I spent a couple of hours outlining my next novel. I plan on using the Snowflake method again but I'm going about it a little sideways. Normally, you start with a one sentence description of the plot, then expand it to a paragraph, then to a page, etc. This time I decided I'm going to tell this story in 20 chapters. This is my attempt to prevent the kind of sprawl that afflicted my first two novels...I want to try to keep this at 90~100k words.
It was interesting. I wrote a paragraph for each chapter outlining what plot points I wanted in each one. As I went on, I kept asking myself "How can it get worse". For once, I'm going to deliberately try to torment my protagonists. Will that make the story stronger? I honestly don't know but it'll be interesting reading people's reaction to this when I get it done. (I'm tentatively projecting the rough draft to be done in June and then starting another Smooth Charles novel right after that.)
One thing for sure, it came out a little dark. Just writing the plot summary, my fingers paused like they didn't want to write the words. I'm not sure if that's a good sign or a bad sign. I guess I'll find out. We'll also find out if this attempt to impose structure will work or not.
Another thing, it was fun. I enjoyed writing even the outline.
I'm still hoping/waiting for novel-length feedback from my first readers. I'm anxious to get back to work on the final draft of Angel Odyssey. But I've been having second thoughts about some of the cuts and other shenanigans I made. I'm debating going back to my second draft, which is more raw, and seeing if I should go with that. Again, I should wait for feedback but I'm afraid that some of the world-building cuts I made has made the settings and the characters a little blah in comparison.
Finally, I signed up for the PNWA Conference in July. It was a big chunk of change, $400 and that was with my PNWA membership discount. Since I'm not going to be attending Clarion West this year, I thought I should do something more, career-wise.
It was interesting. I wrote a paragraph for each chapter outlining what plot points I wanted in each one. As I went on, I kept asking myself "How can it get worse". For once, I'm going to deliberately try to torment my protagonists. Will that make the story stronger? I honestly don't know but it'll be interesting reading people's reaction to this when I get it done. (I'm tentatively projecting the rough draft to be done in June and then starting another Smooth Charles novel right after that.)
One thing for sure, it came out a little dark. Just writing the plot summary, my fingers paused like they didn't want to write the words. I'm not sure if that's a good sign or a bad sign. I guess I'll find out. We'll also find out if this attempt to impose structure will work or not.
Another thing, it was fun. I enjoyed writing even the outline.
I'm still hoping/waiting for novel-length feedback from my first readers. I'm anxious to get back to work on the final draft of Angel Odyssey. But I've been having second thoughts about some of the cuts and other shenanigans I made. I'm debating going back to my second draft, which is more raw, and seeing if I should go with that. Again, I should wait for feedback but I'm afraid that some of the world-building cuts I made has made the settings and the characters a little blah in comparison.
Finally, I signed up for the PNWA Conference in July. It was a big chunk of change, $400 and that was with my PNWA membership discount. Since I'm not going to be attending Clarion West this year, I thought I should do something more, career-wise.
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