I know, I know. I’m insane. But I really had no more time than 3 days to break between GOES DOWN EASY and DEEP BREATH. Thursday was my first day back at it.
I also heard from my editor on what revisions she needs done on the Blaze. The external plot works. The red herrings are good, the villainy believable and interestingly twisted. The characters and their stories compelling. All I need to do is work on bringing out even more of who my hero is, where he’s from, and do some mid-book expansion of the romance.
Since she’s in and out of the office and then off to RWA, I have until 8/2 to get that done, yay! And now that I’ve let the story sit for a few days, I’m anxious to look at it again with a fresh eye and do the weaving that needs to be done.
But Thursday it was back to working on Harry’s story. See? Two chapters ready to be written. I love this part, figuring out what scenes or segments I need to occur in what order.
This time, however, I’ve added another element - one I’m calling a logic board. In essence, it repeats much of the notes jotted on the plotting stickies, but it allows me to go into more detail on the logic behind the scene.
This isn’t always the same as motivation. When I was writing GOES DOWN EASY, I had a fairly complicated plot to pull off in a fairly short number of words. The outside elements were there, and the character motivations were there, but I found myself having to jot “logic” notes, i.e., how did my external plot get from one point to another, what jumps did I take, what clues did I leave, etc., so that I didn’t drop threads.
And then, of course, I did the fun photo part!
Harry and Georgia and Finn and Charlie and the waitress who has yet to be named, and the diner, and the auction house, and the ranch, and Morganna, the 1958 Buick Convertible. *g*
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Those writing boards still scare the crap out of me. They work so well you but, man, I want to cry every single time I see them.
by HelenKay July 22nd, 2005 at 6:42 amWow Alison. This has been interesting–to see your process. I’m a new writer and I have follow a process of writing from an outline (that I’m seeming never to adhere to completely, but it serves as a good starting point to me), and doing detailed character sketches. I like your photos board! Unique character descriptions are one thing that I seem to have trouble with. I do think it might help if I could gather pictures of what I think a character looks like and keep it handy. I do take my own pictures for setting. Thanks so much for sharing!
by Cherlyn July 22nd, 2005 at 9:29 amCherlyn - In a perfect world, I’d have weeks or months to think out a book and line up all the details. But since I pretty much go into a story knowing only my main turning points, these visual assitants are great. I jotted more logic notes this morning. One of the twists I need to keep in mind.
Writing is too damn hard, LOL!
by Alison July 22nd, 2005 at 11:22 amThat is cool Alison. That is a lot of hard work too. i hope you have fun in the process.
by kim July 22nd, 2005 at 11:28 amIt’s cool to see the process you go thru to get a book written. Thanks for sharing!
by Elizabeth July 22nd, 2005 at 11:53 amThank you for the peek into your writing process. I know I am in need of further organization, and pre-planning before jumping into the actual writing. I move too soon, get stuck and abandon the project. No more. Taking my time, I am realizing (as an unpublished writer) it is not a race (yet). It looks like the color of your stickies has an additional meaning. Care to share?
by deb July 23rd, 2005 at 11:12 amDeb - I don’t do a huge amount of preplanning except to write a synopsis (which I have to do for my editor) and include the three major turning points for each of the acts and then the denouement. My sticky notes, etc., come when I actually do the writing and need specific organization as to seeing if I’m balancing viewpoints and not spending too much time on one plotline over another. Each sticky is either a person’s viewpoint and what happens during that scene, or a note about building up the romance or deepening the external plot.
by Alison July 23rd, 2005 at 11:20 amI love storyboards. I do them all the time as I write. I think your sticky note idea is great. I’m using it now.
by Patricia July 23rd, 2005 at 8:38 pmHi, Patricia, welcome! I ended up doing a lot more actual storyboard on paper, erasing, moving, rewriting - and it got to be too much! So I took this idea from Cherry Adair and combined it with tips from a writing class I took years ago from Jo Leigh, and voila!
by Alison July 23rd, 2005 at 9:09 pmAlison, I am eighteen and got an idea in my head and just started writting. I am about six pages in and want to finish my story. Should I go back and start a story board or what? I kinda get intimidated reading all you do to prepare and wonder if I can do it. I love writting but never can finish a story when my ideas run out. HELP1
by Erika July 24th, 2005 at 11:42 pmErika - I wrote over 20 books without a storyboard, so you have to do what’s right for you. I only started using it with my last Brava book, as I needed it to keep all my subplots and characters organized!
by Alison July 25th, 2005 at 8:50 am