What is the concept?

The picture above all but sums up the concept of my first novel: A work of historical fiction that depicts the Doolittle Raid of WWII in a manner best described as Thirty Seconds over Tokyo meets "Band of Brothers." The way Jimmy Doolittle and his men (along with USS Hornet captain Marc Mitscher) are posing in the shot is especially evocative of promotional pics of the cast of "Band" like the one pictured below in terms of mood and poise.

That is the basic concept, but what about the details? Well, for one thing, my novel will depict the raid in an unsentimental, reflective way that is even more accurate than Dalton Trumbo's screenplay for Thirty Seconds was. Like "Band," it will have an all-historical cast the reader gets to know pretty well as the saga is seen through their eyes. There will be no R-rated language in it, however; especially from the mouth of Jimmy Doolittle! (I recently learned he reprimanded people who swore in his presence.) 

Nevertheless, my novel will be action packed with gripping scenes of the bomb runs made by Doolittle's men over Japan on April 18, 1942, to harrowing scenes of escape and survival after Doolittle and the other historical characters in my cast reach China post-attack.   Finally, the novel will cover a relatively small chunk of time in the year 1942 with a prologue set in 1941 and an epilogue in 1945. 

My original draft covered a more sizable chunk of time post-attack, but it was trimmed severely as the concept came more into focus. This leads us to the lesson of this article: No matter how long it may take to figure it out, having a concept for your novel before starting is vitally important. It is not ever wise to jump blind when trying to write a novel, no matter what genre it is. 

First image courtesy Maritime Quest; second image courtesy 101 Airborne WW2.