Special Deal on Writing Software

I just found this out, so I'm posting as quickly as I could, but time is limited. Randy Ingermanson, whose SNOWFLAKE METHOD web page has been viewed by over a million visitors, has come out with a new piece of software to help you plan your novel. The software walks you though the planning process using the Snowflake Method. Obviously, you don't need the software to use the Snowflake Method, but if the software helps you organize your thoughts, it might be worthwhile for you. The usual selling price will be $100. It's on a special introductory sale price right now of just $20 (80% off!). I just forked over the moolah and downloaded it from his site. I haven't had time to try it out yet, but I'll do that soon and will post about it once I have.

The sale runs through Friday, November 20th, midnight (Pacific Time), I believe. Luckily I happened to find out about it today and I figured for $20 I'll bite.

Just passing along this info in case it's of interest to other writers and aspiring writers. I have no connection with Mr. Ingermanson (other than subscribing to his free newsletter) and do not receive any kickbacks or other incentives for sharing this information with you.

You might also consider the THE MARSHALL PLAN NOVEL-WRITING SOFTWARE by Evan Marshall and Martha Jewett. It's another approach and one which is very popular and well worth considering. I reviewed it recently on my blog (see earlier postings). Although I gave it 3 stars for lack of customization, it is a solid program built around an incredibly solid method for planning novels and I do highly recommend it.

Wishing you well on your plotting journeys,

Adrian

Almost At the Half-Way Point!

After a slow start, I've picked up a bit of momentum with the JASPER rewrite. I'm now up to 26,700+ words. I've finished 18 chapters. When I finish chapters 19 and 20, then I'll be at the half-way point. It's getting easier to write, the farther I get into it. I've stuck entirely to the plan.

The rewrite has already shown me a few weak points, issues I thought I had pinned down in the planning that preceded this draft. Nothing too major that I can't readily fix it in the next draft or in the editing. Overall, the plot framework is solid. Any changes will be made within the existing framework.

It's nice to be making progress!

Adrian

Gaining Ground

After starting a rewrite from scratch, but not feeling like it was "happening" for me, I went back to the beginning and started again. I've gotten farther already today, in just a few hours of writing, than I had all week with that other draft. I just needed to feel more connected, to open up my creativity and let it flow.

I'm in Chapter 4 now of the Second Complete Draft (just launched) of the JASPER novel. Present word count: about 7200 words, all of them written today. I'll write more later today.

I'm writing from my new and revised plan, which is laid out in a table in a word processing document in three columns: one for the main plot, one for the main subplot, and one for the antagonist's plot line. There are forty items in all distributed among the three columns, with most items in the main plot line, of course. I've already done extensive spreadsheet work and thought about sections (a la Marshall Plan), so at this point my table is quite simple and just lists a short phrase to help me identify what each scene/section/chapter is about. I know the story from heart and these simple reminders are all I need to clue me in at this point.

My current plan anticipates a final length of about 50,000 words for what has turned out to be a Middle Grade fantasy novel (ages 8-12). However, I'm writing so much for each chapter, that I'm probably on track for 80,000 to 90,000 words again. That's okay. I'll let it run however long it runs. By the time I'm into a final draft and editing and polishing it, I'll be able to bring the word count down to 40,000 words, but not more than 50,000 words. I know these novels are typically 30,000 to 40,000 words, but thanks to Harry Potter and other fantasy series many of them are now 60,000, 70,000, 90,000, even longer. I'll keep mine on the shorter end of this, but am willing to take a chance if it's a little beyond the 40,000 threshold.

I think I'll just stay in the flow and keep writing, and write my way through the entire story. I did that before, in the First Complete Draft. That draft fell apart in the second half. Although I completed it, it had major plot problems. I have supposedly fixed those problems with my new and revised plan, so trying the new plan out by writing at length in a leisurely and expansive way is probably a good thing to do. I'll get to see how the story plays out, whether I've solved all the plot issues as I think I have. Writing at length will also let me explore more fully the characters and their motivations as well as their actions. When I'm finished with this Second Complete Draft, then I'll reflect, shorten, and possibly start a Third Complete Draft. (I know of highly-successful writers who write many complete drafts to hone their stories before editing and polishing the final version. They have to practice telling the story several times to get it down. They can recognize easily when they're done, telling it the way it was meant to be told. Food for thought.)

What's nice is that my drafts these days are written in a style that is very readable, pretty close to a finished manuscript. In other words, I've spent a lot of time working on how I construct sentences and paragraphs over the past few years, and I'm turning out much better prose at the outset. I can still tweak it till the cows come home, or the dragons return to their caves, but the truth is when you start with better quality, it takes less work to tighten and polish it. I can certainly still pare it down, but the underlying sentence and paragraph patterns are solid. Score one for the hard-working!

Interestingly, the key to my success with this draft, at this point in the process, has nothing to do with plotting. What is essential right now is getting into the FLOW. I have to FEEL the story. I have to live it, to experience it with the characters. I have to get truly wrapped up in it, so that when I'm writing it, I'm able to capture it vividly. I have to have the right mind-set for the story, capture the right voice or style that works for telling it. I have to draw the characters in a way that brings them to life. I have to really get into it, or else the draft will fall flat. It's not about plotting now. It's about making it real.

