#everythinginashes

Thought I would discuss my current method of outlining and some things I’m learning on the way:

1. Summarizing the quartiles first

So, I plot my books in the 4 quartile method as outlined in Story Engineering by Larry Brooks. The first thing I do is in Scrivener is make a ‘novel with parts’ document and make sure there are four parts. Then in the index I write the summary for each part, which is basically everything I know will happen, or I know needs to happen. Each summary is a few sentences to a paragraph depending on how much I know.

2. Roughly planning chapters

Next is the first outlining round in which I make the amount of chapters I need in each quartile. I fill in these chapters in order to correspond with what I have in the quartile summaries. My main goal is that the chapters are made up of active scenes and they move the plot forward with revelations, character choices, etc. 

3. Reading first draft outline

Next, I read through the entire outline and take notes of things that are missing. These could include:

Theme (e.g. Is there a theme? Is it clear? Is it shown through character actions, arcs, etc?)

Character arcs (e.g. Does each character have a clear and dramatic character arc? Especially the protagonist, antagonist, and secondary characters?)

Is each chapter important? (e.g. Does each chapter have dramatic significance? Does each chapter have conflict? Does each chapter have active scenes that push the plot forward?)

Sub-plots (are subplots evenly handled throughout the outline? Are they dependent on one another and do they affect the overarching plot and theme?)

World building (e.g. settings that need to be planned, magic creatures, dress, political systems, basically anything that needs to be figured out in order for the plot to make sense.) 

Foreshadowing (e.g. Chekov’s gun. If there is something in the third quartile that has a large role in the plot, it should be established in the first quartile so it doesn’t seem to come out of nowhere. On the flip side, if something comes up in the first quartile, it should tie into the the second half of the book.)

4. Second draft of the outline

Chances are, there are going to be a lot of holes in your outline, especially if the story you’re trying to write is multi-layered and complex. You might have completely forgot about the romance subplot, or that one character’s dad who needs a character arc. Instead of trying to figure out everything at once, I go through the outline focusing on one element at a time. 

5. Be honest with yourself 

It’s scary making big changes in your story, but it’s better to make them at the outlining stages then after you’ve written the draft. For instance, maybe there is a character that doesn’t contribute to the story? Maybe there is a subplot that is distracting from the overarching narrative? Don’t be afraid to cut things out that you don’t need, and be brutally honest about whether or not you need certain elements in your story. 

6. Take your time, but set a deadline

In the Wystare Empire, magic is highly restricted, and spell licenses are hard to acquire. Unless, of course, you are Especially Gifted. EGs: men who fall in love with men, and women who fall in love with women. To be one is to possess extraordinary powers and bring the highest honour to your family. It also means 30 years of service in the Wystare Military.

But as a deadly war begins killing EGs off by the thousands, not everyone wants to come out. Especially not Princess Malia.

Who’s tired? I’m tired!

No seriously, I’m trying to get my sleeping schedule back on track and it’s killing me. On the bright side, though, I’m extremely productive when I wake up early. I’ve already written a poem and read and reviewed two chapters of Everything in Ashes and the sun hasn’t even risen fully. 

Chapters 13 and 14 are a big improvement from Chapters 10 and 11, especially in terms of pacing. When I was drafting Chapters 13 and 14 I really slowed down, was more heavy handed with exposition, and took my time to write descriptions. 

In Chapter 13, Malia slowly begins to turn on Zhaohui, and at the end of the chapter they have a huge fight and a big secret of Zhaohui’s is revealed. It’s a really tense chapter and I like it, but I feel like Malia’s anger toward Zhaohui came on a bit too suddenly, and I should probably build it up over the earlier chapters. 

As for Chapter 14, the pacing was also good, although the scene at the beginning, in which Malia goes to apologise to Zhaohui, has two issues. 

One, they make up too quickly, too easily. I don’t think Malia is ready at this point to give an apology like that, especially since a big part of her character arc is realising that she needs to apologise to Shirim. I think in revisions, I want to leave Malia more conflicted and have Malia begin to apologise in the third act. At this point, I still want her to be an Empire Princess afraid of contamination and ignorant about other species. 

The second problem is the dialogue. It’s totally rambling, going around in circles sometimes, characters repeating things. I guess this is just what happens in first drafts. 

