Topic of the Month: Book or Sudden Death?
How did you plan the last novel you wrote (and successfully finished)? Outline? Synopsis? Summary? Divination Rod? Nuthin' at all?
Book or Sudden Death?
I didn't plan anything.
Well, that's not true. I had some characters rolling around in my head, and they wanted me to play with them. So I had this vague idea about writing a Victorian vampire novel, and there would be serial killings and bloodlettings and what not, and every single thing I planned to write? I never wrote at all. There's not a single scene in THE VESPERTINE that I had intended to put there before I started. The only scrap remaining from my original idea is the setting- Baltimore, in 1889, and the two lead characters, Amelia and Nathaniel.
Before I got started, I spent a week or two reading period books to make sure that I understood the place I planned to go. I wanted to get the feel of the 1880s on my skin, so I wouldn't feel constantly lost. I actually wrote a few pages during this phase, just to align my voice with the period. Once I felt confident that I had the voice that I wanted, and enough details for verisimilitude (and the characters being all obnoxious in my head at night,) I scheduled myself 3 months to write the first draft. 1000 words a day X 90 days would be more than enough time to write 60,000 words of YA draft.
Beginnings are always hard for me. I know plenty of people hate the saggy middle, but for me, it's the introduction and exposition with which I struggle. So, to make sure I got those 1000 words done each day, I used Write or Die. And, almost as importantly, I banned myself from "research" - which is what I like to call it when I decide it's time to procrastinate for a few hours by looking up the name of period theatres in a particular city, or finding out what local wildflowers grow in a region, right in the middle of a sentence. Write or Die made me write my thousand words and gave me no room to get off task. Anywhere I needed research, I left a note in the text (name of garment) or (regional food item).
After I finished my scheduled words, I would go back and refine- and THEN I could look up all the random trivia on which I'd normally blow half my day. Every single meal my characters eat is both authentic to the period, AND seasonally available in the region- and now that I've written that sentence, you now see why I have to stop myself from "researching" while writing. Nobody cares if braised celery was in season for spring in Maryland in 1889- except me. After my words were done, I also spent time looking at period costume porn, and watching clips from period movies on YouTube, because it was fun, and it helped keep me in the right frame of mind.
Once I got about halfway through the book, I didn't need Write or Die to prod me anymore. I still scheduled myself for 1000 words a day- and I refused to carry a balance. Even if I wrote 4000 words instead of 1000, the next day, I still owed my book 1000 words. I didn't take a single day off, because I've learned dealing with my unruly self in the past that if I give myself a break, I lose my momentum.
Which is not to say there weren't days when that !@#()@ thousand words seemed insurmountable, but the suicide method really worked for me. If I couldn't get my act together in my word processor, I had to go back to Write or Die. Since Write or Die would start deleting if I started goofing off, I had a constant, urging presence to keep me working. And because scheduling, no days off, and Write or Die created such a great sense of momentum for me, I finished the first draft of THE VESPERTINE, weighing in at 56k, in 34 days.
There was never a plan. All I knew is that I wanted to write a gothic tragedy, set in Baltimore, in 1889, and then I sat down and did it. And even though no vampires emerged from the shadows, and not a single serial murder is to be had in the pages, I totally love where we ended up when it was all done.
I think that the most important thing we can take from this topic of the month is that everybody has to have structure. Some people find it in structuring their story before they start- pre-plotting and outlining, and color-coding handsome charts. Some people, like me, find it in restricting and regimenting the workspace and work schedule. It's obvious that every single method we talk about here works- for us. Finding YOUR method is the most important thing you can do for yourself as a writer.
There is no one way; there are a hundred ways. Make your own, and good luck!
-Saundra Mitchell