Fear

Every now and then I find myself saying "I love pretty much everything about writing except for *insert dreaded thing here*." Usually that "dreaded thing" has to do with selling a project. 

FREX: I hate research markets.
I hate finding new markets.
I hate writing log-lines.
I hate writing query letters.
I hate writing synopsis.

I think you get my drift.

Yesterday I was working on a synopsis for The Steampunk Novel. I'd written one a few months ago and it sucked. I mean, it was okay, but with the recent revisions it needed changes and I'd thought from the start it seemed a little bit long so I figured I'd grit my teeth and write a new one. With much complaining. Because, you know, I hate writing a synopsis.

As I worked on it this little thing in the back of my brain started to ponder my dislike of this part of the process. It reminded me I'd done a similar round of teeth-gnashing and complaining both when writing a log-line and while trying to draft a query letter. Why was that?

I told the little thing to shut up. I was busy.
I finished the synopsis - totally and completely certain that it sucked in a very unpleasant way - and took a break to eat dinner. (IMPORTANT NOTE: Trying to write anything while hungry and tired is probably not one's best idea.) I got something to eat. Spent some time with my family, then came back to the synopsis.

Amazement of amazements, it didn't suck. It needed a few tweaks (which I made) but it was nowhere near as horrible as I had thought whilst writing it.

And then something clicked.
My hatred of log-lines/synopsis/query letters/market research grew out of a very quiet sense of fear.
Sure, there was the fear that all my hard work writing The Steampunk Novel would be lost if I didn't have a killer query with which to pitch it. The fear that the synopsis would not reflect the really interesting aspects or voice of the book. But beyond that was a deeper, more personal fear.

Suppose the query worked? Suppose I got a request for a partial?*** Suppose an agent read my first chapters/150 pages/whatever and DIDN'T LIKE THE WRITING? What if my wordcraft was bad? What if the thing I'd loved so much and put so much energy into... sucked?

I've spent four years trying to get over the idea that what I write isn't worth much. Four years focused on practicing my craft in the hopes that I would get better. That I would gain confidence. That I would get good at writing.

Along the way I'd conquered a series of things that I "hated". (Finishing stories. Editing stories. Finding a market. Dealing with rejections. And so on.) One by one I'd put them behind me until the only things that stood between me and selling my novel (well, finding representation for my novel and THEN selling it) were the query letter and synopsis.

I hated them. I doubted my ability to make the book sound interesting. I doubted my ability to be succinct.
I doubted the value of the story I had told. I doubted my ability to tell a story, period.

That, you see, was the whole problem. Doubt.
FEAR.
The gut-wrenching, mouth-drying, palm-sweating fear that after all this time I still wouldn't be any good at this thing that I love so much.

And that's when I realized I don't have to "hate" any of it. All of that angst and blather about "hating " was just a smoke screen for my insecurity. And there was only one thing to do. 

DO IT ANYWAY.

I wrote a lot of short stories before I discovered Write 1, Sub 1 and used that as an excuse to start sending things out. I started a lot (A LOT!) of novels before I found NaNoWriMo and used that as an excuse to write the first draft of The Steampunk Novel. The only thing that changed between the short stories I wrote and shelved and the ones I submitted was that I submitted them anyway. Even when I was CERTAIN they sucked. (And the ones I thought sucked the most, sold the fastest.)

The only thing that changed between the dozens (yes, dozens) of novels I started and never got past the first 50 pages and the two that I've finished is that I didn't stop when I thought the book sucked. And then I went back and fixed the parts that weren't good. Even when I was CERTAIN it was a waste of time.

So, my (very long) piece of advice for today is: DO IT ANYWAY.
Whatever that writing related thing is that you "hate" (drafting/editing/querying/outlining/writing)... DO IT ANYWAY. 

DO IT ANYWAY.