At the end of Chapter 14, Z and M stand at a lookout and Malia gives some exposition about the war. Normally I’m pretty afraid of writing exposition for fear of info dumps. But I’m beginning to realise (especially after reading The Fire in Fiction) that exposition isn’t the bad guy, it’s a lack of tension. As long as you keep exposition curt, and make it a source of tension, it can work really well in the narrative, steadying the pace and increasing interest. Maybe I’ll make a post about exposition after researching more? 

Yesterday I learnt how to put photos into Scrivener and I began thinking of what the military uniform would look like. I was really sick yesterday so I didn’t do much, but it still felt like a pretty productive day.

I also read through my journal and began highlighting the notes I took while reading the book. I’ll have to do this again, maybe type out key parts, because there are some really goof ideas I had that I almost forgot about.

Oh gosh, world building is dangerous: it’s so fun I can barely focus on anything else (like, eh-hem, SCHOOL).

I made the new Scrivener project (should I do a Scrivener tour to show y’all how I set things up?) and spent an hour rewriting Malia’s backstory. Her motivations are much clearer in the second draft and a her inner struggle is more straight forward. Off to a great start. I also jotted down what could be the beginning of the first Zhaohui POV chapter.

I’m still keeping up with revision notes, though I find that the more I read, the less I have to say on each chapter. I have a pretty good idea of what needs to change by now. Namely, there are scenes I’d like to cut or condense, and many more scenes I would like to tell from Zhaohui’s perspective. Malia’s character arc needs to be revised so that it does not wrap up too quickly, and so does Zhaohui’s.

I can’t devote as much of my time to Everything in Ashes. Now that school has started again I have two other writing projects (one is a short story and the other is an ongoing poetry assignment) so my creative energy is being split three ways. That being said, I’m still going to try to work on my novel everyday.

The plan moving forward is to make another Scrivener project and rewrite the outline with Zhaohui’s POV and plot changes. This time, though, I’d like to do more world building, and figure out some of the names of spells and history and stuff.

Then I’d like to begin writing the second draft, and have it ready for a critique partner (which I still need to find) by May.

Deadlines:

Finish reading the first draft by January 20, 2019.

Finish revising the outline and worldbuilding by February 20, 2019.

Alright, quick update for Everything in Ashes. While before I was reading and commenting on four chapters per day I’ve lowered to one chapter per day because of school. Nevertheless, I’m still making progress and am on Chapter 19.

I’m sensing an issue with characters lacking intermediate emotions. E.g. after shocking new information characters will accept the truth too easily. There needs to be a middle period of disbelief, contemplation, confusion, suspiscion, denial, and rationalization.

I’m 23 173 words into the first draft (ish?) of Everything in Ashes (working title) and so far things are going well. I mean, I don’t think that I’ll win NaNoWriMo but whatever. 

I came up with a synopsis yesterday that I sort of like. 

As a bloody war between the Wystare Empire and a rebel army approaches disastrous proportions, an unlikely alliance could save the world superpower from destruction. Princess Malia of Lorestan is arranged into a political marriage that will seal the deal between Drakonia and Wystare, but there’s one problem—the Draken Prince is a monster, and Malia isn’t that into guys anyway. Worse yet, Malia’s charismatic ex-girlfriend, the only one who knows her secret, is back in town to be her bride’s maid. Cornered by a vengeful ex-girlfriend and a corrupt Empire, Malia flees. In her quest for freedom, she will race death, learn forbidden magic, and fall in love. But to find salvation, Malia will have to face what she’s really truly from: herself.

Lately I’ve been struggling to work on my main project, Everything in Ashes. I had planned to finish it this summer, but then, well, COVID happened. My mental health took a huge hit, and I am still trying to climb out of a pit that I’ve been stuck in since early 2020. But hanging over my suffering health, has been an omnipresent sense of guilt for not writing. Will I never succeed if I can’t finish the book this year? How can I dream of publishing novels if I can’t even force myself to complete something? 

But that’s how learning works, isn’t it? My failures today will teach me how to succeed tomorrow. Just because I don’t finish my book this year, doesn’t mean I won’t learn from trying. Doesn’t mean I won’t eventually finish it, even if it’s not as soon as I would like. Furthermore, learning self care and stabilising my mental health is important. My health always has to come first.