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Welcome to this week's Novel Support Group (NSG). Anyone can join. If you're new, tell us a bit about who you are and what project you are working on. Although we can report on any number of things, here is a list of suggestions (suggestions welcomed).
What were your goals last week and did you accomplish them?
Describe what you worked on.
Set goals for next week.
Did you learn something during this week?
Here is a list of things that you can do each week as we work on our novels (suggestions welcomed).
Writing on a novel
Characterization
World Building
Relevant research
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Last Week's Goals
I like the new outlining technique I have come up with. What I must do this time though is to keep going until I feel comfortable that I have the entire novel outlined. The last couple times I outlined I stopped when I couldn't resist writing any longer. Because of that I did not have a complete outline of my novel and my writing stopped once I reached the non-outlined part of my book. I'm hoping that by completing the outline this time will help me complete the book. We'll see.
My goals for next week:
Outlining
My goal is to outline the scenes I will use for "act three" of this current novel. I don't know how many scenes I will need but I know generally where I want to end act two so I will try to work my way backwards to that point.
What did I learn this week?
I'm liking this outlining technique so far. When I outlined before I had difficulty coming up with scenes for the middle section. I had trouble deciding where I wanted to characters to go next. I'm using this new technique from the end of my novel and moving my way to the beginning. Since I know how the book starts (generally) and I definitely know how I want to end it I can now create scenes I know will be "required" to make the ending work. It'll be interesting to see how this works in the long run.
I have added a thread (entitled Outlining Technique) to discuss this technique if anyone is interested.
posted
This week I printed Dragon Fate on really good paper and put it in a huge three ring binder. I even drew a picture for the cover the way I pictured it, and wrote a dedication.
I've decided to abandon the story, but I wanted to honor all those hours of hard work, and the merit that I believe the story still has. It feels so great to hold it in my hands, and to read it like a real book, as opposed to the screen.
It made me really happy, and now I feel like I can move on to my next story.
posted
Reasonably good week, at least for writing.
Last Week's Goals:
Dreamer's Rose:Let this one simmer for a while. This was a very easy goal to meet.
The Shaman's Curse: Send out three queries. Not yet, but I've got one printed and in the envelope ready to mail today and another half-printed. I hope to get three out today. I finally had to break down and buy a new printer, even though I really can't afford it. For what I was spending on ink trying to get the old one sorted out, I couldn't afford that, either.
The Ignored Prophecy: Get back to work on the revisions. I did a small amount of revision and started printing it out (one chapter, so far) so I can pass it on to a reader or two.
Blood Will Tell: Enjoy the ride while it lasts. Another easy goal. I've got over 31,000 words so far.
Next Week's Goals: Next week is going to be a difficult one. There are going to be at least a couple of days basically lost to writing. I certainly won't be able to write on Tuesday--not coherently anyway. On the other hand, if I can focus, I could have a pretty good weekend for writing. Maybe it'll balance out.
Dreamer's Rose: Contine to let this one simmer. Something is wrong, but I still can't quite put my finger on it.
The Shaman's Curse: Get at least three more queries out. I also have some revisions to do on the synopsis from some of the most recent readers.
The Ignored Prophecy: Work on revisions and keep printing out chapters as I get the revisions done.
Blood Will Tell: I have a kind of tricky spot to work through. But it's still flowing well. I just need to try to keep my focus on that tricky spot and not let myself drift away to scenes that are more fun.
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I did a lot of world-building while I was supposed to be at work, working - oops. Also got in 5K of novel rewrite and decided I'm definitely going to go with the 3rd person thing (at least for now).
Goals for this week: 1) I am finishing my revisions. No more world-building and obscure fact-checking. Finish!
2) Start a more detailed outline of KS, since it's unfolding in my head faster than I can find time to write it and I'm afraid I'm going to lose track of all my cool ideas.
Missed by 900 words. But, in this case, I don't consider it a fail because writing allowed me to see a disconnect in my order of events...which has since been corrected...which will now put me on an even better pace than before...until I find the next disconnect.
SF research: More of the same
My head hurts. But, it's a good pain.
"Primary" project: At this point, just keeping the momentum moving forward will bring good results.
Epic fail. I never even touched this project. But, I thought about it, if that counts...
UPCOMING WEEK
Mainstream novel: Two thousand more words. I mean it this time.
SF research: More of the same. This is a recording.
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Last week's goal was to write for 2 hours on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I didn't quite hit 2 hours any of the days, but I still feel like the week was a success. Wednesday and Thursday mostly consisted of polishing previously written work, but on Friday I wrote totally new stuff. It was HARD. I am out of the habit. But, I'm happy with what I came up with.
