Chapter Two
I finished Chapter Two last night.
It happened in a flurry, just one of those chapters that wrote itself. I was excited to write it, and I knew I was excited to write the first part of it. It's a fun scene and I think it will amuse people.
But what made the chapter easy to write was something unexpected that happened. Without giving too much away, Bran had to make a choice half way through that on its surface means nothing to the reader -- and really meant nothing to me at the time. When I came to the choice, however, I saw an opportunity and put just a bit more thought into it.
At that exact moment, the choice took on a depth in the story I had not previous imagined. It was like a lightning strike, and with that energy guiding me I wrapped up the chapter very quickly.
This illustrates something that I feel is important for those naysayers of outlining: just because you think your story through before you sit down to write doesn't mean these creative moments don't hit you like an electrical storm. Every time I sit down, even though I have my outline, I still don't know what is going to happen when I start writing. I still get new dreams and thoughts while I write, and those are a spur of the moment thing that help grow the story in exciting and unfamiliar ways.
On a side note, the chapter is 3244 words. For those keeping track, the break down is:
Prologue: 3197 words
Chapter One: 4059 words
Chapter Two: 3244
As you can see, there is no rhyme or reason to it. Chapter One is longer simply because that is my introductory chapter of Bran and there is a lot going on in it. I might be able to weasel that one down in edits later though. The other two are, however, what I feel will be indicative for most of the book—far shorter chapters than what we saw in the epic fantasy.
Chapter Three is already outlined. I did it Sunday night when I outlined Chapter Two. I'll be getting on it tonight probably, since it is an action-packed chapter and I love writing those!
Hope all of your shopping is going well! Don't be stressed! And try to relax this time of the year! It's supposed to be fun.
It happened in a flurry, just one of those chapters that wrote itself. I was excited to write it, and I knew I was excited to write the first part of it. It's a fun scene and I think it will amuse people.
But what made the chapter easy to write was something unexpected that happened. Without giving too much away, Bran had to make a choice half way through that on its surface means nothing to the reader -- and really meant nothing to me at the time. When I came to the choice, however, I saw an opportunity and put just a bit more thought into it.
At that exact moment, the choice took on a depth in the story I had not previous imagined. It was like a lightning strike, and with that energy guiding me I wrapped up the chapter very quickly.
This illustrates something that I feel is important for those naysayers of outlining: just because you think your story through before you sit down to write doesn't mean these creative moments don't hit you like an electrical storm. Every time I sit down, even though I have my outline, I still don't know what is going to happen when I start writing. I still get new dreams and thoughts while I write, and those are a spur of the moment thing that help grow the story in exciting and unfamiliar ways.
On a side note, the chapter is 3244 words. For those keeping track, the break down is:
Prologue: 3197 words
Chapter One: 4059 words
Chapter Two: 3244
As you can see, there is no rhyme or reason to it. Chapter One is longer simply because that is my introductory chapter of Bran and there is a lot going on in it. I might be able to weasel that one down in edits later though. The other two are, however, what I feel will be indicative for most of the book—far shorter chapters than what we saw in the epic fantasy.
Chapter Three is already outlined. I did it Sunday night when I outlined Chapter Two. I'll be getting on it tonight probably, since it is an action-packed chapter and I love writing those!
Hope all of your shopping is going well! Don't be stressed! And try to relax this time of the year! It's supposed to be fun.
Labels: The Dagda King
posted by Shawn C. Speakman | 8:34 AM
4 Comments:
Shawn,
Question about your outlining.
How much outlining do you do before you actually start writing? Do you only outline one chapter at a time? Or do you outline your entire story?
I've been working on my out line for some time now.
I started by laying down the foundations oh what the story was about, what the main goal is and how I want it to end.
Then I started working on characters / races, plots and specific events and the order that they occur.
Now I am working on a chapter by chapter outline of events, character interactions and specific information I want to reveal at that time.
Am I going to far?
I am afraid that I may miss some important detail or weave a weak story line if I do not lay it all out for myself as there are a few complicated sub-plots behind the main story that I think make the tale that more interesting.
Humble Opinion on outlining:
[and this supports Shawn's idea]
I have one finished book and another 3/4 of the way done--I have yet to begin on the ardious publishing journey, in part for sentiments echoed long ago on this very website. Once, if i am lucky enough to get the wheel turning, I get started on publishing the first book, efforts on writing the second will surely grind to a halt.
I find false the statement that Outlining limits the creativity in the story. Rather it holds together the story much like putting together the boarder of a puzzle first, so that you can more efficiently then finish the intricate portions. And techniquely, the brain can only have one idea at a time, although this can represent itself in a conscious stream of ideas, or a grand spin-off tangents that make for a very strong basis, but at any rate, only one idea at any one given time. So you collect all your best ideas, form them, formulate how to use them, and then preciously outline them. Then from your outline you bring it to life. While writing and thinking new ideas are spawned, discarded when useless and implimented when advantagous. this in affect adds another layer of depth and reality to the story. Creating subtexts, linkages b/w beginning and endings and across the breadth of an entire series.
Anonymous: You sum my beliefs quite succinctly, especially with the analogy of the puzzle border. That's exactly how it works for me.
J. David: A lot of questions there, but I'll do my best. Just remember what works for me might not work for you; there are as many ways to get to the end of writing a book as there are words in that book.
For the three books I've outlined, all of them began the same way: I had a very distinct understanding of the literary aspect of what I wanted to achieve by each of their ends. Not just a climax but the meaning behind the climax. That's just what interests me as a writer.
Character for me drives story. If a reader can relate to character motivations, then they will believe the story.
Once I know my characters, and quite intimately, I might add, I outline the entire story. I have my beginning, I already have my end, and I let the characters and events I want to explore guide me.
An early outline looks splotchy, with holes everywhere between important events and scenes. But they slowly fill in as I think my way through the story and how the characters change, and I then have an entire outline finished.
That outline is not static. It can evolve quite easily.
After I've done enough research on certain aspects of the book and I feel like I have a solid outline, I begin writing -- almost.
I take the few sentences I've brought together in my outline, paste it into a new file .doc, and start outlining the individual chapter. I'm of the belief that each chapter should rise and fall like the story does, and I like to think my way through the chapter even before I start writing it.
But what's been interesting and different on this book has been how I outline individual chapters before I write them. Now I incorporate a lot of dialogue, the dialogue that will give the reader information and still drive the story forward. For me, dialogue is the hardest thing to write, so I try to spend a little extra time with the dialogue before I begin writing the chapter.
After I finish writing the chapter, I outline the next chapter, using the summary aspects from the story outline.
So we are pretty close in how we approach all of this, David. Until we get to individual chapters. Here is where you should take your table salt out and take what I say as opinion and only opinion.
I think if you were to outline all of your chapters, you'd be wasting your time, more than likely. The reason is because when you get into writing the book, developments may happen that alter your overall book in small ways -- or big ways sometimes. If you wait to outline your chapters until after your previous one is done, you'll have a better handle on your story at all times. You won't be trying to jam a round peg into a square hole; and you probably won't have writers block at all.
Your fears are well founded. No one likes to have a plot line that goes nowhere or is very weak. But if you keep outlining, you won't start your book. And writing your book is still the most important thing.
I hope to hear how it goes! Keep me posted!
Thanks for the response Shawn. I find it is full of helpful advice and I decided to put it up in my own Blog.
Take care.
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