Alpennia Blog: When it works, it works
Nov. 10th, 2015 09:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hrjRemind me, for future reference, that what works to get words down on paper--even when my brain is fuzzy and the outline is sketchy and the pacing feels slow--is the following:
1. Just before going to bed, look at the current chapter file and fix in my mind what the next scene is about. Think about two or three specific things that will happen in it.
2. On the morning drive, dictate how those events play out. It's ok if it's mostly dialog and stage directions, but it's also ok to get some backstory and description in if at all possible. It's also perfectly ok to interrupt the flow and say things like, "Note: back in chapter 8 I need to set this up more clearly. Serafina needs to have a previous meeting with K where they have problems with this technique that are being alluded to here."
3. In the coffee shop, before doing anything else on the laptop, transcribe that dictation. Smooth it out a little, but it's ok if there are bridging gaps that have notes like "finish this" or "describe her" or "more of this". Leave any placeholders that would require research to fill in, even just names of minor characters.
4. On the weekend, fill in the placeholders, expand the gap-notes, and do a light editing pass over the whole.
5. Move on to the next chapter.
Numbers 4 and 5 needn't be done in that order. Currently my dictation seems to be getting a bit ahead of my cleaning up, which is absolutely fine, since the dictation is the harder part. I almost managed two chapters last week. This week I'll definitely get last week's partial and the next one finished. Possibly even more. It helps that we're moving into a section of the book with a bit more structured action.
On the previous books, various people have commented about having issues with the "pacing" and I think I know what they're complaining about, although some of the variation in pacing is intentional. Not everything in a story happens at the same speed and density, after all. But in Mother of Souls one of my big revision goals is going to be to cut out any sections that appear to be just marking time. The thing is long enough and complicated enough as it is. This may mean that chapter length will be quite variable, though that wouldn't really be anything new.
The other major task during revisions will be to make sure that all the plots are consistently present and move forward in a visible fashion while still feeling like all the characters and plots are braided together. All those minor characters and tangential subplots that might at first seem distracting need to be woven in, like the yarn-ends in a knitting project. They really are all necessary in some fashion, and not just because I'm setting things up for future books.
But after Mother of Souls those layered complications are going to loosen up a bit. I think I can guarantee that I'll never have this many point of view characters in a single book again. And I'll never have this many superficially-unrelated plots going on at once. By the end of this story, almost everything for the entire series will be set up in some fashion, though it might not be apparent to others yet.
One of the things that's helping me plan for more streamlined books is telling myself that it's ok to put some of the important development into shorter stories that fit in between the novels. There are some key things that Margerit will be doing in Alpennia when Barbara is off gallivanting across Europe in Mistress of Shadows. Originally, I was going to try to fit them both in the novel, with the point of view bouncing around all over the place, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Margerit's experiences weren't important to Mistress, only to the Alpennian cycle as a whole. Take them out. Allude to them in passing, but put them over *here* by themselves. Give her a little novelette to deal with them. Similarly for the *thing* that's going to happen between Anna Monterrez and *person* that sets up some of the politics for *situation*. It's going to be part of the framing events for Mistress of Shadows but might need it's own separate story to fill in the details. When this is all finished, it will be interesting to map out the in-story chronology and suggested reading order for the whole corpus. (For example, I'm already recommending to people that although "Three Nights at the Opera" occurs before Daughter of Mystery, it's best to read it afterward when you know who the characters are.)
In any event, I've officially gotten more than halfway through the outline for Mother of Souls, and the story has covered a year and a few months. There's a little over one more year's worth of story-time to go. But it feels like I'm picking up speed.
1. Just before going to bed, look at the current chapter file and fix in my mind what the next scene is about. Think about two or three specific things that will happen in it.
2. On the morning drive, dictate how those events play out. It's ok if it's mostly dialog and stage directions, but it's also ok to get some backstory and description in if at all possible. It's also perfectly ok to interrupt the flow and say things like, "Note: back in chapter 8 I need to set this up more clearly. Serafina needs to have a previous meeting with K where they have problems with this technique that are being alluded to here."
3. In the coffee shop, before doing anything else on the laptop, transcribe that dictation. Smooth it out a little, but it's ok if there are bridging gaps that have notes like "finish this" or "describe her" or "more of this". Leave any placeholders that would require research to fill in, even just names of minor characters.
4. On the weekend, fill in the placeholders, expand the gap-notes, and do a light editing pass over the whole.
5. Move on to the next chapter.
Numbers 4 and 5 needn't be done in that order. Currently my dictation seems to be getting a bit ahead of my cleaning up, which is absolutely fine, since the dictation is the harder part. I almost managed two chapters last week. This week I'll definitely get last week's partial and the next one finished. Possibly even more. It helps that we're moving into a section of the book with a bit more structured action.
On the previous books, various people have commented about having issues with the "pacing" and I think I know what they're complaining about, although some of the variation in pacing is intentional. Not everything in a story happens at the same speed and density, after all. But in Mother of Souls one of my big revision goals is going to be to cut out any sections that appear to be just marking time. The thing is long enough and complicated enough as it is. This may mean that chapter length will be quite variable, though that wouldn't really be anything new.
The other major task during revisions will be to make sure that all the plots are consistently present and move forward in a visible fashion while still feeling like all the characters and plots are braided together. All those minor characters and tangential subplots that might at first seem distracting need to be woven in, like the yarn-ends in a knitting project. They really are all necessary in some fashion, and not just because I'm setting things up for future books.
But after Mother of Souls those layered complications are going to loosen up a bit. I think I can guarantee that I'll never have this many point of view characters in a single book again. And I'll never have this many superficially-unrelated plots going on at once. By the end of this story, almost everything for the entire series will be set up in some fashion, though it might not be apparent to others yet.
One of the things that's helping me plan for more streamlined books is telling myself that it's ok to put some of the important development into shorter stories that fit in between the novels. There are some key things that Margerit will be doing in Alpennia when Barbara is off gallivanting across Europe in Mistress of Shadows. Originally, I was going to try to fit them both in the novel, with the point of view bouncing around all over the place, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Margerit's experiences weren't important to Mistress, only to the Alpennian cycle as a whole. Take them out. Allude to them in passing, but put them over *here* by themselves. Give her a little novelette to deal with them. Similarly for the *thing* that's going to happen between Anna Monterrez and *person* that sets up some of the politics for *situation*. It's going to be part of the framing events for Mistress of Shadows but might need it's own separate story to fill in the details. When this is all finished, it will be interesting to map out the in-story chronology and suggested reading order for the whole corpus. (For example, I'm already recommending to people that although "Three Nights at the Opera" occurs before Daughter of Mystery, it's best to read it afterward when you know who the characters are.)
In any event, I've officially gotten more than halfway through the outline for Mother of Souls, and the story has covered a year and a few months. There's a little over one more year's worth of story-time to go. But it feels like I'm picking up speed.
