Fun With Outlines
Monday, July 16th, 2012 08:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizvogelI'm working on writing an after-the-fact outline for the novel. This was suggested to me as a way to get a grip on what needs to go in the synopsis: for each scene, note what happens and whether it pertains to the "relationship plot" or the "action plot". I've added "ethical plot" to the mix, since I figured out that that's really where the heart of the story lies. (And the action plot has subsets... I'm not good at this putting-in-a-box stuff.)
I'm combining this with another suggestion I picked up somewhere (possibly also Pat Wrede), of tagging each scene as to whether it advances Characterization, Plot, or Backstory. (I think the original breakdown was Character, Plot, and Setting, but that was for a fantasy novel in an invented world. And really, the backstory is the setting, for mine.) The point being that a scene must do at least one of these things, and it's better if it can do more than one.
I'm finding several things in the process, most of which are not exactly earth-shattering revelations:
- Apparently I never write a scene that doesn't have at least a little character development in it.
- I'm pretty good at multi-purpose scenes. Five chapters in, I've only found one short scene that does only one thing (characterization, of course). Many hit all three.
- The line between Character and Backstory gets really blurry, as does the line between Backstory and Plot. This is especially true if the A-plot is emotional rather than action-oriented: Does why the characters split up go under character (because it's who they are that made it a splitting-up-level issue) or backstory (because it's part of how they got to where the novel is) or plot (because getting them back together is the main plot goal, and that requires making the splitting-up reason no longer a deal-breaker)?
- Despite my fondness for what are sometimes called "jump cuts" but which I think of simply as scene breaks, I have at least two chapters that are one big uninterrupted scene. (This is not a problem; I think they work fine as is. I'm just surprised.) I'm having to tag sub-scenes for the outline.
I'm simultaneously doing a love list for the novel. It's getting self-indulgently long, but all the revision- and query-misery aside, there's still a lot in this novel that makes me really happy. And I keep getting sucked into the prose and forgetting to analyze. Yes, my own prose. That may sound arrogant, but darn it, I actually am pretty good at this stringing-words-together thing. It's good to be reminded of that, when I'm immersed in things like querying that I'm really not good at.
I'm combining this with another suggestion I picked up somewhere (possibly also Pat Wrede), of tagging each scene as to whether it advances Characterization, Plot, or Backstory. (I think the original breakdown was Character, Plot, and Setting, but that was for a fantasy novel in an invented world. And really, the backstory is the setting, for mine.) The point being that a scene must do at least one of these things, and it's better if it can do more than one.
I'm finding several things in the process, most of which are not exactly earth-shattering revelations:
- Apparently I never write a scene that doesn't have at least a little character development in it.
- I'm pretty good at multi-purpose scenes. Five chapters in, I've only found one short scene that does only one thing (characterization, of course). Many hit all three.
- The line between Character and Backstory gets really blurry, as does the line between Backstory and Plot. This is especially true if the A-plot is emotional rather than action-oriented: Does why the characters split up go under character (because it's who they are that made it a splitting-up-level issue) or backstory (because it's part of how they got to where the novel is) or plot (because getting them back together is the main plot goal, and that requires making the splitting-up reason no longer a deal-breaker)?
- Despite my fondness for what are sometimes called "jump cuts" but which I think of simply as scene breaks, I have at least two chapters that are one big uninterrupted scene. (This is not a problem; I think they work fine as is. I'm just surprised.) I'm having to tag sub-scenes for the outline.
I'm simultaneously doing a love list for the novel. It's getting self-indulgently long, but all the revision- and query-misery aside, there's still a lot in this novel that makes me really happy. And I keep getting sucked into the prose and forgetting to analyze. Yes, my own prose. That may sound arrogant, but darn it, I actually am pretty good at this stringing-words-together thing. It's good to be reminded of that, when I'm immersed in things like querying that I'm really not good at.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-Jul-19, Thursday 02:55 pm (UTC)This has happened to me before. It's because the book's "problem" isn't one that has an obvious solution/end condition, so the reader doesn't know when the characters are making progress and when they aren't.
The last time it happened I went through the book asking, "Because this happened, what does my main character decide to do?". That gave me a flowchart of action -> result -> decision -> action. I could use as a revision guide, going through the book and making sure each connection on the chain was clear to the reader.
This time, although the problem sounds the same, I've got a very different kind of story on my hands. There is a lot of stuff that happens to my characters that comes from the outside pressures, rather than as a direct result of action that they take. So I'm thinking maybe the question I use as the focus of my flow chart needs to be different. Maybe "and what useful things did they learn from that?"
(no subject)
Date: 2012-Jul-24, Tuesday 03:12 pm (UTC)I've had to flowchart a story myself -- I had all these competing factions working at somewhat-cross-, somewhat-the-same-purposes, and it swiftly reached the point where even I couldn't keep track of who was doing what or knew what. The flowchart was extremely useful in getting it all timed correctly, and also helped me realize that I only needed about a third of the factions I had in mind.
There is a lot of stuff that happens to my characters that comes from the outside pressures, rather than as a direct result of action that they take.
I hear you on that. My WIR has a similar situation. Between that and the main plot being internal rather than external, it gets tricky to dodge accusations of the MC being too passive. I like your idea of "what did they learn" as the focus; that gets the internal aspect front & center.