Re: Some days you stuggle

In article <44idnVSz8-hWZPjbnZ2dnUVZ_s6dnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxx>,
Kat R <null.space@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Catja Pafort wrote:
Kat R <null.space@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I'm at the point where I am pretty committed to this story and outline
and can't just kick over the traces on it. Partially because of the
looming deadline and partially because this is the middle book of a
projected 5-book arc so I have to hit certain plot points if I'm going
to make it to the end of the arc as intended. (And this is the last
book of the current contract, so if I want to get renewed to write the
final 2, this has to hit its marks.)

If you have to choose between the story and the outline, why choose the
outline? You know your characters and your world 2.5 books better than
you did when you envisioned the whole series - so why hang onto
something made up when you can be true to the story as it develops?

Nono. You're making a wrong assumption. I did the outline /this/ May
because I tried to write the story spontaneously and that process simply
doesn't work for me. This is not some out of date thing that I'm
saddled with--I wouldn't put up with that and my editor wouldn't expect
me to.

*I* am the person--not my editor--who is dedicated to making this arc
move in the direction I want. Anne couldn't care less, so long as the
book is good. *I* care that the book should be good AND go where I
want, while sticking to the world and backstory I've already established.

I am very much NOT a pantser. I do not feel comfortable without some
plan or map or set of directions--even if vague. I don't get projects
finished if I just let them develop as I go. I DO make changes and
corrections to the story if something comes along that's better, but I
don't rely on that happening.

It's those course corrections and changes that happened in Books 1 and 2
that have made this a more complicated story to write than I'd expected.
A lot more stuff happened in both books than I'd originally intended
and I have to support those things. I can't drop them and pretend they
didn't happen or just not write about them or give them quicky
lip-service and ignore them the rest of the time. It would cause
discontinuity and readers wouldn't stand for it.

But the original whinge is becoming a moot point: I've gotten past the
initial 7 chapters where all the contextualizing, re-introductions, and
so on were happening and now things are flowing better. It's just a
matter of keeping the details straight and laying down the ground work
for the next set of hooks for the next book and so on while writing the
story, itself. It's still work, but it's not feeling so onerous and I
tend not to value things I feel I didn't really work for. I can play by
ear with others if collaborating, but I can't do it by myself--I'm not
secure enough to be a solo improv writer. The results don't satisfy me.


I know you're under time pressure, but can you write the story you
_want_ to write and worry later about how it fits into the Great Game
Plan?


I am writing the story I want--it just happens to be a five-book story.

Never mind, all is forgiven -- you know that the word is "normality",
not normalcy, among other felicities. I particularly admire your
descriptions (in "Greywalker") of how Harper feels when in contact
with the Grey. This past winter I got interested in a type of therapy
billed as producing induced contact with dead loved ones. It induced
something, all right -- vertigo that almost knocked me out of my chair,
and 20 minutes of vomiting into the waste basket so emphatically
that the therapist seriously considered calling for EMT backup for
fear I'd choke to death.

A friend of mine who's been a practicing psychic for decades said,
"That's a very common reaction to actually perceiving paranormal
energies; why do you think I never eat before a session?" I'd only
had a light lunch, thank somebody, but maybe that was better than
having eaten nothing and throwing up my whole stomach instead.

No permanent effects to report, either; fine with me. Harper's
experience and her attitude all ring true with me.

SMC
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Some days you stuggle
    ... Partially because of the looming deadline and partially because this is the middle book of a projected 5-book arc so I have to hit certain plot points if I'm going ... Anne couldn't care less, so long as the book is good. ... I do not feel comfortable without some plan or map or set of directions--even if vague. ... It's those course corrections and changes that happened in Books 1 and 2 that have made this a more complicated story to write than I'd expected. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.composition)
  • Re: Updating via timesheet
    ... If you get to the stage of writing ... it is better to plan to too much detail than too ... for more or less frequent reports as experience then dicatates. ... apply to manage the situation - can local management cope or do you need to ...
    (microsoft.public.project)
  • Re: Rookie Student C++ Array question (reading from a file)
    ... >Start by writing down in plain english words what needs to be done. ... >int main ... >That's your overall plan. ... at the previous suggestion of mapping, ...
    (alt.comp.lang.learn.c-cpp)
  • Re: Rookie Student C++ Array question (reading from a file)
    ... >Start by writing down in plain english words what needs to be done. ... >int main ... >That's your overall plan. ... >do the additions inline in your real source code) ...
    (alt.comp.lang.learn.c-cpp)
  • Re: Could someone please read this?
    ... I'm not *talking* about randomness. ... Not only without planning before sitting down, but without having the foggiest notion what was going on in the plot until well over halfway through. ... At some point you decide what to write, and that I call a plan. ... Making a decision what to write does *not* work brilliantly for *everyone* who writes, any more than writing every day works, or writing 50,000 words a week for two weeks and then partying for three months, or writing a book backwards works for *everyone*. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.composition)