posted
I tried something new for me yesterday as part of my outlining process and am curious if others do it as well.
I decided to draw concept art as part of outlining. I started with anatomical drawings of the primary alien species in my WIP novel, first with dorsal views, and later lateral and anterior.
I'm finding this to be a useful process, as it forces you to consider the alien's evolution, adaptations and environment. I also think it just helps to bolster the image in the mind's eye.
I already plan to do this with the next short story I have in mind as well. How about you folks, do you do this, and do you find it useful for your writing?
posted
I wish my outling/preparatory process was stronger. As I write, the whole story evolves, including parts of the story previously written. I would love to have the outling prowess to use a wiki to flesh out characters and mileu, including pictures, as you suggest. Perhaps some would be hand drawn and others from the internet (say a 42-yr-old male human for instance).
I've tried minimally to do what you are mentioning, but would like to get better at it.
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I've found Scrivener's outlining features to facilitate outlining, so you might try that Wordcaster. Since you can import web pages and pictures to the corkboard, I'll often do that with images I find that most closely match what my characters and settings look like. Some things you won't find pictures for, and that's where I just try to do my own concept art, which I can scan and bring into the Scrivener project.
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posted
For awhile I used to draw up little maps and blueprints of wherever my characters happened to be...but I more-or-less gave it up when I switched over to computers. It was easy to draw the map on the rough draft when it was on paper...but got too hard to keep track of if I drew it on a separate sheet of paper. (No, I never got the hang of drawing things on the computer.)
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posted
@Osiris -- I love a writer who does his homework! The trick is not to let it show too much. It's better when you suddenly realize, "hey, that actually makes sense!"
Personally, my approach is neither seat of the pants nor outlining. I start with an idea for a story and some of the characters, and a rough idea of the changes I want the characters to go through. Then I do a number of pilot test scenes along those paths to see if they're as promising as I think they'll be. Generally I work from the ending backward. This keeps me from writing myself into a corner (as might happen in the beginning-to-end seat of the pants mode), but it allows me some give and take with the story at the outset that often leads to radical revisions in concept.
This method is not without its drawbacks, of course. It gives me wonderfully textured scenes and good control over foreshadowing character developments, but it makes it tough to keep a consistent plot pace. As the story tightens up, scenes I've lavished attention on get the ax because they come at a point where they don't move the story forward. And there's that inevitable stage where I've finished all the stuff that attracted me to the story and still have 20% to go to finish.
In general I can outline my stories at any stage, but the outline changes dramatically as I build scenes and discover things I want to do. So for me manuscript editing software has little value.
What I find indispensable is software to help me manage drafts, so I can get back scenes I deleted, try alternatives and set them aside, or go back to earlier versions of certain scenes. Since there is no writer's software to do this, I used source control software. I've settled on bzr (Bazaar) because it is cross platform, free, and relatively simple to use. I recommend every author use it.
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@MattLeo. yes, I can outline for days on end. I don't always do this, I've tried seat of the pants, in-between as you do, and each method has its drawbacks and advantages. For me, seat of the pants works for the simpler stories.
Have you tried Scrivener? It has versioning built in, though they call it 'snapshot'. This video tutorial demonstrates the feature:
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I have a mac at home, but I do all my writing on a Linux system, and exclusively on open source, cross platform formats.
In fact, I prefer to write in a plain text editor using reStructuredText, which generates nice HTML, PDF and DOC files but is perfectly readable as plain text. "reStructuredText" is a kind of simple text format markup that kind of works like the UBB code we use here, but generates outline numbers, chapter headings and other goodies in whatever output format you want.
Bazaar version control plus text editor plus reStructuredText met just about all my needs, except one. I now use Bazaar and Open Office, because at a certain point it becomes convenient to work with ".doc" files for exchanging edits and comments with reviewers.
I confess I would at times like to have a good outliner; I haven't found one I liked since the old days of "In Control". If might consider Scrivener if it keeps all of its files in an open, standard format, but I don't like the idea of entrusting my work to a format that might disappear if the company goes belly up.
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Indeed, valid concerns, Matt. Now I do not work for Scrivener, I just am an enthused user, but you can save your files in other formats, including RTF,PDF and DOC. Also, there a Linux version of Scrivener, as well.
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posted
I keep notes on a notepad file (.txt file). I jot down ideas all the time.
Before I start writing, I will have a basic outline, but that's it. I think too much planning can ruin a story, giving it a synthetic feel. That's why I tend to simply go with the flow and allow ideas to come to me when they wish it. It's a very rewarding way to write, plus it becomes an exploration adventure. I never know when something will pop up.
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It's funny how people do this differently, and how every method seems to work for somebody but not another.
I have a friend who plots things out in advance, but in the first draft her characters don't seem to change much. Then she goes back and fleshes in her characterizations. To me that's kind of an amazing thing, because it's the exact opposite of the way I work.
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