Skywatch & Flying Machines Update
Sep. 7th, 2012 11:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anthimeriaStill working on one of the synopses for Skywatch, but this is draft three of this particular version (I think overall I'm on draft like, eleven or twelve), but I think I finally nailed it. Waiting for feedback. Then I need to go back and re-do all the agent-related research I did back in January and February, because it is many months out of date. I'm going to start with the same list of 8-10 yes-please agents that I had before, double-checking that all the info I have is still accurate.
On Flying Machines, everyone's writing method is different, but I've found I need to be at my most organized in this outlining stage. I can be haphazard with research as long as it all gets done, I write without looking back, and while I edit with plans and strategies, plans are easier to come up with when you have something concrete to work with. When all you're looking at is a blank page and a few disjointed paragraphs of ideas you had while researching and while writing the previous book. . . . But the other day, organization saved me.
I took all the notes I'd written on things I wanted to happen in Flying Machines and copy/pasted it into proper chronological order. If I had access to a printer I would've printed everything out on its own sheet so I could see it all at one, but beggars can't be choosers. I then opened up a blank window side-by-side with the ideas-in-order, and used it to put together a bulleted list of A-->B-->C. I've never written an outline like that, but it seemed to work. With everything in front of me the right way, it was MUCH easier to get Julien to cooperate. Maybe it's because he's an engineer. Eshe the meteorologist was content to let me fling stuff around until I figured out the right story; Julien wanted a process.
The outline for Flying Machines isn't finished, because for me a bulleted list is just bones. An outline is muscles, tendons, details. Outlines are often where I figure out I need to research something unanticipated. Sharing and opening up that outline to critique will add skin.
Alright, now I sound like a mad scientist. Too much Red Roses and Dead Things on my playlist, I suspect.
On Flying Machines, everyone's writing method is different, but I've found I need to be at my most organized in this outlining stage. I can be haphazard with research as long as it all gets done, I write without looking back, and while I edit with plans and strategies, plans are easier to come up with when you have something concrete to work with. When all you're looking at is a blank page and a few disjointed paragraphs of ideas you had while researching and while writing the previous book. . . . But the other day, organization saved me.
I took all the notes I'd written on things I wanted to happen in Flying Machines and copy/pasted it into proper chronological order. If I had access to a printer I would've printed everything out on its own sheet so I could see it all at one, but beggars can't be choosers. I then opened up a blank window side-by-side with the ideas-in-order, and used it to put together a bulleted list of A-->B-->C. I've never written an outline like that, but it seemed to work. With everything in front of me the right way, it was MUCH easier to get Julien to cooperate. Maybe it's because he's an engineer. Eshe the meteorologist was content to let me fling stuff around until I figured out the right story; Julien wanted a process.
The outline for Flying Machines isn't finished, because for me a bulleted list is just bones. An outline is muscles, tendons, details. Outlines are often where I figure out I need to research something unanticipated. Sharing and opening up that outline to critique will add skin.
Alright, now I sound like a mad scientist. Too much Red Roses and Dead Things on my playlist, I suspect.