by S. T. Finn
(Shadowfax Author Series: Writers on Writing)
The Catalyst
Although I’ve written all sorts of stories over the years, I had never written a true survival story. I mean, ALL stories are survival stories in some way or another. Just getting through life is a remarkable achievement for most of us.
But I had never intentionally written a book about characters surviving a “human vs. nature” situation. I may never have written a survival story at all if I hadn’t come across something online that mentioned wilderness survival stories. Particularly … “kid-versus-nature” scenarios.
I immediately thought … “I could write something like that” and the ideas began to flow. And kept flowing.
I quickly jotted down the basic story-treatment from beginning to end. It just flowed right out—the two main characters and the plot, their struggles and triumphs (even some light-bulb jokes). The entire story just came to me right away.
It happens sometimes. And I always feel lucky when it does.
The Theme
Right from the start, I knew this would be a story about working together (and falling in love) in a survival setting. It’s a story about believing in each other—the hopeful, resilient, persevering side of humanity.
For millions of years, humans have been living a true survival story, fighting “against” nature or learning to live “in harmony” with it. And I wanted to tell one tiny aspect of that evolutionary tale.
That’s partly why I landed on the title: JUST A DROP IN THE OCEAN: A YOUNG ADULT SURVIVAL ADVENTURE. Because, in the end, that’s what we are.
The Process
Before diving into the actual writing (since I already had a pretty good idea who the characters were before I even started writing), three were three important questions I had to resolve:
1) How old were the kids? (I figured maybe 13 – 17 ?)
2) Where is the Island? (Somewhere in the Bahamas? Bermuda? The Florida Keys?)
3) How do they get on the Island (Perhaps a plane crash? Boat accident?)
Once I had that stuff resolved, I did a bit of research on the location I chose as a setting. It always helps to know your location, for descriptions and other useful details, or even to inspire new scenes to add into the story.
When that was done, I was ready to dive in.
The Writing
Again, I was lucky. Because I already had the full idea in my head, I kicked out the entire story within a week or so (revising for many weeks thereafter). It took much longer before I finally considered it “finished.”
Even though it had come to me fully hatched, the story still took some refining and further development. After the first draft, I needed to expand or add a few more chapters and scenes and to give the characters more depth as they faced the challenges of being castaways.
The Struggle
As I wrote this book, I also realized the story was about a different kind of survival. It became a story of the struggle with anxiety (nature) and other issues (like OCD) that make surviving day-to-day a bit more challenging for some of us.
But that’s the beauty of humanity, isn’t it? We’re a mosaic, a patchwork quilt with so many different threads, all woven into a tapestry that holds us all together. Like a safety net.
We’re here because those before us survived. We’re survivors because of each other. We’re all essential parts in what has been the best survival story ever.
How amazing is that?
The Ending
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This week (June 16-20), eBook downloads of JUST A DROP IN THE OCEAN are available for FREE on Amazon—for a limited time. Get your copy now!
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S. T. Finn is the author of FAR AWAY PLACE, LEAVES IN THE RAIN, and other books. He has had a dozen haiku and some artwork published in magazines and literary journals. Finn’s new book of poetry, A LIFE ENTANGLED: THE EARLY POEMS, was just released by Shadowfax Books.
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