[process] A bit more on outlining
Later this week, I’ll be playing again with the outline for my proposed urban fantasy joint project with J.A. Pitts. I can already see how my work on Sunspin has affected my process. At the moment the outline has about two pages of synoptic text outlining the opening of act one of the novel, three pages of notes to be expanded into further synoptic text, and a five page essay on a key aspect of the world building for this. Which seems a little lopsided somehow. It will be fixed.
At the same time, I’ve been talking to my dad about Sunspin. He just finished reading the first 2/3 of Calamity of So Long A Life. One of his basic comments was that I should find a way to embed more background into the beginning of Calamity. Given that the outline of Sunspin has 100 pages of background essays, character lists, ship lists and whatnot even before I reach the 30 or so pages of synoptic outline, not to mention about 60,000 words of published backstory, this is theory possible. I don’t see a practical way to do it, however.
Contrast with Trial of Flowers, which I sold from a five-paragraph outline and wrote accordingly. My ratio of outline to finished words on that novel was about 1:300. Almost the entire novel fit on one page in outline form. In Calamity it’s closer to 1:75. Which is to say each page of the synoptic outline expands to almost 20,000 words.
Does this mean anything? Casually speaking, it indicates the depth of my thinking is changing. Is this a net benefit? Almost certainly, though Calamity of So Long a Life is only now in my agent’s hands, and has not yet been seen by any acquiring editor, so the proof has yet to be baked into the pudding. And in a detailed sense, it will probably be years before I have a decent, conscious handle on what these ongoing changes in my outlining process mean. Right now I’m just following my muse.
How has your outlining process evolved? Or is it a set and steady process for you?
Tags: Books, Calamity, flowers, Process, Sunspin, Writing
Posted: 5:51 am Tue October 04 2011 | Comments(0) |
[photos] Your Tuesday moment of zen
Your Tuesday moment of zen.
Flower at Alcatraz © 2007, 2011, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.
This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Tags: flowers, Photos, zen
Posted: 5:37 am Tue September 27 2011 | Comments(1) |
[photos] Your Sunday moment of zen
Your Sunday moment of zen.
Flower, Albuquerque, NM. © 2007, 2011, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.
This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Tags: flowers, Photos, zen
Posted: 8:30 am Sun September 18 2011 | Comments(0) |
[photos] Your Saturday moment of zen
Your Saturday moment of zen.
Flower, Albuquerque, NM. © 2007, 2011, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.
This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Tags: flowers, Photos, zen
Posted: 8:10 am Sat September 17 2011 | Comments(0) |
[photos] Your Friday moment of zen
Your Friday moment of zen.
Flower, Albuquerque, NM. © 2007, 2011, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.
This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Tags: flowers, Photos, zen
Posted: 5:47 am Fri September 16 2011 | Comments(0) |
[photos] Your Thursday moment of zen
Your Thursday moment of zen.
Flower, Albuquerque, NM. © 2007, 2011, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.
This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Tags: flowers, Photos, zen
Posted: 5:32 am Thu September 15 2011 | Comments(0) |
[photos] Your Wednesday moment of zen
Your Wednesday moment of zen.
Flower, Taos Ski Valley NM. © 2007, 2011, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.
This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Tags: flowers, Photos, zen
Posted: 5:17 am Wed August 24 2011 | Comments(0) |
[photos] Your Monday moment of zen
Your Monday moment of zen.
Flower, Taos Ski Valley NM. © 2007, 2011, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.
This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Tags: flowers, Photos, zen
Posted: 10:18 am Mon August 22 2011 | Comments(0) |
[photos] Your Wednesday moment of zen
Your Wednesday moment of zen.
Flower, eastern Washington state. © 2007, 2011, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.
This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Tags: flowers, Photos, zen
Posted: 4:48 am Wed July 13 2011 | Comments(0) |
[photos] Your Sunday moment of zen
Your Sunday moment of zen.
Desert flower, eastern Washington state. © 2007, 2011, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.
This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Tags: flowers, Photos, zen
Posted: 7:15 am Sun July 10 2011 | Comments(0) |
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