper, his books, the fan that worked overtime to move the air—not so much as to admire them, but simply because they were in his field of view.
Stale air flew past his face in a continuous stream as he inhaled greedily. Like Murakami, the fan tried its best to do its job—but to no avail. Much like how the suffocating air was displaced only to be replaced by more suffocating air, Murakami felt the blanks in his brain replaced only with more blanks.
He knew that this couldn"t go on. No matter what, he had to write his outline. Even if he didn"t have any idea what to write, he knew he needed to get something onto the page. He"d read it from one of his books: If you don"t know what to write, then "Free Write."
Murakami already had an inkling as to what his story would be like. It had hit him during a shower: What if someone who is acutely aware of their inner demon, the side of him that wants to destroy everything, is forced to live in everyday society?
This was to be the seed of his story. From here, he would need to expand on what it meant to him—as an author—and what it needs to mean to the readers. To do that, he would need to develop a premise—the lesson behind the story.
He began tapping at the keys of his keyboard. Half of the things he wrote made no sense whatsoever, and were simply the ramblings of a sleep-deprived aspiring author. But, in the middle of it all, Murakami had already started forming his premise.
It started with a simple sentence: Denying your true self leads to death. However, he was unsatisfied with it. It wasn"t deep enough, focused enough, to base a story around. He ran simulations in his head—what would the story be like if he used different endings? What if denying your true self led to happiness? Suffering? Unhappiness?
After a while, Murakami played with the idea of denying your true self leading to insanity. That too, however, was too vague. He needed something that would resonate with him—something that he felt deeply about. Eventually, he settled on one: Desire to protect leads to acceptance of true nature. Using this premise, he restructured his initial seed, turning it into something he could write about.
"What if someone who is acutely aware of their inner demon, the side of him that wants to destroy everything, is forced to live in everyday society? He must convince the people around him that he doesn"t have violent or destructive tendencies.
So, he decides to help out at the local orphanage—that ought to show his gentleness, right? But when war looms on the horizon, he realizes that what he needs more than ever is to be destructive."
By now, Murakami felt the ideas flowing inside his head like a raging current. They came and went like fleeting clouds, yet at the same time made it onto the page in excruciating detail.
The next thing to do was to find a main character, a protagonist. Murakami knew that this protagonist needed to be aware of his own inner demon; yet, at the same time, he also needed to be afraid of it.
After wracking his brain, Murakami thought of a perfect character—a retired soldier. Not only would this provide the protagonist with a solid grasp on his inner demon, it would also explain the awkwardness in dealing with society. But just that wasn"t enough. This character needed a deep-seated desire, something that he really wants.
Murakami struggled with this one for a bit. It wasn"t enough to just state something vague, like wanting to find love. It needed to be vivid enough to be able to imagine in the mind"s eye; something so concise that one would be hard-pressed not to imagine it.
[A/N: I won"t say what it is here because that would be spoilers. In fact, most of what I would have put here is spoilers.]
Now that Murakami had his character"s motivations, it was time to start writing into his backstory.
He spent hours upon hours, days upon days, writing an origin scene—the scene that plants the seed of internal conflict in the character.
The following was a snippet of what he wrote:
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"My body was covered in blood. It leaked out of seven holes in different places; but thankfully, none had been fatal. Gunshots rang in my ears, and the shouts of my pursuers dogged me wherever I went.
For two hours, my feet had never stopped moving. Even the searing pain from my wounds wasn"t enough to stop me. Because I knew. I knew that if I stopped running, I would die.
I had long abandoned by rifle, and even my equipment vest. The only thing that stood between a stray bullet and my body were my army fatigues. My pistol was holstered on my left leg—but with only one bullet inside, it wasn"t going to be much help. Instead, I held my army knife in a reverse grip in my right hand, ready to stab at a moment"s notice.
I made my way through abandoned residences that had been reduced to rubble under the artillery fire. I tread lightly, afraid that even the slightest misstep would lodge my feet into an inescapable crack. My pursuers would have to do the same—that is, if they didn"t shoot me down from range.
It didn"t take me long to reach a dead end.
The narrow and winding streets of TK City had been cluttered with debris, and I already knew that, sooner or later, I wouldn"t be able to run anymore.
My feet stopped in their tracks as I faced the sandstone wall that spelled my demise. "Soon," I thought, "this wall will have my blood splattered over it.""
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P.S You guys will be seeing some of the POV"s of the authors of Webnovels from time to time. It is about their daily struggles in writing, their aspirations, their hopes, dreams, and of course the simple happiness that they find as they write their stories. More power to you Murakami and we hope to see your novel uploaded soon!