*** Which, incidentally, I have. So much for thinking my query letters are shite.

NaNoWriMo 2012

The National Novel Writing Month begins on Thursday. I do not have aspirations to win this year. I mean, I'd like to win. I'll try to win. But due to a new writing schedule I only write on Sundays. While there are four Sundays in November, I would have to write 12.5k words per Sunday in order to reach 50k by the end of the month. Somehow, I doubt that will happen.

However, I'm still going to write as much as I can once I finish the last edits on The Steampunk Novel. (Which is moving along smoothly, but still has some work to be done.)

The new project is another genre-masher. A little bit of space-opera, a healthy dose of steampunk, a pinch of super-hero epic, a sprinkle of romance with a hint of sociological speculation. I'm really excited about it.

I'm also trying out the method proposed in Save The Cat of starting with a logline as the basis of any outline and subsequent pages. (Since loglines are basically "hooky" short synopses, it's a pretty solid idea. Start from a short summary and expand as you go.)

Here's what I have so far: When Delian, a disgraced warrior with psionic abilities, crashes on the steam-age planet of Ossia all she wants is to let her mind and body heal. But Jakob Halter – the crippled mechanic who rescued her from death - has different aspirations for the physically and mentally extraordinary woman from the stars.

It's not a perfect logline, but it's certainly enough to get me started. (The ideas have already been poking their heads in and I'm having to beat them away with a stick 'til November 1st gets here.)

So, here's to new projects and working my arse off!

Focus

I've mentioned before that I like to work on multiple projects at once. Multi-tasking you might call it. Or scatterbrained. But it's worked pretty well for me.


Until it hasn't.


After several months of turmoil (both internal and external) I have come to a decision: I will not work on anything other than The Novel until it is finished and in the hands of an agent. (That could, admittedly, be a while, but all the more reason to go at it hard.)


There are a couple of exceptions to this rule.

1) I have been working very hard on a story for The Beast Within 4 anthology. My story might suck, but I've been working hard. And I will edit and submit it and let the rest handle itself.


2) I will also continue to sub/resub everything currently on rotation. I might (if I get really stuck on The Novel) edit a couple of things that were in sub rotation but were pulled because I felt they needed more work. MIGHT. But that's a little unlikely.


In the meantime, The Novel is a little over half-way finished and the rest of it is more or less outlined. All I have to do is: Write It. Edit for the numerous typos that have grown over the past months I've been working on it haphazardly. Find agents that interest me. Query the hell out of The Novel until I find someone as excited about it as I am.


Simple yes? (That's what I keep telling myself so it must be true.)

Lessons Learned Making Sweet Pickle Relish

1. Start with a Recipe...


I like outlines. They give me a chance to see if the mechanics of a story will work. It's in the outline that I usually see (and try to fix) the biggest issues with plot. Depending on the story I may have a very detailed outline or a very vague outline. But I've never written a story that I didn't have some idea from the get-go where I wanted it to end. Know what you're trying to accomplish before you start.


2. ...But Don't Be Afraid to Improvise


Even when I pre-plan a story, even when I outline in minute detail, I always hit a point where I just start making shit up. Maybe it's adding a scene I hadn't anticipated. Or turning the entire plot in a different direction because my Main Character turned out to be more of a coward than I had anticipated. Even when I think I know where things are headed, there is always room for change. Don't be afraid to put The Plan to one side and go with your gut.



3. No Matter How You Slice Them, The Onions Will Make You Cry


Every author enjoys some part of the writing process and HATES some other part. For some of us it's trying to finish that all important First Draft. For some of us it's looking at that messy First Draft and figuring out how to make it better. For some of us (me) it's the nit-picky line-editing stage. (Typos are the bane of my existence. And commas. And making sure that every word that should be in a sentence actually is.) For some it's the process of selling a story. But no matter which part you dread, if you want a readable, sellable and published story you have to wipe the tears off your cheeks and muscle through.


