Saturday, October 11, 2014

Multiple Projects or How to Drive Yourself Nuts in One Not So Simple Step

So, I'm preparing my NANOWRIMO project - doing the research, making fundamental decisions about plot and such. All of which means, I'm not working on other projects as often as I would like. World building is no simple task. While a lot can be taken for granted, a lot more just can't. Even the seemingly simple matter of creating a space ship requires many decisions, large and small.

And this is what I'm working on right now.

Google images have helped a lot. I have a good idea of what my hero's ship looks like as well as some of the interior. Unfortunately, there's a lot of Trek in this ship and that's only because those images make up the most of what Google finds for me. But at least I have an idea of what things look like so that I can describe them but only just enough for the reader's mind to take over.

I do have some of the characters created, however, which is a major step forward, along with names and appearances. Appearances courtesy of Google images as well. Again, they aren't all exactly as I pictured but I now have enough to describe them.

I even have some blurbs written for some of my characters to remind myself of their role in the story. Personalities must also be decided, which means lots more blurb writing to get done before November 1. I use Scrivener for my writing but haven't always used some of the more helpful functions since I usually write by the seat of my pants. For this project, however, because of the need for an intensive writing flow once the writing part gets started, I'm using the outlining tools so that I know what happens in each scene. Chapters will be decided later.

Not as easy as it sounds without doing more than just writing a synopsis. I tend to want to go further but I am trying to restrain myself. I want every written word to count once I'm writing scenes next month. I do have a pretty good idea of where things are going to start as well as some of the early plot points. There is a tutorial on Writer's Digest right now about plot structure and I plan to listen to that this weekend.

As for the other projects in the works...

I now have the 2nd draft project more or less completed. The newly written parts are now connected up to the original last quarter so I can now go back and read from the beginning to see where it needs more work. I do know that the first draft ending will probably change a bit. There is one plot point that will need revisited but I'm now thinking it will not be resolved in this book. Since I have a series in mind for this one, that's where many of the loose ends will be tied up.

The 1st draft project is still on hold and will remain so until NANOWRIMO and the 2nd draft project is completed.

That's where things stand for now.

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