Daniel Mowery

English Seminar
Research Proposal
A Preface to a First Time Novel
Topic Summary
What I am here to propose is a novel; my first time writing fiction
in a setting longer than twenty pages. However, this proposal and
project will not be focused on the novel itself, but on the preface to the
novel. In the preface, I will address my reason for writing the novel,
what research had to go in to it, and how the process has changed my
life. What research could possibly go into a fictional novel? Just as an
example, I made the decision to give one of my characters a rare and
dangerous medical disorder, so I underwent a deal of research to
accurately portray the symptoms and the type of psyche that would
develop from it. For this project, I had to reach out to a broad range of
materials including medical articles/journals and personal accounts,
examples of previously printed fiction that share similarities with what I
have in mind to write about and to set up the structure of the novel,
and non-fiction writing regarding the novel writing process itself. In the
preface I will explain the specific uses and outcomes of these sources.
I will also discuss myself, how the project has affected me from the
beginning, to drowning in the midst of it, to holding the broken tape at
the end of the race, knowing Ive changed, but wondering how. The
preface will be as much a revelation to myself as it will be to my
reader.
Research Question(s)
Can I incorporate my years of education in writing and literature
with the research materials I dig through to create a novel length
story? What is congenital analgesia and how does it affect the human
body? What will make a character likeable and literary voice
engaging? How do I write a novel within a novel? How do I structure
the novel, linearly or dancing around with time and space? How would
the human body react to different stressful situations, and could a
person heal from those injuries.
Background
Ive always wanted to write a novel, and why not a horror novel
to start things. Ive had many ideas and story arcs that I want to
explore, but the concept for my horror novel, The Devil is in the

Details, was the most recent and the one I was most excited about. I
wanted to write about a man who desired to write more than anything,
but cant because he lacks one of the things most necessary to a
horror writer: empathy. The character Cain Morrison cannot feel pain
and therefore has no fear, so he is unable to write the sensationalistic
genre where pain and fear are paramount. I want to delve into the
writing process and how we as people transfer our personal fears and
experiences onto a page, and how we can relate to each other through
those connections.
Approach/Methods
It will be some time before I bring in my antagonist with the
medical disorder, so first I will begin by researching into non-fiction on
the craft of writing a novel. Theres also no time to waste, so I will
begin writing at a point that I hope will be the beginning and write as I
research, going back and making adjustments as I progress. I will also
be reading a few works of fiction that relate closely to my novel,
including The Collector and Misery, so that I can frame better
characters and learn how to structure a fictional novel inside my own. I
will annotate all of my sources, and since Im attempting to read
several books while writing one, as well as conducting medical
research, I will be focusing on the portions of the works that are crucial
to my writing, unfortunately not taking the time to enjoy the novels as
a reader.
Objectives

Read source material of novel writing and other non-fictional

work to improve my writing process and ability.
Read fictional source material to help prod the imagination and
play with concepts for development and structure of the novel
itself.
Read medical sources in regards to pain, congenital analgesia,
healing, and the nerve system to improve the accuracy of my
writing.
Write a preface discussing my process, research, my own
experience during the task, and what works and doesnt work in
greater detail.

Annotated Bibliography
Atwood, Margaret. "Wilderness Tips." 3x33: Short Fiction by 33 Writers.
Ed. Mark Winegardner. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2005. 2942. Print.
In truth, I am going to reference two of Atwoods works from this
collection of short stories, because she is a master of point of view and
character development in minute spaces. Not to say that her stories
arent long, but she doesnt waste time telling you something about
your character that makes you go Oh, I understand you perfectly in a
sentence or two. She also switches between the perspective of
characters flawlessly and gives each such unique voices while
maintaining an omniscient narrative voice. I plan on having multiple
perspectives between the chapters, so Id do well to absorb Atwoods
techniques.
"Congenital insensitivity to pain." Genetics Home Reference. Genetics
Home Reference, 2016. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
<https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/congenital-insensitivity-topain>.
This reference webpage has all of the basic information for
congenital analgesia, or congenital insensitivity to pain. It begins with
a simple explanation of what the phenomena is, and lists symptoms in
detail. The article says that it is a rare condition, with only about 20
cases reported in scientific literature, that it is gene related and affects
the patient from birth. It is often considered a peripheral neuropathy,
and may have something to do with the back and necks connection to
the brain. People may feel hot and cold and touch, but would not feel
the pain of being burned, and many who suffer it do not have a sense
of smell. The article then gives many links to further articles regarding
this condition, and others for diagnoses, management, and medical
contact possibilities.

Fowles, John. The Collector. London: Vintage, 1963. Print.

