Infinisomnia-1

As the saying goes: you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

The first episode of a series is always something special. The main characters are unfamiliar, as is the story. Everything has to come together first. To make matters more difficult, the first pages must already hook the reader. Otherwise, the book quickly ends up with the other tsundoku, possibly forever.

With the episode “Tear of the Desert”, I made my debut as an amateur author. A short crime novel of about 8,300 words. What you can’t see in the story is over two years of preparatory work that I had already put into the overall concept of Infinisomnia, character development, polishing the writing style, and the overarching plot.

This first episode also offered a unique opportunity that I couldn’t pass up.

But first things first…

The Plot

Car mechanic Dian falls asleep on the sofa at home after an exhausting day, and wakes up in the cubicle of a train toilet. He doesn’t know how he got there or why everyone is suddenly calling him Lacombe. In a compartment, he meets Miray, a traveller who is also trapped in this bizarre dream.

They find out that there is a thief on the train who is fleeing with a stolen diamond. No one knows what he looks like. Suspicion quickly falls on a fellow passenger. But is he really the thief they are looking for, or does the mysterious Miray merely want to deflect suspicion from herself?

The Setting

The episode is set on the Orient Express in March 1909. Originally, I planned a completely different location for Dian and Miray’s first meeting; the Orient Express only played a supporting role. But I liked the setting so much that I dedicated the entire first episode to it. It already shows the full potential of dream travel to different eras and places, which will accompany us in the coming episodes.

Besides, what could better symbolise the first journey than that famous luxury train?

The Protagonists

For this project, I took a classic as a model, namely the Sherlock Holmes short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. They are about arguably the most famous fictional detective Holmes and his loyal companion and chronicler, Dr Watson.

I find the division brilliant. Watson serves as the narrator of their shared adventures; the stories are (with a few exceptions) written from his own perspective. Watson is no genius, nowhere near as much as Holmes, but he is friendly, open, and reliable – a character the reader can easily identify with. Holmes is the central figure of the novels, yet he always remains somewhat mysterious, closed-off, and stubborn.

I borrowed this constellation, modernised it, and spiced it up with a bit of humour and romance.

Dian takes on the role of Dr Watson. He is the narrator, a sympathetic, self-deprecating, occasionally somewhat naive young man. He provides a good figure for identification.

Miray corresponds to Holmes. She is smart, persistent, cheeky, but also closed-off and mysterious.

In contrast to the Holmes stories, which can basically be read in any order, the image of Miray will evolve. The all-too-perfect façade from the first episode will soon get its first cracks.

And the special feature I mentioned at the beginning?

In this first episode, not only the reader but also Dian meets his future companion for the first time. An ideal time to sow seeds of doubt: is Miray really the heroine hunting the thief alongside Dian? Or is she merely using Dian to deflect suspicion from herself?

The Dream World

In this episode, Dian learns the basic mechanics of travelling to the dream worlds. He reaches them in his sleep. They feel like a dream, yet completely real.

And waking up? That only happens once an adventure has been completed and a green circle appears on the wrist.

What have I learnt?

Hmm… what did I learn in the first short novel that I actually published?

I would say I learnt to narrate an entire short novel from beginning to end.

Linguistically, I actually thought it was quite good at first. Then I read numerous writing guides and wrote two more episodes before realising in hindsight that a good novel needs more than stringing together pleasant-sounding and grammatically correct sentences.

The first episode is now available in a completely revised “Version 2”. The writing style already fits better with the later episodes. I also improved various scenes, for example, the one where Miray and Dian break out of the compartment. In the original draft, Dian pretended to faint and Miray called for help. But this trick is so old that probably even a conducteur from 1909 would have seen right through it. The new trick is more creative and lets Dian shine in his capacity as a mechanic.

Afterwards, I treated this new version to professional editing. The truly excellent feedback is sitting on my hard drive waiting to be incorporated. Then there will even be a third version of this first episode.

I was surprised that many readers consider Dian to be the central hero of the story. After all, this constellation worked for Holmes and Watson too; one doesn’t talk about “Dr Watson and the detective”, but about “Holmes and his chronicler”. I finally found the explanation for this in a writing guide: readers automatically consider the first person in the novel to be the hero or heroine.

Well, beginner’s mistake. 😂