I have a working title, because I know the editor will probably have his own title, or something better may occur to me. But rather than call it the WIP, I came up with "Lava Lake."

I finally went for a walk yesterday. My favorite path is still pretty bad, but a mile of another path is clear, so I might just walk that route 4 times. Didn't really get many ideas, unfortunately. I'm still trying to figure out who the protagonist is, and who his friends are, and so on.

I think rather than get in trouble pretending to be an expert, I should have him be a wilderness journalist, not a guide. I don't want him to be either McGyver or Rambo, but a smidgen of both.

I thought of having him be a traditionalist. A single shot hunting rifle kind of guy, doesn't even own a pistol or shotgun, prefers catch-and-release fishing to killing things. Wouldn't be an expert on ordinance. Just an ordinary outdoorsman, like I was raised to be. Prefers to be outdoors, on hikes or camping trips.

I fished and hunted throughout Central Oregon in my youth, but I would never claim to be an expert. So I'll have him have friends who are experts. I'm thinking of a real back-to-nature guy who lives in the woods as his silent but deadly friend.

(Linda says, then HE becomes the hero. Nah, I'll kill him off...or some other reason he doesn't step to the fore; helps out but doesn't take over the story.)

I figure a wilderness journalist gives just enough expertise to be credible. Also allows for future stories.  As far as him getting out of trouble, I'd like that to be something that a guy like me would come up with a solution, rather than research about wilderness tricks and traps and ambushes or such. (Well, maybe a little.)

If I'm going to write a thriller, I'd rather not get bogged down by research, so I need to design the premise as something I can easily do. Besides, having a Rambo or McGyver has been done by everyone. (Super cops, detectives, spies...)I'd rather have a "everyman" hero, even if that isn't the preferred mode of protagonist.

I want to design this whole thing as something that works and is something I want to do.  This is for the long haul, a kind of different level of doing things. I may not get there, but I have to try. I usually come up with a premise for a book that I think is strong enough and just start writing.

I'm putting more pre-thought into this than normal, to hopefully save me future problems. Giving myself a couple of weeks to just think of ideas.