Refreshing Memory

Now that NaNoWriMo is upon us again, I am reminded of how far I have come since entering that contest years ago.  It does take a long time to write a novel, and part of the problem is just getting the groundwork laid.  Once, one has emptied all his current ideas onto paper or in this case, computer screen, one then reinvents, and rewrites, reorganizes, and rethinks the entire process. Because I had originally wanted to have the novel placed upon a backdrop of a manuscript of the Iliad, and use the Iliad throughou t the entire work, I had actually paraphrased each chapter and taken a line from it to use in my forthcoming novel. I  ended up scotching that idea altogether, and began it again in a different framework.  It seemed like a great idea, and I will implement it somehow but once I began to develop some thoughts as I went along, I found myself getting more deeply involved in my own story which then began to unfold.  So that is what happens...you lay a skeletal structure, then find that the fleshing out of characters pushes the foundation into the background where it rightfully belongs, maybe to emerge again in a later time...My entire idea on the first part of the book which will either be written in serial pieces or one huge long book is that young Alexander was already filled with his dreams, plans, and goals while a child so that all the input of his teachers and instructors helped to develop his leadership talents.  To understand why it is that he is seemingly so ruthless, it is important to know what it is that he learned as a child to make him that way.  His education is that worth understanding to fully appreciate his decision making process.  My intent is to use these plays and dramas in the story itself, showing how the impact of these impressed not only him but other members of his army.  All the Macedonians were long familiar with these plays...