Outlining fiend
Aug. 28th, 2012 12:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anthimeriaOutlines are a lot of fun when they're working and a pain when they're not. I'm about halfway through three different outlines for three different pieces (a steampunk romance novella, Horizons, and the sequel to Skywatch) and they're all a little stalled. I think I finished at least a first draft of my novella outline today. Yes, even my outlines have drafts. I usually go through three or four before I get to the one I'll actually use.
For the Skywatch sequel (current working title is Flying Machines), the problem I'm running into isn't the plot, per se, but the character. I have character issues, witness the explosion that was Sanctuary. Julien, who'll be the main character for this book, is being very stubborn about what he wants, and also he isn't talking to me.
As for Horizons, I just figured out it has a second POV character, so I've wandered off to do more research and stalled the outline at the end of Act I. Also, because I had so much trouble with this book the first time and was trying something out with the outline, I don't have a beginning of Act I yet. So I have, er, about two-thirds of Horizon's Act I outline, but only as it pertains to the original POV character, Tomi. Her best friend, Dawn, has been insistent about her inclusion and her own arc, so I will have to go back to do some rewriting even in what little outline I have. But for now I'm still doing character building for her, since a POV character needs more profiling than a non-POV character, even a primary non-POV character.
I'm also debating the wisdom of both POV characters having four-letter names. It didn't matter when Dawn wasn't a POV character, but both of them? Dawn and Tomi.
In reading news, I read the ARC for a really great YA book called Colin Fischer, by Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz. It's a mystery in the Sherlock Holmes style, and is incredibly focused and fast-paced. It's on the younger side of YA, 12 and up, and is a fun, engaging read. The characters are great and the mystery is interesting without being too much for a high school. It comes out this November.
For the Skywatch sequel (current working title is Flying Machines), the problem I'm running into isn't the plot, per se, but the character. I have character issues, witness the explosion that was Sanctuary. Julien, who'll be the main character for this book, is being very stubborn about what he wants, and also he isn't talking to me.
As for Horizons, I just figured out it has a second POV character, so I've wandered off to do more research and stalled the outline at the end of Act I. Also, because I had so much trouble with this book the first time and was trying something out with the outline, I don't have a beginning of Act I yet. So I have, er, about two-thirds of Horizon's Act I outline, but only as it pertains to the original POV character, Tomi. Her best friend, Dawn, has been insistent about her inclusion and her own arc, so I will have to go back to do some rewriting even in what little outline I have. But for now I'm still doing character building for her, since a POV character needs more profiling than a non-POV character, even a primary non-POV character.
I'm also debating the wisdom of both POV characters having four-letter names. It didn't matter when Dawn wasn't a POV character, but both of them? Dawn and Tomi.
In reading news, I read the ARC for a really great YA book called Colin Fischer, by Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz. It's a mystery in the Sherlock Holmes style, and is incredibly focused and fast-paced. It's on the younger side of YA, 12 and up, and is a fun, engaging read. The characters are great and the mystery is interesting without being too much for a high school. It comes out this November.