Logline
An autistic prepper, vilified by his community, occupies the high ground when the water starts to rise.
When a . . . Blurb
When the waters begin to rise, the people of a small town must turn for help to an odd loner their community has always shunned.
Blurb
The end is nigh and Noah is ready for it. He can’t save “the” world, but he has prepared enough to save “his” world. He would love to have Angel to join him, but he only has room for one and she refuses to come alone.
Pitch
The Bride Test meets Leave the World Behind.
Genre
- Genre: Literary fiction
- Subgenres: anti-romance, thriller, disaster
Comp Titles
- Leave the World Behind. Rumaan Alam. 2020.
- ordinary people facing extraordinary situations
- How High We Go in the Dark. Sequoia Magamatsu. 2022.
- ordinary people facing extraordinary situations
- The Bride Test. Helen Hoang. 2019.
- male/female-autistic/allistic relationship
Length
- ~80,000 words
Completion
- Late 2026
Target Market
- Commercial fiction
Literary Agent
- None yet
Reader Access
Access to Noah is offered only to long term critique partners.
Current Status – At a Glance
| ELEMENT | PROGRESS |
| Hook | D2 |
| Inciting incident | All scenes plotted |
| Pinch Point 1 | All scenes plotted |
| Midpoint | All scenes plotted |
| Pinch Point 2 | All scenes plotted |
| Plot Turn | All scenes plotted |
| All is Lost | All scenes plotted |
| Resolution | All scenes plotted |
Development Diary
- A beginning, middle, and end were sketched out.
- D1s were written Ch. 1 and Ch 2. and submitted for feedback to CPs.
- D1 of Ch. 1 was also submitted to Gina Denny’s First Pages Friday.
- Feedback from CPs has been considered.
- Only major concern was the readers might mistake the genre if they put the book down at the end of Ch. 1 without reading Ch. 2. Concern was that they might consider it a romance, not an anti-romance.
- Ch. 1 and Ch. 2. were combined into Ch. 1 in D2 in order to address this issue.
- D2 of Ch. 1 was put in the parking lot. It may be shared with CPs later.
- I created a full commercial plotting tool created based on Gina Denny’s 8 Point Plotting System.
- Each of the following eight elements was defined:
- hook
- inciting incident
- pinch point 1
- midpoint
- pinch point 2
- plot turn
- all is lost
- resolution
- Hook is complete to D2 and is sitting in the parking lot
- Inciting Incident will be one chapter which has been outlined
- Pinch Point 1 has been plotted to chapter level in the plotting tool
- Midpoint has been outlined in plotting tool
- Pinch Point 2 has been outlined in the plotting tool
- Plot Turn has been outlined in the plotting tool
- All is Lost has been outlined in the plotting tool
- Resolution is subdivided
- Set up for the reckoning is outlined to chapter level
- Reckoning is plotted to chapter level
- Denouement is plotted to chapter level
- Nine possible reckoning/denouement outlines were written and shared with CPs over the weekend with a view to determining which resolution was most satisfying. One was selected as most satisfying and outlined to chapter level as Ch. 29 to Ch. 32.
- 7 MARCH 2026
- Arc plotting is complete for protagonist and antagonist
- Character sheets complete for all MCs
- Major character cast set at four characters
- Supporting cast sitting at 6 to 8 characters
- 8 MARCH 2026
- Inciting incident – 2 of 2 chapters plotted
- Pinch Point 1 – 5 of 5 chapters plotted
- Midpoint – Event outlining continued
- Pinch Point 2 – Events outlined
- 14 MARCH 2026
- Deep dive on COSTY for MCs
- Deep dive on Tether and Yearning for MCs
- Tether created for MCs as a list of belief statements
- Yearning created for MCs as single statements
- Structural objectives for MCs reconsidered in view of refined tethers and yearnings
- Personal stakes for MCs reconsidered in view of refined tethers and yearnings
- 15 MARCH 2026
- Event mapping complete for everything except the midpoint
- Event mapping for the midpoint underway
- FMC’s midpoint failure mapped
- MMC’s midpoint failure mapped
- Midpoint subplots developed
- Emergence of the conspiracy
- Emergence of the villainous backstory
- Emergence of a visual metaphor (Hot Tub Hierarchy)
- 21 MARCH 2026
- Event mapping completed for Midpoint
- Chapter plotting completed for Resolution
- Chapter plotting completed for All-is-Lost
- Chapter plotting underway for Plot Turn
- 22 MARCH 2026
- Chapter plotting completed for Plot Turn
- Chapter plotting completed for Pinch Point 2
- Chapter plotting completed for Midpoint
- Chapter plotting refinements now underway
- 28 MARCH 2026
- 1st pass chapter refinements complete
- Chapters being divided into scenes
- Scene plotting underway
- 29 MARCH 2026
- Scene plotting complete for Hook, Inciting Incident, and Pinch Point 1
- Scene plotting complete for Midpoint
- Scene plotting underway for Pinch Point 2
- 11 April 2026
- Scene plotting underway for Pinch Point 2
- 12 April 2026
- Scene plotting complete for Pinch Point 2
- Scene plotting complete for Plot Turn
- Scene plotting complete for All-is-Lost
- Scene plotting complete for Resolution
- Scene review underway
- Preparing for alpha read (structural) feedback