4. Even If You Don't LOVE Something, You Can Still Make it Well


I'm a big believer in writing what you love. But (BUT!) I do think it's possible to write a story that you are not completely enamored with and still produce a solid piece of fiction. I say this for two reasons. 1) You may - at some future point - be asked to edit or rewrite something in a way that was not how you first envisioned it. Have faith. You are capable of making changes to suit the needs of someone else. Even if it's not how you would do it. (Of course, whether you want the sale badly enough to do this is a whole 'nother discussion.) 2) You will - if not now, then later - have a story or two that you just don't like as well as the others you have written. This doesn't mean they aren't any good or that they aren't sellable. Trust your skills and submit that puppy 'til it's published. (So far, three of my five sales were stories I wasn't "sure" about.)

5. Getting It Right Takes Time

Some things you just can't rush. I'd like to say that as I've improved as a writer, my ability to turn out stories every week/month has gotten smoother, more dependable. Alas, that is not the case. My ability to tell stories has improved. So has my ability to sit down and write when I say it's time to write. (No more hanging around waiting on that damned muse to strike.) But writing is still work. It still takes effort. Finishing a story can still take weeks. (Or months.) That's okay. Some things come together quickly and others require a more elaborate process, but getting it right is worth the effort.

A Map to Hidden Treasure: Creating an Outline - The Creative Process: Part Six

So, I talked about Pantsing your novel. Now it's time to discuss the idea of an Outline. The big complaint about outlines is that they "restrict" an author's creativity and produce a stale story.

I once attended a (really fantastic) screen writing conference. While I was there I attended a class on writing adaptations. The man hosting the class said something very important that I have consistently applied to my use of outlines (and not just my approach to adapting novels into screenplays). He said when he started an adaptation he would read the book over and over, at least five or six times, making notes about the themes that really appealed to him, getting to know the characters and their motivations inside and out, learning the twists and turns of the plot like the back of his hand. Then he would put the book on the shelf and write his screenplay without looking at the book again until the first draft was done.

I do the same with my outlines. Why? Because just like screenplays and novels are different creatures, outlines and novels are different creatures. An outline is a tool that is part of a method that builds a Plot gradually. As a tool it should be used when it is useful and ignored when it isn't.

"Well," you say. "I guess I could try it. But aren't outlines complicated?"

Sometimes, but they don't have to be. Here are the components of a successful outline: a Beginning, a Middle, and an End. That could be a single sentence for each part or a paragraph or a detailed twenty page bulleted list of every important plot-point. The key here is: whatever works best for you.

I like to sketch out the main beats of each chapter in my outline. Here's an example.

1.
Keiran Fennel comes to the zeppelin port seeking passage to London
Despite the threatening weather he sets off with the crew of The Hind
Part way through the crossing the weather turns violent
Captain Hart enlists Keiran's help stoking the engines in the hope the ship can outrun the storm
While in the engine room Keiran sees his father's shade
The shade indicates that he (Keiran should go out on the upper deck)
Captain Hart tells Keiran it's dangerous and he's likely to go over the edge
Keiran insists, says it may the only thing that will save the ship
Hart is reluctant but is not in a position to argue
Keiran goes out on the upper deck
A brief conversation with the shade who points out a shape in the storm that is not natural
Keiran struggles with the monster (aerolis?) and succeeds in driving it away before being overcome with exhaustion

2.
Keiran wakes to find that The Hind has reached London
Captain Hart talks with him a bit, says he saved the ship and the crew
Three other zeppelins were lost in the storm
Keiran tries to play it off, pretend that he had nothing to do with the safe passage but Hart tells him he saw the storm monster
Hart wants to know if Keiran knows why the monster was there in the first place but Keiran tells him he has no idea
He does say that The Hind was likely not the target as they were only on the outer edge of the storm and the monster retreated quickly when attacked
Hart agrees and he tells Keiran that when he wants to return to Eire he should seek them out and The Hind will give him free passage back
Keiran thanks him for the offer but says he doesn't know how long he will be in London, perhaps a day or so, perhaps weeks
Keiran collects his bag and departs The Hind

In total that outline was about nine pages. Every chapter was sketched out and it took me about three days to work through the whole thing.

"Nine pages! Three days! But that's too long," you say.

