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Circular Stories

I was just wondering what you all thought of having circular stories for fantasy novels. The world I have created is based on our planet in the not too distant future. The story centers around events leading up to a rising of the mgical community. The main subject is a non-magical black ops military member who fails in his mission to stop the uprising so bad that he gets caught. The organization abandons him and he is branded a terrorist and is being trie in a civilian court (I chose this since that would be easier for me to research and deal with). The story is told through the questioning of both the prosecution and defense attornies. I plan on making it a trilogy with the breaks between the books being recesses for the court. I won't bog down the story with unneccesary trial proceedings.


This all just a concept so some of the details are up in the air. I literally thought about it an hour ago.
 
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Ravana

Istar
Not sure what you mean here by "circular," but I can give you one unrelated piece of advice:

Do a lot of research on trials. And I don't mean "read up on them," and I certainly don't mean "watch Court TV" (or, worse, Judge Judy… who would be removed from office if she tried running an actual court like that). Get down to your local court and sit in on the proceedings–I'm assuming you live in a country that has open courts, at least–for several hours a day, over several different days, ideally in more than one kind of court, so you can get a sense of what actual trials are like… which, for the most part, is "boring," for anyone who's never had the pleasure. Until you do that, you won't really know what is "unnecessary" and can be left out, though more to the point, you won't get a complete view of what you might want to include but that you will never learn about any other way. And unless you do that, there's probably little point in using a court setting at all: it won't ring true for anyone who has been inside a courtroom before, while, conversely, putting it in court will likely strike readers as "unnecessary"–that is, pointless–if you don't make considerable use of the setting.
 
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So far I have the courtroom setting being the place that drives the character developments and sets up for far flung future events. The court room also will be a commentary on certain hot button political issues surrounding American National secruity. (which BTW I am a natural born citizen of). As far as the research end goes I'll be good in that department...like three years worth of intensive research on rules good. I plan on going into law school to eventually become a professor/lawyer for a university.
 
I am not a fan of courtroom stories, they just seem preachy and disconnected from the real events. In addition, it is hard to develop an attachment to the protagonist, who we already know will survive any moral peril as he recounts his adventure.
 
It'd be a tricky situation in general. Most people associated courtrooms with being boring - at least IRL people. Look at Law & Order, a good part of the episode doesn't take place in court. And those scenes that do are only because they are necessary to the plot with virtually no actual courtroom proceedings.

To get back to my point, you don't want your readers to just yawn at the thought of your story. It sounds like a cool concept though. So, I'm paraphrasing my friend Paul from my irl writer's group, You don't want to preach to the audience, you want them, as they're walking out of the room to say, 'Damn! I learned something!'

People want to be entertained, so you have to sneak the morality in. So, all in all, you may want to focus your actual story on the exciting parts. However, that is just my suggestion, and you're free to do as you please.
 
The point of the Courtroom is a plot device to help advance the story and offer insight given by the MC. This courtroom setting though is as much the mortal peril as was the actual event leading to the courtroom. Perhaps this unfinished freewrite can help for some understanding. Here a man, a soldier though no one knew it, stood waiting for his arraignment hearing. It would be quick and painless he knew how it would play. Judge would ask how he would plead. He would plead not guilty. This trial was going to be fun.

Here a man, a soldier though no one knew it, stood waiting for his arraignment hearing. It would be quick and painless he knew how it would play. Judge would ask how he would plead. He would plead not guilty. This trial was going to be fun.

The Judge stood up and asked “Counsel how does your client plead?”

The attorney replied, “Not guilty.”

“Alright then. The scheduled date of start for the trial will be on October 30. Make good use of your time counsel.”

The defendant observed how appropriate this date was. It was on that day ten years ago when this whole debacle began for him. In his mind he cold hear the thud of all the helicopters taking off that day. He remembered the heat of the sun. The grit of the sand. All of those memories were coming back to him with perfect clarity. A benefit from his experiences.

Music was playing in his barracks. Some hard rock band from the 70s. He liked 70s music especially in the few seconds he had before he went on a mission. It was more like hours before a mission but still he felt like he only had seconds. The rest of his squad was here. By virtue of his rank he was their immediate commanding officer. There were four of them. Each one adept at their tasks. He knew their real names but now he had to use their call signs. Tech and Torch were twins and were amazingly gifted. Tech was their computer whiz give him the right gizmo and some time and he could break into any system.Torch who as you could guess was their demolitions expert. In the corner bunk sleeping was Reaper. At last count he had the most confirmed kills of anyone on this squad. Reading some stupid fantasy novel was Pike his Lieutenant and sniper. Finally there was of course himself. Sarge as they called him even though he was in fact a captain. That stupid nickname stuck with him ever since they started training with him when he was just a Sergeant. Still Sarge thought that all their call signs sucked so there was that consolation.
 

Ziggy

Scribe
I have seen this done in TV very effectively. Only time I've read a court case book was To Kill a Mocking bird, but don't think that's really what you're going for.

Basically in this TV show, the story gets told from the point of view of each character as they're cross examined. Most of the show was not actually in the courtroom, but followed the perspective of one character through the events as they recalled them.

I think it's important that the truth is ambiguous for the reader. There needs to be some moments when you think, "Shit, did he do it?" You really need to get into motive and reasonable doubt.

I don't really know how you can mix fantasy with a real life court though. Anything fantastical would obviously be dismissed by the court.

I don't think that you should make this more than one book. There needs to be resolution at the end of the book and I think having a court case that spreads over three books is really going to put people off.
 

Ravana

Istar
As far as the research end goes I'll be good in that department...like three years worth of intensive research on rules good. I plan on going into law school…

Which will only tell you what's supposed to happen in court. Theoretically. ;)

Which is why all legal programs (or at least all the ones worth anything) have requirements at some point or another that put the student into the actual courtroom environment. I'm guessing you may have already encountered some such requirements by now, and know what I'm talking about. (Though you say you "plan on" going to law school, not that you're already in it… so maybe you haven't.) If you haven't, do not believe that what you've learned through study has a whole lot to do with what happens inside the courtroom.

And, no, I'm not a lawyer. However, I have worked both at a law firm and at a municipal courthouse, so I can at least speak from informed opinion.

By the way, here's a website you might like–I wasn't going to suggest it originally, since it would probably hold little attraction for anyone who wasn't intensely interested in law. But since you are…:

Avalon Project - The International Military Tribunal for Germany

(Actually, the whole collection is pretty neat. This just popped to mind due to the intersection of military and law topics.)
 
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Eliazar

Scribe
Once upon a time, courtrooms seem to have been interesting. For the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925, people even erected new telegraph masts to cover it, if I remember correctly.

I think the story sound pretty interesting.
 
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