Last week, I discussed how due to serious difficulties writing anything resembling a decent sequel to The Talented, I turned to Randy Ingermanson's Snowflake Method for help, and planned to fight past my inner laziness to actually complete all the steps.
Well, today I am reporting that I've mostly done that. I did skip the character sketch step for the moment, since it's a sequel and I'm familiar with the characters, although I plan to come back to that if I ever sit down to write and don't know what to put down, because then at least I'm working on the same novel, instead of getting sidetracked again and again.
That said, while I obviously haven't finished writing the sequel yet, I do have a good start on it because I have my scene list down. I've never really made a scene list before. The closest I've come to that would be when writing a NaNo novel like The Emperor's Daughter, where I'd plug in scenes as they came to me in Scrivener until I got something coherent. But that's NaNo, something I do for fun. I take my Talented series more seriously, which is why I'm willing to keep rewriting that sequel again and again until I get it right.
But back to that scene list...what did I learn?
Firstly, that I preferred writing the long synopsis to the scene list. Secondly, that my scenes don't naturally have enough conflict, and thirdly, that if I try to plot this way, my "novel" will probably have about 20,000 words. As of now, my scene list only consists of seventeen scenes. I know I will end up adding more, but what more I can't see yet, because even though I can see the story better now, I can't decide which added scenes would enhance the story, and which would be fluff. So I'll start with those seventeen and keep the list fluid.
However, despite my dissatisfaction with a scene list of only seventeen scenes, I'm otherwise pleased with the exercise, because that plus the synopsis has allowed me to see this novel for the first time, and I think that means I have a chance of actually completing a draft worth keeping.
So if you're as stuck as I was, try a different plotting method to get the juices flowing. It can't hurt!
Well, today I am reporting that I've mostly done that. I did skip the character sketch step for the moment, since it's a sequel and I'm familiar with the characters, although I plan to come back to that if I ever sit down to write and don't know what to put down, because then at least I'm working on the same novel, instead of getting sidetracked again and again.
That said, while I obviously haven't finished writing the sequel yet, I do have a good start on it because I have my scene list down. I've never really made a scene list before. The closest I've come to that would be when writing a NaNo novel like The Emperor's Daughter, where I'd plug in scenes as they came to me in Scrivener until I got something coherent. But that's NaNo, something I do for fun. I take my Talented series more seriously, which is why I'm willing to keep rewriting that sequel again and again until I get it right.
But back to that scene list...what did I learn?
Firstly, that I preferred writing the long synopsis to the scene list. Secondly, that my scenes don't naturally have enough conflict, and thirdly, that if I try to plot this way, my "novel" will probably have about 20,000 words. As of now, my scene list only consists of seventeen scenes. I know I will end up adding more, but what more I can't see yet, because even though I can see the story better now, I can't decide which added scenes would enhance the story, and which would be fluff. So I'll start with those seventeen and keep the list fluid.
However, despite my dissatisfaction with a scene list of only seventeen scenes, I'm otherwise pleased with the exercise, because that plus the synopsis has allowed me to see this novel for the first time, and I think that means I have a chance of actually completing a draft worth keeping.
So if you're as stuck as I was, try a different plotting method to get the juices flowing. It can't hurt!
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