In today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* Thanks to my patrons
* Topic: Yet Another Use for a Reverse Outline
* Yesterday
* Today
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quote of the Day
“Conjure the nouns, alert the secret self, taste the darkness. Your own Thing stands waiting ‘way up there’ in the attic shadows. If you speak softly, and write any old word that wants to jump out of your nerves onto the page, your Thing at the top of your stairs in your own private night may well come down.” Ray Bradbury
A special thanks to my patrons, whose donations continue to come in even during this time when many are necessarily pinching pennies. I appreciate you all a great deal.
Often as not, though, patrons forget to let me know which of the rewards they would like. Depending on the level of patronage, rewards consist of everything from new fiction to back titles in both fiction and nonfiction and even audio lectures on various aspects of writing.
The fiction is an especially good reward, because I write across so many genres and in so many voices. So even if my writing is not to your taste in one genre, you might love the writing in another. And really, if you’re a writer and follow my nonfiction, wouldn’t you like to know that I can apply what I teach?
That’s why I recently offered (to everyone, patrons and non-patrons alike), the first book of any (or all) of my series’ free. An offer that, unfortunately, very few took me up on thus far. That offer runs through May 31.
Topic: Yet Another Use for a Reverse Outline
I can’t say enough about the value of a good reverse outline. Yesterday, I was feeling a little depressed because I feared the novel had taken a wrong turn somewhere. (Now and again my critical voice sneaks in and before I realize it I’ve decided on and made a minor turn in the novel rather than leaving it to my characters.)
So I skipped back to the beginning of my reverse outline and began comparing it to the story. At least it compared well, as it should. (Okay, I admit, I also looked to make sure I had a great cliffhanger at the end of each major scene and chapter and a great opening afterward.)
And I started noticing where I originallly had some breaks (indicated by a centered asterisk in a chapter) the story would be better served by beginning a new chapter in that place.
So to get into the flow of the story, I moved through the whole novel back and forth with the reverse outline, replacing most of the former breaks with chapter heads (especially where the POV character changed). Here and there I updated the reverse outline. Here and there (as directed by the characters) I added a word or sentence to the story.
And I came to realize all those breaks were probably the problem. Some of the chapters were very long and encomapssed two or three loosely related major scenes instead of my usual one major scene per chapter. Mentally, that made it difficult for me to keep up with the story even though I was the one recording it for the characters.
I’m actually writing this yesterday during a brief break from the novel, while what I want to say is fresh in my mind. I have no doubt that by the time the day’s over, I will have greatly improved (read simplified) the novel and enhanced the reverse outline. And once again the story will have a clear path ahead. And wow, am I ever excited about that!
I guess the lesson of this topic, other than “keep a reverse outline” is to serve as a reminder that every novel writes differently, and you sometime have to vary what YOU expect to happen to better serve the characters and the story.
Yesterday was also the lowest word count (see Day 14 below) and the most labor-intensive day I’ve had in awhile in writing. And a lot of it (and all of the writing) was still in creative voice.
As outlined above, I went through the entire novel and reverse outline, back and forth. I added 20-some chapter heads where there had been only section breaks, and I wrote over 2300 new words.
Today, I’ll write, but I might also give book 1 a final look and upload it.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “Short Post Tonight” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/short-post-tonight-2/. Instructions on how to use the code to get 50% off ANY courses, lectures, subscriptions, workshops, etc. on Teachable. This is SO worthwhile. You will never find a more valuable fount of information than Dean Wesley Smith.
See “A little editing trick” at https://prowriterswriting.com/a-little-editing-trick/.
See “E-book VAT: the other side of the story” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/e-book-vat-the-other-side-of-the-story/. None of my business how much money Amazon makes as long as I get my 70%. Just my two-cents worth.
See “I’d like to introduce Mr. Cliff Hanger” at https://prowriterswriting.com/id-like-to-introduce-mr-cliff-hanger/. (The link is correct today. Thanks to Karen for pointing out the misdirection.)
See “Who Makes It Happen? Giving Your Characters Agency” at https://www.janefriedman.com/who-makes-it-happen-giving-your-characters-agency/. FWIW.
The Numbers
Fiction words yesterday…………………… 2338
Nonfiction words today…………… 860 (Journal)
Writing of The Good of the Galaxy 2 (novel)
Day 9…… 3258 words. Total words to date…… 34842
Day 10… 4682 words. Total words to date…… 39524
Day 11… 3881 words. Total words to date…… 43405
Day 12… 4361 words. Total words to date…… 47766
Day 13… 4121 words. Total words to date…… 51887
Day 14… 2338 words. Total words to date…… 54215
Total fiction words for the month……… 19383
Total fiction words for the year………… 298977
Total nonfiction words for the month… 4440
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 107550
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 403329
Calendar Year 2020 Novels to Date…………………… 4
Calendar Year 2020 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2020 Short Stories to Date… 12
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 49
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 208
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31