Well, I’ve just been busy, busy, busy! So busy in fact that I’ve had hardly any time in the last few days to update my blog or do anything else for that matter. Usually by the time I actually get a moment free, it’s too late to get on the internet, so I’ve just had to make do with working on my novel (which is by no means a punishment) or by doing homework (which I hate and therefore consider a punishment ). And the whole while, my characters have been screaming at me from the computer screen for the last week:
My characters: “Alright, we’ve been on the same night now for two chapters already… when are you going to do something new?"
Me: *Typing furiously* “Yes, I know! Just hold on a little longer…”
My Characters: *Starting to get angry* “We’ve been holding already!”
(And yes, I talk to my characters.)
The truth of the matter is that just recently I had an idea for a new plot twist which wasn’t originally there… and which is causing all sorts of problems. For one thing, most of the scenes are serious and even a little sinister, and that makes night the perfect time setting for them. However it’s true that I’ve been stuck on the same night for the last two chapters; a lot has happened, and this night is starting to feel like it will never end.
So… should I break it up? Should I throw in another scene in the day this time, and write my sinister scenes at a later time when it is night once more? I just don’t know; I can’t decide whether it would help or hurt the flow of the story.
Have I outlined? Yes, but that’s not the problem. This isn’t writer’s block… this is something totally different, but just as forbidding. And so now we finally get to the real subject of this post:
What do you do when a new plot twist interferes with your story?
Plot twists are complicated things. They’re a lot like pets that start out being sweet, timid, and manageable (even cuddly sometimes), but that can grow really fast into something large, wild, and unpredictable. Sometimes one will show up in the original draft of a story and rearrange the whole tale, but it’s usually alright with a first draft. When they get really annoying is when they show up in the middle of a final rewrite and demand attention.
Say, for instance, that a character shows up that wasn’t there before and demands to be noticed, which demands new scenes, which in turn demands a new plot twist. In my case the character is a very mean general who is trying to find and capture my MC. My MC gets away, but one of his contacts gets captured instead; the problem is, I can’t just leave the man in jail, which means I have to plan a rescue mission. BIG TWIST: My MC cannot be a part of the rescue mission; he can’t even know about it. This means that I have to write the rescue from another Character’s POV, which isn’t exactly hard but can get tricky.
A person who isn’t a writer might look at this and think that writing all that into the story wouldn’t be too hard.
Non-Writer Person: “So, just write out a scene like what you have listed above and walla! Problem solved.
Me: “Ah, but it isn’t quite that easy, Non-Writer Person.”
Non-Writer Person: “It isn’t?”
Me: “Well, why don’t you try it sometime?”
The truth is, it’s not easy. Writing a new plot twist into what was thought to be an already completed story involves not only time, but timing. That’s right; you have to write it into the story with just the right timing in order for it to fit. Which leads us back to my problem; should I continue writing these scenes on the same night in the story, or transfer these scenes to another night? Would it make that much of a difference?
I still haven’t decided what to do about it just yet, but I would like to ask if anyone else has had the same problem and what you did to overcome it?
Showing posts with label Outlining. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Outlining. Show all posts
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
To Outline or Not to Outline... that is the REAL Question
Hello again,
I've been working on the rewrite of my novel, "Song of the Daystar", and now I'm stuck on a scene that just doesn't want to come out quite right. I know I'm not the only writer that this happens to. So I've decided to turn to the dreaded outline.
I know, I know! I once promised myself I never would! I'm such a traitor!
But the truth is, a lot of writers outline, especially when they hit the dreaded writer's block. When I first started to write I found that I could write better if I just didn't think about what was going to happen. Instead of planning out the next scene or the next couple of pages, I would sit down to the keyboard, close my eyes, and type whatever came to mind. This is called "seat-of-the-pants" writing, and it helped me piece together my first couple of rough drafts. But let me tell you, the actual writing was atrocious! Some of the sentences flowed, others just fit together in a sort of choppy pattern, and still others made no sense at all.
And the scenes! More than half of them had nothing to do with my original vision for the story.
I started to rewrite.
In those first years, a lot of what went into my stories were stored in my mind, though in no particular order. This meant that I had to go in and try to sort out the jumble of ideas as I went. Sometimes I still do this, but not as often. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned the value of outlining; I’m not quite so apprehensive of it anymore. In fact, I’ve started seriously using it when trying to plot out future books.
Of course, I’ve also discovered that one can fall into the dreaded Writer’s Block while outlining too; just goes to show that there is no sure and set way of securing a total plot, beginning to end. What do I do then? I follow the outline, writing the story up to where I became stuck; then I’ll sit down and start outlining again.
