NORTH to ALASKA
Second Edition
Unpublished - Manuscript is complete and edited
One of my readers suggested that North to Alaska would make a good movie. I thought about that doubtfully. There are no car chases or crashes and no gun battles. A little sex maybe, but that wouldn't sell a movie. And the story line is a bit too linear. There's one main character. The story follows him as he builds a boat and completes the race. All very interesting, but probably not worthy of a movie. But she disagreed and said that the cinematography alone would make the movie. And she was right. I see her point. The Inside Passage is probably the most stunningly beautiful waterway in North America. Majestic mountains line the route. Black bears and grizzly bears inhabit the slopes. The water is as dangerous as the mountains are beautiful. Currents shoot through the narrows at speeds up to 10 to 12 knots creating standing waves and whirlpools that effectively block passage until slack water. The mountains funnel and accelerate the wind to gale force or even higher. The drama that is the Inside Passage is worthy of a movie all by itself.
So, with all that in mind, I set out to rewrite North to Alaska to make it more worthy of a movie. I didn't write a screenplay; it's still a novel. But I feel excited about pitching this book at Pitchfest next year. I'd love to assist in writing the screenplay and even in the production of the movie.
I created three parallel story lines, each with about as much weight as the others. The characters are all in the original story, but two are barely mentioned. In order to keep the book to a reasonable size, I had to delete a lot from the original. Hali is still there, but her role is greatly diminished. I added her to appeal to female readers, so Claire would have to replace her. Much of Bobby's family dynamics are deleted. Bobby's role is reduced to be comparable to the other competitors. Claire and Damon's roles are greatly enhanced. And then I decided to rename Bobby to Nathan, and Claire to Kelsey. Both Kelsey and Damon are world class sailors, both have numerous national championship victories, and Kelsey is vying for the Olympics. Nathan has his hands full.
Kelsey became my favorite character. I made her a very strong, determined woman, with some weaknesses when it comes to relationships. I threw all sorts of misadventures at her, yet she shrugged them off and kept going. Damon is still doing the impossible and sailing a Flying Dutchman solo up the Inside Passage. He makes a few modifications to the boat to make that happen, but it's still an incredible feat. And Nathan sails Stradivarious, the boat that I still dream about building. I still believe that it is the perfect boat for a solo sailor doing this race. The story follows their individual decisions to do the race, all the tedious preparation, and the challenge of the race itself told from three different perspectives. The reader has no idea who will win until the last chapter. Now, I think we have a story worthy of a movie!