(no subject)

[aleathiel]

Okay, two days before I have to start writing, I'm having a bit of a re-think of my plans for my Nano novel.

Basically, I have to choose between the two plot outlines below. They're completely different types of novel and I'm not sure in which direction I'm currently leaning.


1.
As yet untitled. Parallel stories about a youth called Gareth, one being his first term at university, the other being his last Christmas vacation before his finals. It's about his family, his friends, his future. And yes, there are more than a few skeletons in the closet. I want to write this one because it's new and fresh, I've only begun thinking about it in the last couple of weeks. It's more personal, more realistic (obviously) than the other outline. But, it's underdeveloped, I'm not quite sure what it's trying to say and I'm worried about running out of plot because it isn't a plot-based narrative and I'm not sure how well I can sustain it under the write-every-day pressure of Nano. However it's probably the better of the two novels.


2.
Lighter hearted and less 'literary' than the above. This is the story of two characters, Raffael and Morgan, who I've had in my head for ages. It's basically a futuristic whodunnit, but not entirely futuristic in the laser guns and space stations way, it's set on a world afflicted by the changes of global warming and the affect that's had on the earth and it's people. It's plot driven and a little bit silly, which I suspect would make it an easier Nano project than a more serious novel. But, and it's a giant but, there are huge gaps in the plot. I don't really know what happens after about the first quarter of the outline.

So, what do you think? Which outline do I spend two days beating into shape to start writing on Wednesday?

Comments

[aleathiel.livejournal.com]

Wow, I'm both impressed and completely horrified! Most of my fiction is in the 5-10 thousand words area and while I can sustain something of that length without to much of an idea where I'm going with it, I know that something 50000 words long would become too rambly and lost if I didn't at least have reference points to aim for.

As to the academic stuff I am completely amazed. The one thing I did always do with my work was write a solid outline. Sometimes that took almost as long as writing the paper itself. I had that (not literally!) beaten into me at Cambridge. We had one 3 hr exam where we weren't supposed to start writing more than notes for the entire first hour. And my dissertation? If I'd got myself better organised with structure and argument in the first draft then my third re-write wouldn't have involved cutting it into pieces and rearranging it spread out on my floor!

[angiepen.livejournal.com]

I know that something 50000 words long would become too rambly and lost if I didn't at least have reference points to aim for.

See, that's kind of what I'm afraid of. [nod] I mean, I can manage quite a lot by the seat of my pants. Outlines are counterproductive for me; I do better without one and always have. When I was in high school and we had to turn in our outlines, I struggled for a while, then hit on the idea of writing the paper first and then the outline. [wry smile] Ridiculous but it worked.

I loved essay exams -- I always did very well on them, once I got the hang of it somewhere in high school. I never scribbled an outline, although a few professors encouraged this, but sometimes I'd just sit there and stare at the wall for a few minutes and get my brain organized. Close enough, especially for such a short piece. :)

But I've had two novel-length stories just peter out on me, not counting Hidden Magic which I started working on again while I was off cruising. [crossed fingers] The one I mentioned a couple of comments back, I'd written about twenty-five chapters and had worked my way into a corner but I knew what I needed to do to fix it. I'd have to start over but I had more of an idea of what I was doing and where I was going and I was optimistic that the second start would work out. I decided to be prudent and do an outline first, so I did. It was like... fifteen or twenty pages long? Something like that. With notes about what was happening on which day so I didn't trip over my calendar, and which characters appeared in which scenes so I could identify and eliminate superfluous characters (I had too many and did end up cutting a few, merging their story-functions in with other characters) and by the time I was done it was a thing of beauty, perfect. Anyone could have written that novel. Anyone except me, because I apparently wrote the damn thing completely out of my system. I sat down to write my second draft and nothing would come -- not a word. [headdesk]

I really liked that story, too. My second novel was a prequel set in the same universe a few hundred years earlier (the first one was SF, the second contemporary) and I'd planned on doing a bunch of stories in that universe, sort of like Robert Heinlein or Gordy Dickson. That one story was dead, though, once I'd outlined it.

It's been long enough now that I might be able to try again. I don't have anything of it, my first draft or the outline or any of my notes, and there's not all that much left in my head except a general storyline and a few character names. I'd be pretty close to starting over so maybe it'd work. It'd be cheating to do it for NaNo, though, so if I want to see I'll have to wait. :)

But anyway, I know that I can do just fine with shorter stories (and papers) without an outline, and even longer pieces. But at some point I will write myself into a corner, or at least I have in the past. I don't know where the dividing line is, though. :/ I suppose it's possible that if I just tried a few more novels I'd eventually get the trick of it, be able to write all the way through by the seat of my pants (I've known pros who work this way) or at least write until I crash and then start over with a new draft but without an outline. Hopefully NaNo will be the beginning of finding out.

Angie

[aleathiel.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, it's a delicate balance. I have one novel that I've been working on for years - it's got complicated multiple storylines and I keep coming up with new things to add into the mix. I wrote about 30 000 words of it at one point, before scrapping that entirely because the writing by the seat of my pants approach really wasn't working. I think I then over analysesd the plot and got myself so thoroughly fed up with it that I've put all the notes into a box and not looked at them for approaching two years. That might, as with yours, now be something I can face reappraising. But it might take longer!

I think that you should go back at some point and have another go at your other novel. Without a previous draft or anything you wouldn't be going back over anything that was stale and you'll probably find that the experience you've had with writing in the intervening period means that it naturally is better now than it was the first time you wrote it. Either that or you just write it off to being a good experience and helping you develop and you never look at it again (which is kind of what I think might happen to mine, fond as I am of the characters).

I think Nano is a test for me too, to see whether I can actually get a novel to work as opposed to filing it in with all the other outlines for which I wrote about the first third before becoming disenchanted and giving up. I naturally find short(er) stories easier, I weave them tighter and I have a better idea of what works and what doesn't. I hope that in Nano I learn how to put together a novel, or at least begin to find out what doesn't work and learn from it that way!

[angiepen.livejournal.com]

I probably will -- maybe some time next year. [nod/ponder] There was a lot I could do better now, definitely, but there were some bits I liked a lot that might be worth keeping. :)

Angie