Image by phatcontroller via FlickrHow many scenes does the average novel have? Mine, after I made a little timeline, appears to have forty two with about three scenes per chapter. I wanted to make my usual tediously detailed outline for it by the end of today, but I don't think that's going to happen. I worked on it for a few hours yesterday and only outlined eight scenes.Yes, eight. Out of forty two. Looks like I've got to either give myself an extra day or down a gallon of coffee and work from now until Kingdom Come. I'm starting with the former, but like always will most likely switch my plans to the latter. Either way, it's work getting done, right?
I know I can't be the only one who sits there staring mindlessly at my blinking cursor unless I have a perfectly prepared outline of the scene. Seriously. I even need to divide the scene into a beginning, middle, and end. After that I divide the different parts of the scene into their own beginnings, middles, and ends. Sometimes I even go further than that, but I won't delve too deeply into my insanity. It makes people nervous.
I'll have to note that the excerpts I posted were done without any sort of scene outline at all (let alone the hyper detailed one that I prefer), which is why they tended to suck. I honestly don't see how some authors can spin a tale out of an outline that's basically just a bulleted list of the scenes. Everyone has a different process, though. Most indie authors, what with their freethinking ways and such, scorn the outline entirely.
Me, I need it to survive. I didn't even realize it until my current novel. All of my previous works were attempted with absolutely no outline at all, and they never made it past a few horribly written chapters with no concept of any sort of narrative arc. One common mistake of novelists is, after all, that they're writing a novel from beginning to end and literally making it up as they go. Makes foreshadowing a bit hard when you're literally writing the thing as a reader.
Looking back over my old writing makes me nervous. I shudder at how terrible it is, and back then I thought it was so good! That in turn makes me worry that what I'm writing now isn't good even though it at least feels decent. Isn't it frightening to work so hard on something that you might scorn later when you've gotten more experience?
Anyone else afraid of this? Or are you perfectly comfortable with laughing at your old work (whether it's in writing, art, performing, or sports) and beaming at how much you've grown? I wish I were. I'm going to try, anyway. I'm definitely going to do the whole, "wait a few weeks and then proofread again" once this baby is through, though.
I would like to close by leaving all you other indie authors out there with a link to one of my favorite blogs, Publetariat. I always get a kick out of the title, and it's an amazing source of valuable information for independent authors.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHarlow, I have a question for you. How do you figure out EXACTLY what you want to have as a scene? I don't even know how to write a good outline! Everything I write is sort of spur of the moment, BAM! I have a great idea sort of stuff. So how do you decide how you want your entire book to go? Do you sit down and just think it up? I've always either known the ending of my story or the very first scene...then I stop because I hit a wall. Since you're a writer like myself, I know you can tell me at least how to start an outline :)
ReplyDeleteThanks a bunch!
Well Hi there :)
ReplyDeleteWhat helps me is to write out a short (I dunno, 250 words?) Synopsis of the plot as I have it right now. That can help you see where the beginning, middle, and ending is, where the conflicts start, and where they lead up to the climax. It's alright if you don't know the whole story just yet. I only had the very beginning, and for some reason summarizing it made me see just how the rest should go. After that it can help to look at the synopsis and figure out what the scenes are, the specific parts of your novel before a timeskip to another event in the story. Making a timeline can help, too, because it let's you see what might be the different scenes.
And there are all kinds of outlines! Even just putting the name of the scene and all of the things that have to happen in it (the one most authors tend to use, even though I need a neurotic hyper detailed mess :P), like a synopsis of the scene. Some writers don't even need outlines at all.
Oh! And you should check out some books like "The 90 Day Novel" and "90 Days to Your Novel." Truly GODSENDS, even if you aren't trying to write it in 90 Days. They can, if anything, help you figure out a lot about what helps you :)
Thanks so much for the great advice! :)
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome :D
ReplyDelete