But not all outlines are actually comprehensible, or in order. In fact, at least half of my so called “outlines” are just pieces of paper that I randomly jotted a few notes on. More often than not my outlines resemble internal conversations I have with myself when brainstorming, which often contain questions my mind is having trouble solving; if I continue writing and rambling, sometimes the answers to those questions come to me in the form of a random idea that would actually fit the story’s plot. Other times I'm just left with the same questions to mull over as I go about my daily routine, discovering an answer later in the day when I least expect to find one.
Sometimes, though, my inner-self decides it's feeling in an organized mood and I turn to the more ordered version of the traditional outline, trying to make my notes short and to the point.
Either way works.
I also use character sheets which I type up that help me keep track of each important or sub-important character in the story, what they do, and how they fit into the plot. I find these very helpful, as sometimes I forget about a character that in one scene seemed to be important, but that later just disappears. Keeping a character sheet has helped me pin-point characters like that and either include them later in the story so that their roll becomes more important, or take them out because they just don’t need to be there. (And for anyone wondering, I find the book “Novel Shortcuts” very helpful when I run into a block, because it answers some of the questions writers run into when writing a book or short story, and gives you tips on how to correct common mistakes.)
So the question was, “To Outline or not to Outline.” I do both, but perhaps some of you use one rather than the other. Maybe some even despise one but love the other. Why? Why don’t you tell me all about it. :D
~Nichole~
p.s. I'm sure there are a lot of blog posts out there giving info and insite on outlining for novels, but if you would like to read more I found this page very interesting. Teen Inklings E-Zine: Vol 3. The Outline
I've been working on the rewrite of my novel, "Song of the Daystar", and now I'm stuck on a scene that just doesn't want to come out quite right. I know I'm not the only writer that this happens to. So I've decided to turn to the dreaded outline.
I know, I know! I once promised myself I never would! I'm such a traitor!
But the truth is, a lot of writers outline, especially when they hit the dreaded writer's block. When I first started to write I found that I could write better if I just didn't think about what was going to happen. Instead of planning out the next scene or the next couple of pages, I would sit down to the keyboard, close my eyes, and type whatever came to mind. This is called "seat-of-the-pants" writing, and it helped me piece together my first couple of rough drafts. But let me tell you, the actual writing was atrocious! Some of the sentences flowed, others just fit together in a sort of choppy pattern, and still others made no sense at all.
And the scenes! More than half of them had nothing to do with my original vision for the story.
I started to rewrite.
In those first years, a lot of what went into my stories were stored in my mind, though in no particular order. This meant that I had to go in and try to sort out the jumble of ideas as I went. Sometimes I still do this, but not as often. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned the value of outlining; I’m not quite so apprehensive of it anymore. In fact, I’ve started seriously using it when trying to plot out future books.
Of course, I’ve also discovered that one can fall into the dreaded Writer’s Block while outlining too; just goes to show that there is no sure and set way of securing a total plot, beginning to end. What do I do then? I follow the outline, writing the story up to where I became stuck; then I’ll sit down and start outlining again.
But not all outlines are actually comprehensible, or in order. In fact, at least half of my so called “outlines” are just pieces of paper that I randomly jotted a few notes on. More often than not my outlines resemble internal conversations I have with myself when brainstorming, which often contain questions my mind is having trouble solving; if I continue writing and rambling, sometimes the answers to those questions come to me in the form of a random idea that would actually fit the story’s plot. Other times I'm just left with the same questions to mull over as I go about my daily routine, discovering an answer later in the day when I least expect to find one.
Sometimes, though, my inner-self decides it's feeling in an organized mood and I turn to the more ordered version of the traditional outline, trying to make my notes short and to the point.
Either way works.
I also use character sheets which I type up that help me keep track of each important or sub-important character in the story, what they do, and how they fit into the plot. I find these very helpful, as sometimes I forget about a character that in one scene seemed to be important, but that later just disappears. Keeping a character sheet has helped me pin-point characters like that and either include them later in the story so that their roll becomes more important, or take them out because they just don’t need to be there. (And for anyone wondering, I find the book “Novel Shortcuts” very helpful when I run into a block, because it answers some of the questions writers run into when writing a book or short story, and gives you tips on how to correct common mistakes.)
So the question was, “To Outline or not to Outline.” I do both, but perhaps some of you use one rather than the other. Maybe some even despise one but love the other. Why? Why don’t you tell me all about it. :D
~Nichole~
p.s. I'm sure there are a lot of blog posts out there giving info and insite on outlining for novels, but if you would like to read more I found this page very interesting. Teen Inklings E-Zine: Vol 3. The Outline
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