Can't write from an outline?

You can, if you slow yourself down, look beyond the outline, have internalized the outline. Get beyond it, use it to guide you, but see past it. See the story. Become the story. Live and breathe the story. Bring it to life. Lose yourself in it while you do. But always, keep yourself on track, which is easy now because you KNOW the story.

I'm in the zone, and I'm gaining ground.

And, most importantly, I'm enjoying it.

Best wishes for your own writing enjoyment,

Adrian

Back in Writing Mode!

I completed the dissection and re-plotting of the JASPER novel last week, and have been partly expanding on my new framework by writing more notes, and partly writing new manuscript pages. I'm eager to work on this new draft, which will be a complete draft from start to finish, but I'm finding it a bit awkward here at the outset since I changed some key aspects of the story, and am having to re-find or re-interpret the characters. It's not impossible, just a bit of a creative stretch. I expect to land on my feet soon.

The changes, specifically, are to make the MC more active, clearly the central player, with clear-cut goals for each scene. In the original version of the story, the MC's ally (close friend) was also a major player who made decisions and instigated action. He is still critically important to the story, but I'm moving some of his decisions to the MC, and restricting his decisions to ones that are necessarily HIS and not the MC's. Also, the second ally character, who is a "changeling" character (friend here, enemy there, or ???), comes across a little differently as well, more goal-directed -- heck, they're ALL more goal-directed now, and that was the point of reworking the story!

It's November. Happy Writing!

Adrian

Unraveling Competing Plot Lines

For many months now, whenever I work on the plotting problems of the JASPER novel, it seems no matter what question I answer, there are always other questions that remain unanswered. Usually, once you get to a certain point, you reach critical mass and things start coming together. One answer automatically suggests several other answers. Not so here. Why?

It turns out the cause was hiding in plain sight: I added plot twists when I was writing, to make the story richer and more interesting, and less predictable. However, these competing threads were never properly laid out, never planned in their entirety so they would work together over the course of the entire novel. Any one of them makes sense at any given point -- the point at which the half-baked plot idea was conceived and thrown into the mix. The result is competing plot lines, rather than complementary plot lines. Hence, the revision work has been a lot like a Greek hero fighting a multi-headed Greek monster -- knock off one attacker and another one strikes.

Ugh....

At least now I see the source of the confusion. To help resolve this, ONCE and FOR ALL, which is the only way stories ever get finished, I resorted to some basic plotting maneuvers. I separated out the distinct plot lines, wrote out a short list of the major events for each plot line, from the POV of whichever character was closest to each plot line (the originator of that thread of action), and then I considered what/how/if the various plot lines complement each other. In other words, I've been doing what I should have done at the outset.

This has helped tremendously. I'm not done with it yet but I've made good progress. This approach has helped simplify the story and clarify competing character goals ("competing" in the sense that they could belong to different stories).

So, when the confusion gets to be too much, here's a good rule of thumb: break it down to its constituent parts, and work with smaller, more focused pieces. Establish the priorities, favor whichever plot line presents itself as the main plot line, and work in the others in a way that is helpful. Don't try to be a hero and take everything on all at once when all you need to do is divide and conquer. Take things on in sequence, one at a time, and you'll make your way. Or, to put it another way, don't mistake a lemon for a lemming.

Hero: 1
Hydra: 0

Blessed be the conquerors who persevere,

Adrian

P.S. By way of background, remember that I usually plan my stories in great detail. JASPER was one story that I didn't plan. I just jumped in, wanting to unfetter my creativity after many months of intense, constrained, directed effort on other novels. It was good to loosen up, but I'm paying for it now. Hopefully the repair work is about done, and I'll be able to rewrite and edit as needed to finish this gem of a story before the holidays.

I'm Plotting Again . . . .

Yes, I'm plotting again! Gearing up for the next major push on the JASPER novel. I have solved several plot problems, but am still wrestling with the details at the end of the novel.

As soon as I finish this plotting work, I'll get back to writing / re-writing toward a completed second draft. The key is to keep it simple.

I'm excited about this story!

Adrian

PS -- Still Reading!

Web Site Closing

Just a quick note to let visitors to my site know that I am closing my web site, which has been hosted on Geocities for over two years now. The reason for this is the fact that Geocities itself is closing. It was taken over by Yahoo some time ago, and Yahoo has decided to close Geocities and migrate accounts over to their regular (PAID) web hosting services. I had a paid account at Geocities, but instead of just migrating my site over to the new Yahoo version, I've decided it's time to close it entirely and re-open it elsewhere at a later date. This will allow me to either:

A) find a free service for a simple web site, which is all I had on Geocities and frankly all I really need; or

B) find a paid service that offers features I feel like paying for, in case I launch a more robust site (which has always been my goal, but I never have the time to build one since my priority is writing!).

Regardless of the route I take, I will migrate THE GAY MAN'S GUIDE TO WRITING FANTASY FICTION to the new web site and will let you know once it's available again.

Anyhoo, just letting y'all know what's up. My blogs on Blogger will continue without interruption, unless Blogger is also taken over by Yahoo and then I'll be looking for a new blog site! (haha)

Until soon,

Adrian