Plotting and Planning for Penning
Oct. 30th, 2020 08:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hrjThe timing of pulling out my untitled regency romance novel file and deciding to work on the outline (and finally pull together character names) was such that I thought it might be fun to try NaNoWriMo this year. Normally November is an awkward month for writing projects because I usually spend a week in NYC and I find it difficult to focus on fiction while traveling. (I used to be able to do it, but brains change.) This plan is also the only hostage I'm offering to hope, because if the election goes bad, then all bets are off.
I have a complete, detailed outline, with each scene roughed out. 16 chapters, 47 scenes, 16 character sketches (some very minor characters). I'm treating this as an "exercise in writing differently" similarly to how Daughter of Mystery was an exercise. This time, it's an exercise in writing to formula. I took a "how to plot a romance novel" guide (which I found very aggravating and annoying when I read it) and adjusted, expanded, and rearranged the plot to match (roughly) its prescribed structure. I"m not taking the book's advice on certain aspects of character. (For example, I don't think that romance protagonists have to be "utterly broken with respect to romance" to make a good story. I don't think that they have to meet the one and only person in the universe who can "fill the hole in their heart".)
I probably have more non-romance plot than the formula suggests. And I'm introducing the first sex scene much later than is recommended (well, the first sex scene between the romantic protagonists). So there will still be plenty to complain about for those readers who expect a highly specific reading experience.
One of the tricky elements--something I've never found natural--is a leavening of comedy. I have one significant (but not romantic-protagonist) character who came to life when I decided he'd be a "devil may care young man about town suddenly deciding to do something more serious with his life" who manages to trip regularly while trying to do the right thing. And I have a Wise Spinster Aunt who will be crisply snarky just when my protagonists need pulling up. And I have at least one planned "must not let these two people bump into each other" farce scene. Now if only I can pull it off.
What I don't have yet is a title. Usually titles come to me fairly early in the story development process. But sometimes they come late. I didn't nail down the title for "Gifts Tell Truth" until I was getting ready to send it out to beta readers -- it spent a long time in a file labeled "Jeanne and the Spy". This time I have a file titled simply "Regency". I've started to get a few ideas but none has grabbed me by the throat yet. The Urchin and the Amazon is one. At some point I may open up to group brainstorming.
So, 16 chapters, 47 scenes. To draft the whole thing in November, that would be slightly over a scene and a half per day, or slightly more than a chapter every two days. I know the NaNo target is a specific word count, but I rather think this is going to end up longer than that minimum.
I have a complete, detailed outline, with each scene roughed out. 16 chapters, 47 scenes, 16 character sketches (some very minor characters). I'm treating this as an "exercise in writing differently" similarly to how Daughter of Mystery was an exercise. This time, it's an exercise in writing to formula. I took a "how to plot a romance novel" guide (which I found very aggravating and annoying when I read it) and adjusted, expanded, and rearranged the plot to match (roughly) its prescribed structure. I"m not taking the book's advice on certain aspects of character. (For example, I don't think that romance protagonists have to be "utterly broken with respect to romance" to make a good story. I don't think that they have to meet the one and only person in the universe who can "fill the hole in their heart".)
I probably have more non-romance plot than the formula suggests. And I'm introducing the first sex scene much later than is recommended (well, the first sex scene between the romantic protagonists). So there will still be plenty to complain about for those readers who expect a highly specific reading experience.
One of the tricky elements--something I've never found natural--is a leavening of comedy. I have one significant (but not romantic-protagonist) character who came to life when I decided he'd be a "devil may care young man about town suddenly deciding to do something more serious with his life" who manages to trip regularly while trying to do the right thing. And I have a Wise Spinster Aunt who will be crisply snarky just when my protagonists need pulling up. And I have at least one planned "must not let these two people bump into each other" farce scene. Now if only I can pull it off.
What I don't have yet is a title. Usually titles come to me fairly early in the story development process. But sometimes they come late. I didn't nail down the title for "Gifts Tell Truth" until I was getting ready to send it out to beta readers -- it spent a long time in a file labeled "Jeanne and the Spy". This time I have a file titled simply "Regency". I've started to get a few ideas but none has grabbed me by the throat yet. The Urchin and the Amazon is one. At some point I may open up to group brainstorming.
So, 16 chapters, 47 scenes. To draft the whole thing in November, that would be slightly over a scene and a half per day, or slightly more than a chapter every two days. I know the NaNo target is a specific word count, but I rather think this is going to end up longer than that minimum.
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