This is a fantastic fictional story of obsession at its peak. The
story follows a young woman who has been kidnapped by a man who
is not quite right in the head. He collects butterflies and pretty things,
including the young woman hes been stalking. He is kind to her, and
in love with her, but doesnt touch her and doesnt let her leave the
basement. Eventually the young woman, despite many attempts at
escape, dies in the cellar, still young and beautiful and tragic. We then
find the estranged but passionate captor has done this before, and it
doesnt take long for him to overcome his sorrow and fall in love with
another pretty young thing, and begins stalking the new prey.
Grant, Lindsey, Tavia Stewart-Strait, and Chris Baty. Ready, Set,
Novel! San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2011. Print.
In the past, generally I would frown on self-help books that
guaranteed that you could have a book written in thirty days.
Workbooks as well, such as this one. But, I figured that if I was going
to be serious about writing and getting my scattered thoughts
organized, it wouldnt hurt to try the workbook. Ive been using
journals and notebooks to write my thoughts and concepts out, but the
workbook provided more of a structure for my scribbles that I could
easily refer back to without having to flip through multiple pages in a
notebook. Im still not a big fan of planning out too far ahead of the
novel, I find it to be restrictive, not allowing the story to go where it
wants. But I do need stepping stones for my leaps of creativity, and
those ideas that I have set organized in such a helpful way is a great
path to travel down.
King, Stephen. Misery. New York, NY: Signet, 1988. Print.
Misery is one of Kings greatest and most suspenseful novels. It
is about a renowned author of a romantic and melodramatic series who
is trying to escape that world he created and branch out as a writer.
He crashes his car in the mountains and is picked up/kept hostage by
his number one fan, an ex-nurse named Annie with a questionable past
and rageful psychotic tendencies. The reason I am using this novel is
that Annie demands Paul Sheldon to bring her favorite character back
to life and write a special novel just for her. King masterfully crafts a
novel within a novel, which is something that I am also attempting to
do. Seeing how the novel is discussed and written and shown to the
reader in a highly successful novel will give me ideas of how to play
around with the way Im presenting my book within a book.
King, Stephen. On Writing. New York, NY: Scribner, 2000. Print.

Im a big fan of this book, because it meshes together Kings

autobiography with his take on the writing profession and how giving
his advice on how to be a writer. So this book is a double whammy,
where I get to read about the process of writing and revision on a
grand scale, and I get to know more about Stephen King. I plan on
basing my antagonist author character on Stephen King: odd,
eccentric, dark, and prolific. So brushing up on Kings past and his
thought process and habits is interesting information that I can remold
and use as I see fit. How I use these is yet to be seen, but I love the
first line on the dust sleeve: If you do not have the time to read, you
do not have the tools, or the time, to write.
Mowery, Daniel. The Devil is in the Details. n.d. Print.
This is one of the weird but important ones to site, because it is
my own work in progress that has yet to even be edited. This is the
novel that my preface will be addressing, and will still be in progress as
this version of the preface will be typed. So this is a paradoxical
source. Im sourcing a book I havent written to write a preface I
havent written for the book that is unwritten. Somewhere there is a
rip in the space/time continuum. Ive already included in this proposal
much information about the novel, and in the preface I will discuss in
more details some of the choices I made in this writing project and why
I made them.
Pete, Steven. "Congenital analgesia: The agony of feeling no
pain." BBC News Magazine 17 July 2012: n. pag. Web. 17 Mar.
2016. <http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18713585>.
Steven Pete is a man who grew up with congenital analgesia,
along with his twin brother. This is a detailed account of what is was
like growing up with the condition, and includes brief comments from
others who have the condition or have known someone with it. He
discusses how he and his brother chewed off great portions of their
tongues while teething, and constantly injured themselves without
knowing it, and the lack of pain lead to a youthful fearlessness that led
to further injuries. Life expectancy for those with this condition is low.
Any pain in internal organs or joints that would be warning signs for
cancer, or organ failure or infection, and arthritis go unnoticed. They
even detail how the hospital thought their parents were abusive and
were taken into foster custody until their medical conditions were
diagnosed.
Powell, Dannye Romine, ed. Parting the Curtains. Anchor Books,
Doubleday, 1994. Print.

What a wonderful find this book was. My grandparents loaned it

to me on vacation, and I burned through it. Powell went on a hunt in
the eighties and nineties looking for prodigious southern writers, and
she interviewed them. Including Angelou, Dickey, Welty, Gibbons,
Conroy, and many more. She talks with them about their personal
lives and inspirations, their day to day writing habits and processes,
and how their life has been, if theyve found success and happiness.
Many of these writers I know and look up to as great artists, and others
I did not know well, if at all. But it was motivational to read accounts of
other people who started from the bottom with nothing, and grew,
many times close to my own home, into the successful writers that
they are.
Van Cleave, Ryan G., and Todd James Pierce. Behind the Short Story:
From First to Final Draft. Pearson Education, Inc, 2007. Print.
Ive had this book for a couple years now, and it has been
extremely helpful in understanding the craft of writing, and hearing
from successful authors how these stories came about and their
thoughts on the craft in general. It is enlightening to hear the process
of writing the story after just reading it. The book offers several
magnificent stories and commentary, and trace the outline of story
writing, from conceptualizing, to writing, to editing, and to finishing,
and everything in between. This book has been a great teaching tool,
and Ive picked up and ignored many tips from its pages. As with any
advice, you can pick and choose what helps you best.