Outlining a Novel

Hi, guys!

Sorry I've been strangely absent so far this week. Yesterday I was attacked by killer clam sauce (I found out I was allergic to shellfish yet neglected to realize that Chinese food = clam sauce = death) and was too high on benedryl to type coherently.

Yet I have recovered, and hope to shed some light on the topic of Outlining today.

People fear the Outline, but are drawn to its elusive promises of "being better organized."

As an outliner, I'm here to tell you, it's not just a myth. It really helps (me, that is).

Here's how I do it:

1) I always start with the basic idea, whatever it is, and then think "How will this novel end?" It always starts with the end. How can you get where you're going if you don't know where you want to go?

Let's say my idea is about Flying Zombies. Where's the story there? Flying zombies change their lives for love and become lawyers with creepy skeletal wings. Good stuff!

2) Now that I've got my ending, I start mulling over whose story this is. I think about characters: who they are they and why are they going to end up the way that they are?
I like to write down a list of facts about the characters so I can keep them straight as I go along.

Ned was a nerdy high school student on his way to Harvard when he was bitten by a monkey and became Undead. Bummer. Ned has brown hair, is 6'3", and likes water polo.

3) Now that I know a little about my characters, I have to figure out how they get from the start to the end that I've created. This is the fun part for me, because I get to figure out how to toture my characters and put in lots of delicous conflict.

Ned meets Stacy while trying to bite her on the face in the subway.

She sues him, and he goes to jail where he is picked on for being Undead.

The government experiments on him while he's there, giving him skeleton wings.

He finds his way out, only to shamble into Stacy again in a bakery.

He wants revenge.

They fight.

They fall in love.

She gets hit by a bus.

He goes to law school to honor her memory.

He is discriminated against, since he's Undead, and devours the dean.

He passes the bar with "flying" colors.

The end.

4) Chill out. Yes, the last and most overlooked step to outlining is TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT. It's just a place to start. Everything is negotiable! Like Captain Barbosa said, they're more like "guidelines" than rules.

If you think of the Outline as a way to get started and keep yourself on track, it won't drag you down. Remember that you can cross out and add all you want along the way.

Zombie in prison not working for you? BAM! Ned the Zombie is kidnapped by neo-nazis instead.

Easy as that.

I have always seen an outline as a way for me to write from the hip but not get completely lost as I go.

So what do you think? Are you an outliner? Do you write solely from the hip?

I'd love to hear your ideas and tips!

WIP Wednesday: Dialogue Only!

My brain is fried right now when it comes to revising my manuscript, and my lovely friends over at QueryTracker suggested writing something else...anything else to get the juices flowing again.

So I decided to take part in Elana J's Dialogue Smackdown Extreme Scene Challeeeeenge! (as said by the "let's get ready to RUMBLE!" guy). Woo hoo!

On her blog Tuesday Elana threw down the Gauntlet o' Gab and challenged us to write a scene using all (or mostly) dialogue.


Well, BOOYAH GRANDMA! I'm up to the challenge!

Here is my entry below, touchingly entitled "You've Stolen my Heart, and it's Still Beating."

Enjoy:


“Me want braaaaaaaaaaaaains,” said Ted, lifting a flaking hand up to paw at the struggling man beneath his knees.

“Me also want braaaaains,” said Nancy. Their whitened eyes met over the accountant’s sweating forehead.

“You… you like brains, too?”

“Yes. Yes me also like brains great deaaaaal.”

If Ted had a pulse, it would have quickened.

“You come to here ofteeeen?”

“Braaaaaaaains here. Just found place. Blood smell from fat man goooood.”

Ted nodded, shaking his dangling ear loose. It hit the accountant in the face and he screeched.

“Fat man taste better.”

“Yes, fat goooood.”

“You eat first braaaaains.” Ted cracked a winning smile, a trickle of blood glistening on his purple lips.
“Ohhhhhh, no. No, you eat brains. You hold him down first. Brains for youuu.”

“Um, excuse me,” the accountant said. “Um, would you two like to be alone?”

“You eat braaaaains. I insiiiiist.”

“You sweet. Sweet like braaaaaaains.” Nancy touched his hand, her yellowing nails scratching him lightly.

“You smell nice. Nicer than fat man.”

They leaned forward, crushing the accountant in a shambling embrace.

Awwww... Zombie Love! Is there any greater force in the universe?

So, now I'd like to see yours if you're wo/man enough to try it! ;)

WHO'S GONNA STEP UP?

Progress Update!

Hi, All,

I hope this evening finds you well! Yes, it's that time again--time for an update so I can show you that I'm not just a slacker, blogging away all of my writing time ;).

This week I've been going nuts on my revisions (in a good way), and feel like I've been accomplishing a lot. Have any of you ever noticed that when you add a new scene to beef up your story that it comes out about 10 times stronger than your "first draft" writing? What's up with that? I think it must have something to do with the fact that I know how the story goes, unlike when I was writing the rest. I know how it starts, ends, everyone's motivations, and most importantly exactly what I want to add to that part of the story.

I once read somewhere someone saying "I'm not a good writer, but I'm a great re-writer." I really feel that way this week, and it's encouraging. Also, it's encouraging that no one has to get it right the first time.

Here are some other great quotes to sum up my week:

"The waste basket is the writer's best friend." --Isaac Bashevis Singer

"The writer, when he is also an artist, is someone who admits what others don't dare reveal." --Elia Kazan

"Even the best writer has to erase." --Spanish proverb

"The role of a writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say." --Anais Nin

Hooray for the DELETE key, that keeps us all grounded! Isn't it nice to know that all writers both strive for the same outcome that we do, and struggle along the way?

I've also been blessed with the challenge of critiquing other people's manuscripts, which is just a lot of fun, and a great way to procrastinate. All in all, I've been a busy gal, and loving every minute of it.

I'd love to hear from you guys what you're up to with any works in progress!

Happy Wednesday!

Progress update!

Hello, All,

This is my first attempt at blogging so.... be gentle.

I feel like I should tell you a little about myself and what I hope to accomplish with this blog. I've just finished my first novel, and am trying to join the wonderful world of The Published Author. However, now I have a new and daunting task: I have to make more novels!

My goals with this blog are to keep myself accountable by blogging about how the writing's going, and also give you writers who are on the same path a look at how another of your kind works, lives, and keeps from slipping into the abyss of "no one will ever publish me, maybe I should just dig ditches for a living."

My finished novel is a 92,000 word quest fantasy called LEGACY OF THE EMPRESS about an 18 year old girl imprisoned in her mother’s castle for over a decade. She escapes using a book of magic, and realizing the dark magic that corrupted her family is spreading throughout the kingdoms of her land, journeys to find an imprisoned Empress who banished the same dark power centuries before. As she faces the darkness in herself, she realizes that saving the land she loves may ultimately mean watching it burn.

The novel I'm working on now currently doesn't have a name, but is more of a post-apocalyptic fantasy involving a city with mile-high buildings, giant plague rats, and zombies. Right now, I've only got an outline and 13 pages, but hey, you have to start somewhere.

I would love for this to be a forum where writers, new and published, can get together to share tips, questions, theories, etc. This is a blog for all of us--go for it!

I'd love to hear from you.

After all, if we writers love anything in this world, it's procrastination.