My upcoming book on fiction is an example of the old adage, write about what you know. Knowledge in this case is not just theoretical knowledge but also knowledge about life events.

The title of the book: Taking a Long Shot (And What if It Doesn’t Work Out)

The Points of View

The book is written predominantly from the subjective point of view of the main character. I also applied the subjective point of view of the antagonist. Adopting the subjective point of view of two different characters is referred to as a dual point-of-view. It is not as complicated as juggling the multiple points of view in my other books of fiction. (Refer to the page Other Books on Fiction.)

The Plot and How It Thickens

A long shot involves solving a problem with multiple levels of complexity, hoping to become someone despite insurmountable odds, or striving to achieve a task that requires physical strength or mental endurance—or both, or wanting to perfect this idea of coming up with a better product or service.

The protagonist’s long shot is an example of the latter. John Henry faced numerous hurdles after two decades of pursuing the perfection of his invention. I introduced the antagonist during the pre-preparation stage. He offers more destructive criticisms than constructive. He does not appear in person. Maybe he’s a figment of the main character’s imagination?

During the preparation stage, he took his master’s, his post master’s, and his doctorate to gain more knowledge to perfect the prototype. The antagonist also appeared here when John encountered a problem defending his thesis. It gave the hint that he seems to feed off his failures.

John realized his worst nightmare near the end of the innovation stage. He was denied his postdoctoral research to implement his medical device. He tried one more time with the same government agency after he found ways to improve his application. It took another year before he knew the result. But he was turned down again.

He had to try one more time. Too much was at stake. But he had to find a new sponsor from a university. His existing sponsor also gave up on him. After knocking on dozens of doors and giving the same sales pitch to different professors, he found someone who was interested; but when this potential sponsor took a closer look at the proposal a month later, he changed his mind. The reason was that it was too far-fetched. It occurred just a week before the application deadline. He could have told him that months ago. There was no time to find another sponsor. It was decades of work down the drain.

The antagonist appeared at an inopportune time to offset the advice and encouragement from John’s friends. He tried to contain his anger, but . . .

What did he do? Did he snap as the antagonist predicted (and hoped) he would? What the protagonist went through was based on my experience. So what did I do?

Answer: read my book.