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one I’m collaborating with Brandon Sanderson on. Working title:\u00a0The Lurker.<\/p>\nSo, I’m almost completely done with my second novel. This is the one I’m collaborating with Brandon Sanderson on. Working title:\u00a0The Lurker.<\/p>\n
I think I’ve smashed my face against, then managed to wrap my arms around, a writing principle worth sharing.<\/p>\n
I started with a 10,000 word outline that Brandon wrote. We discussed the world and basic plot we would be working with for about four hours over two meetings before he wrote the outline.<\/p>\n
I wrote my first novel with an outline too, a numbered list. \u00a0I can’t speak for Brandon on The Lurker but for me, coming up with an outline was a very mechanical process.<\/p>\n
Arbitrarily I aimed for 120,000 words which translated neatly into 30 4,000 word chapters. My outline had 30 chapters in it. Three viewpoint characters translated to 10 chapters each. Three try\/fail cycles worked out to three chapters per cycle per character, which I dutifully labeled as such on my outline.<\/p>\n
Then I filled in the basic events for each cycle. What, exactly, were my characters failing and then succeeding at? What did their mini-arcs consist of and how did they fit into the big book-arc? \u00a0I already had a basic idea of what I wanted the book to be about and lots of cool scenes that had written themselves in my head and so forth. That made this process a mix of putting the pieces in their proper places and filling in the blanks.<\/p>\n
The elephant tromped into the room when it came time to actually write the chapters so summarized on my outline. I stepped forward, hands outstretched, and started feeling that guy.<\/p>\n
It was my book. I knew the basic shape. \u00a0So there was no, ‘Oh, this is a snake…’ garbage. But it was definitely a process of discovery as I wrote each chapter. Some details (a lot of them really) made themselves known, either springing from my subconscious or becoming obvious due to context. Others, also a lot, I had to forge and hammer out in the creative fires. And it was all fun to do.<\/p>\n
Later I realized that things were much easier for me if I also outlined each chapter before I actually started in on the actual prose. In most cases, what I ended up with was less an outline for each chapter than notes on my brainstorming session for the chapter, roughly chrono-organized. Once I knew where I was going to that level of detail, getting there was almost all fun. The niftiest things pop up out of nowhere.<\/p>\n
The principle? \u00a0Same as always. Just climb on and write.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Thus ends my very first POST ON WRITING.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So, I’m almost completely done with my second novel. This is the one I’m collaborating with Brandon Sanderson on. Working title:\u00a0The Lurker. I think I’ve smashed my face against, then managed to wrap my arms around, a writing principle worth sharing. I started with a 10,000 word outline that Brandon wrote. We discussed the world … Continue reading Blindly Writing the Elephant<\/span> ![\"Tiger-Eye\"](\"http:\/\/ethanskar.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Tiger-Eye.jpg\")
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\nMy process is definitely more mechanical than a pure discovery writer, but less mechanical than some outliners. It’s mine, it works for me. It will probably change. And someday I fully expect to discover that it’s not an elephant at all but a bloody Tiger, and have to change everything.<\/p>\n