Next week's goal: To write for TWO HOURS on T, W, Th, and F. I need to find a nice routine that helps me transition from Mom to Writer in a shorter period of time (it's taking over an hour at the moment). Finish chapter 2
I have a question. My novel has one main plot and a subplot. About 2 chapters into the story though, there is a large section of subplot where nothing is happening with the main plot. Is this going to be as big a problem as I think it is? I don't know what to do about it.
quote:I have a question. My novel has one main plot and a subplot. About 2 chapters into the story though, there is a large section of subplot where nothing is happening with the main plot. Is this going to be as big a problem as I think it is? I don't know what to do about it.
It will depend upon what goes on in those scenes. If you have conflict that interests the reader and moves a plot forward I think you will be fine.
Have you read Brandon Sanderson's Warbreaker? If not, in that book the prologue is a PoV for a character that does not appear until later in the book and is not the main character. Chapter one is split between two character's PoV, one of which is not used much at all throughout the book. Chapter two goes back and forth between the PoV of two different characters (one from chapter one and a new one). Chapter three starts a PoV of a totally new character.
In Warbreaker you have five points of view (only three of which are used throughout the book) and at least three plots starting in the first 35 pages. The book is well written and I did not feel lost during those switches.
As long as you have something that is well-written and contains interesting conflict that moves at least one of your plots forward then I'm sure your reader will continue reading.
You make a very good point. I want people to be so caught up in my main plot that they want to flip ahead. I need to make my subplot that interesting as well! Tall order, but I'll see what I can do.
[This message has been edited by Unwritten (edited August 29, 2009).]
I thought about my novel... but I didn't do much else. Life and school are crazy. The thinking is good, though, since I'm having to settle myself into the new story changes that my fiancé and I came up with a few weeks ago.
My goal for this week: Keep thinking, and make an outline for the changes that have to be made. I need to start putting things on paper!
Edited to correct some of my silly grammar.
[This message has been edited by Marita Ann (edited August 30, 2009).]
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Last Week’s Goals and Activities Did I finish the draft of RITN's chapter 6? No. The problem is world-building: I need to do more.
My secondary novel (DeCo) progressed last week. I wrote a new opening and started sorting through the subplots to determine what I can cut. Too many conflicts were planned for one novel.
Next Week’s Goals Collect my notes on the relevant alien technology into one location (the current binder) and fill in missing details. Also, finish the chapter 6 draft and start chapter 7.
Lesson Learned From reading my first drafts for RITN, I realized my writing has improved since last year. That might not help any of you to know, but, hey. Maybe it's about hope.
posted
Made my goal of writing everyday even with my mother in-law in town.
Next week I need to get serious again. Goal write chapter 5.
What I learned: I thought that I could cut and paste my old chapters into my revised version, but I am finding that even small changes disrupt the nuances of my story, and I am going to have to do a complete rewrite. It is a little frustrating to have to rewrite everything, but it will be worth it, I hope.
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In his workshop this year, OSC said that there's no such thing as a second draft, there are only serial first drafts. He then went on to say basically what you're saying - when you start making substantial changes in the plot, milieu, characterization, etc. that reverberates throughout the rest of your book and messes up what you originally wrote.
The more I thought about it, esp. with respect to my own writing, the more I realized how true that was. It's much, much better - albeit frustrating - to just set aside the rest and rewrite from where you made your change. You can still reference the original for plot stuff, but if you start trying to incorporate your "deathless prose" wholesale from the original draft, you'll just mess yourself up and force yourself down paths where your story should go instead of taking full advantage of the changes you made.
So I guess the point of all this rambling was to be encouraging. You can do it - sounds like you're making the right decision! Ra, ra, ra!
(Edited because my spelling is much better after I finish my morning tea... :-) )
[This message has been edited by Kitti (edited September 01, 2009).]
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Thanks for the encouragement Kitti. I needed that. It is a tough lesson to learn. I just have to remind myself that writting a novel is not a race. The quality of the finished project is all that really matters.
[This message has been edited by MAP (edited September 01, 2009).]
quote:What I learned: I thought that I could cut and paste my old chapters into my revised version, but I am finding that even small changes disrupt the nuances of my story, and I am going to have to do a complete rewrite. It is a little frustrating to have to rewrite everything, but it will be worth it, I hope.
Hey! That's what I learned this week too (again). I'm trying to substantially shorten a chapter that was already poorly written to begin with, and it just keeps getting longer and longer...and it just won't believe me when I remind it that it's just not interesting enough to be anything bigger than a subplot.
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It must interest you, Melanie. Maybe when it's finished, you can pull it out and use it as a standalone?
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quote:I just have to remind myself that writting a novel is not a race.
I agree with this and I learned it once again recently. Every time I work on the outline for my current novel I get so far before I can no longer resist writing. Unfortunately, I never finish the outline sufficiently (for my needs). Then eventually my writing hits a wall when I reach the non-outlined portions. I'm hoping that this time (with this new outlining technique) I will finish the job BEFORE I start writing again.
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Finish chapter 2