True, three days is a big chunk of time. Especially when the Big Shiny Idea is banging on the door begging you to just start writing already. But that three days saved me countless hours of staring at the screen trying to figure out how to get my Plot back on track. For me, it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. Because I've tried it out and I know that having an outline saves me more time in the long run. If it didn't, I wouldn't keep using them.

"All right. I see your point," you admit. "But what about that organic energy you mentioned about Pantsing? Doesn't the outline kill that?"

Now we come back to my opening anecdote. Outlines can be restrictive. But they don't have to be. If you get to a point where it seems like the story wants to go in a different direction you have a choice: keep writing according to the outline or follow the new path. This is not any different than writing without an outline. You will always have moments where you realize the story could go differently. And you have to make a choice about which path you want to take. Whether it's the one highlighted on your map/outline or just a fork in your mental road.

An outline shows you one way to get from Point A (the Beginning) to Point C (the End) while passing through Point B (the Middle). But it doesn't show you every way.

So. If you feel like trying something different, here's the way to begin an outline. Figure out where the Plot starts (remember this may not be the same point as the beginning of the Story) and write that down. A good Beginning should give the reader some sign or clue about your MC's normal life plus drop them into a situation that is outside their normal experience that presents them with a problem.

Next, consider how that situation (usually referred to as The Inciting Incident) will effect your MC's life. What will they do next? Is there a possible resolution to the problem they are facing.

FREX: Your MC is framed for murder. A possible resolution is that they find the true killer. Now you have a Beginning and a possible End. How do they get from Point A to Point C? Hire a detective. Investigate the murder themselves. There are a number of possibilities about what happens in the Middle. Write them all down. Then see if any sort of pattern or order suggests itself.

The amount of detail you put into the outline depends on how much you feel is necessary for you to start writing your rough draft. I find lots of detail helpful. You may need only a paragraph to get the gears turning.

Remember what I said about digging the Story out of your head? Well, just like asking questions about your characters, the outline is meant to get you thinking about how the characters will solve their big dilemma and what's at stake if they fail. As you figure out how they'll try and make things right you'll start to see how the story can progress.

One final thought about outlines. I like to think of them as a very rough draft. It's like the draft of the story before I start adding all the frills like dialogue and narrative and description.

What about you? Do you like to spell out every chapter? Hit the main turning points? Maybe your outline is just a logline that says "Punk girl discovers industrial conspiracy and teams up with washed cop to reveal the truth before the whole planet starting mutating into frogs." Or something. What do you need to know about a story before you start writing?

Plot and Story: The Creative Process - Part Four

So, you have a Big Shiny Idea. You might even have some idea of the characters that go with that idea. Now it's time to start considering the story. (Noting again that sometimes the story comes up first. No big deal. Story and characters are like yin and yang: neither can be fully developed without having a bit of the other in the mix.)

In order to truly discuss the development of story I'm going to look at the eternal Outline vs Pantsing debate. But not in this post. First I want to discuss the (somewhat semantic) difference between Plot and Story.

For some of you, Plot and Story may be the same thing. That's cool. But in order to maintain my own sanity I separate the two. So, to make it clear in further discussions about my creative process what the hell I'm talking about, I'll explain.

Story is the... story. But in terms of a novel the story means all the stuff that happens before page one. The backstory for the characters. The history of the world. It also includes all the stuff that happens between chapters; the stuff that may not be interesting enough to make it into the Plot, but still has a bearing on how/what the characters are doing what they're doing.

Plot is the series of events that begins on page one and ends at THE END. It is all the stuff that is in your novel but none of the stuff that is not.

Confused? Yeah, me too. (Kidding.) The point is this: Plot and Story are not necessarily the same thing. Plot means that every word has a purpose and moves your characters forward to the climax of a specific series of events. Story is all of that, plus the villain's story, what your MC had for lunch with his girlfriend, where he was born and all the bits that make up the world in your head.

Of course, the trick is figuring out where the Plot separates from the Story. The general rule of thumb is that anything that doesn't move the characters forward (and that doesn't necessarily mean they keep moving toward their goal, but they have to keep moving) shouldn't be part of the novel. But the specifics get muddy. We'll talk about that in more detail once we get to the mechanics of writing drafts.

In the meantime, how do you distinguish Plot from Story?

The Big O (and by "O" I mean Outline)

The debate always rages whether it is better to outline or just wing it. Many authors complain that outlining stifles creativity and prevents the organic growth of their storytelling. Others (myself included) find that trying to keep track of a novel-length work without an outline leads to millions of subplots and no resolution to our Main Character's story.

The heart of the problem lies in a misconception about what an outline for a piece of fiction should look like. We've all learned the numbered/lettered/bullet-pointed outlines taught in high school. And for most of us trying to apply that framework to a novel idea seems awkward.

However, that doesn't mean an outline of your story is useless or impossible. We simply need to start thinking about a fiction outline differently than a non-fiction outline. Personally, I prefer to think of outlines as a road map. I highlight the route I think I should take, but make notes about possible detours and side-trips that may prove useful. Nothing is set in stone.

Writing an outline is a bit like writing a very rough draft of your novel, a pre-draft if you like. The outline shows you the most important points of your story, gives you some idea of its structure and helps you plot the growth of your characters. When you write the next draft you can always revise, adding material where it's needed and cutting out parts that are redundant or just plain don't work.

This “pre-draft” should help you organize your ideas into a cohesive whole so that when you begin the rough/first draft of your novel you can let the imagination run wild and not worry about forgetting some important point or that clever bit of dialogue that popped into your head whilst weeding the garden.

“All right,” you say. “I'll give it a shot. But how do I write an outline for a novel?”

Like pretty much everything else writing related, do what works for you. You might have to try a few (or a lot of) different things before you find the right method for you. And you may find that the “right” method will vary from project to project.

Here are a few ideas to help you get started.

Index Cards
Every plot point gets a card. Cards are then laid out in order from beginning to end of story. This is especially useful if you have ideas for scenes but no clear notion of which should come first because the cards are easy to shuffle. Additional notes can be written on the card as well. For example:
John Receives a Letter From Nina ← plot point
He realizes he still loves her. This is what prompts him to take pack up his stuff and go find her.

Summary
Write a page or five summarizing the story from beginning to end. Include as many details as you feel are pertinent. You might try a paragraph per chapter. Or a single paragraph for the beginning, middle and end, respectively. This method is good if you prefer a more stream-of-consciousness approach to developing your story idea.

Bullet-point/Numbered
Make a list of the most important points in your plot. Add points as necessary to fill in gaps so that the beginning of the story flows into the middle which flows into the end. Subpoints may be added to clarify more complex actions. In general, one action (or beat) should be one point. This method allows you to see the bones of the story very quickly and if you already have a good idea about how the story will flow usually takes only a very short time to write out.

There are other methods to be explored (mind-mapping, napkins, spreadsheets) but, in my experience, they are mostly variations on these three. Each method has advantages and each will appeal to different writers in different ways. I usually go with the bullet-point approach, but I've used both the summary method and the index card method as well depending on the situation.

A little bit of experimentation and you should find a method that works for you.

A new month, a new outline.

In November of 2008 I participated in The National Novel Writing Month. In short it is an exercise in prolific-ness. (Yeah, I know that's not a word.) The goal is to write 50,000 words between midnight November 1 -30. (Preferably words which make up a novel in part or in whole.) Which I did.

After not getting much done in December I started rewriting the rough draft a little more earnestly in January. However, it was not long before I realized there were some incredibly dull parts and a few big plot holes.

So, I sat back to consider how I might fix those issues. Finally, as I worked on fleshing out the storyline for a supporting character, I realized that the new direction his story was taking me was fixing up the storyline for my main character. Brilliant!

I now have twenty chapters outlined and have started roughing out the new version. It sucks having to start over nearly from scratch but this version is much better. Not perfect but the plot holds together and flows much more naturally.

I'll post updates and excerpts as they become available.

a.g.c.