As a Canadian I never thought I'd say this, but I long for winter...

I realize the heatwaves are an international problem that's happening worldwide. But for pity's sake, I live in Canada, it shouldn't be this bad!

I had a bad night yesterday, too hot and I couldn't concentrate on anything. So I decided to move my laptop elsewhere and see if I could get some writing done. Results: Cooler conditions = 1000 words typed. I need to move to the arctic...

Chapter 2 is now 2/3 done at least, and I'm working on wrapping up the chapter while it's still the cooler morning weather.

I keep discovering new things as I write this story. This brings me back to an earlier post about outlines. Stories change and evolve, so outlines can't be written in stone, otherwise there would be no natural evolution of the story. It's important to me to always look at the bigger picture and always be willing to learn new things. I'm very grateful to have an open mind, I doubt I would be able to create such a highly fictional world otherwise.

There's a line I often have to draw, of course. When using my imagination, the possibilities are endless. I always allow a story to evolve, but I won't let my imagination run away with me. Well, most of the time anyway. This is the difference between possible and plausible. In fiction, it doesn't have to be possible, just plausible. It has to be sensible at least. Random example, if I killed off all the main characters in the second chapter, while death happens and it is possible, it's anything but plausible. In fact, that would be just silly. Sure, I can imagine anything, but that doesn't mean I should write everything. I have to draw that line.

Another aspect to this story that I'm finding very interesting, is making sure the metaphors or analogies are appropriate for the character within the context of this story, especially since I'm writing in the first person. Though I have found this could apply to writing in the third person. It's such a little thing most people don't notice, but I've seen improper use of metaphors that I know the characters wouldn't be able to think of. Again, not plausible. Not to mention, completely out of context.

For example, I once read in a novel, written in the first person, thought by a teenage girl, "It's like typing the words 'The End' on a manuscript." Er, she's a teenager, unless she miraculously wrote and published novels (which she didn't in this story), she wouldn't have that experience. It was the wrong comparison to make. The only way that could have worked, is if it was written in the third person.... maybe. I felt the author didn't even know their own character.

So I'm having fun trying to find the right comparisons that are within the realm of the character's experience. I'll come up with an analogy and think to myself, would the character even know what beet-red looks like in this post-apocalyptic world? Are there any beets? See, this is the biggest difference between mapping out all aspects of a story (outlines, character development, etc) and writing by the seat of my pants. Thought is needed before and during in order to truly craft a story.

Okay, a couple more hours of nice morning weather. Back to writing...

Research, Timelines and Outlines, Oh My!

Lots of real life stuff happening right now, and it'll pick up again in a little while. For now, I have some leeway so I might as well use the time to my advantage.

Yesterday, in a flash, I figured out a system to organize all books in the series. It's simple, really. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner. All I'm going to do is organize the events and the plot lines according to the overall geography of North America. I'm not going into specifics, that would be giving away too much but I do hope I wasn't too vague, either.

So, at this point I've cetainly done enough research, to a point I might be overdoing it. That's the thing about research and why some authors might be quite adverse to it. It can be easy to get bogged down by the minutae, all those tiny details. For me, it's very  important to keep my imagination in check and recognize where to draw the line.

After all, the whole point is to write fiction and enjoy full creative expression.

My next step is to make charts for myself to organize a timeline. I'm not sure if these timelines will be overly detailed for every single book, or if I'm going to just concentrate on one book at time. The latter would be easier and involve less pressure, but on the other hand, I tend to do my best work under pressure. So I guess I'll just have to play this by ear.

Part of working on a timeline, would be also developing an outline. Some authors argue they'd rather fly by the seat of their pants than write an outline. I couldn't disagree more. The ability to write outlines is a sign of professionalism. If you want to write nothing but unprofessional commecial fiction that would probably never get published, that's your choice. But I'm a believer of professionalism above all else.

I have seen some confusion about outlines. First, with creative writing absolutely nothing is written in stone. Outlines can be changed and rewritten. Stories often change and go in an unexpected direction, so outlines will need to be changed. For the manuscript I currently have in circulation, I tweaked and rewrote some aspects of my original outline 3 times. I'm quite content with that. Whatever I need to do to make the story in my head a reality, I'm more than willing, and this includes outlines.

Personally, I don't know of any writer who was able to complete a full story without some kind of outline. The whole flying by the seat of your pants is a bit of a myth. No human being on the face of the planet has that level of genius. Seriously, they would have to have IQ's that were off the charts. It just doesn't happen. So when I hear of a writer claiming to write "by the seat of their pants" I'm very suspicious of whether they are being honest.

Bear in mind I am referring to novel writing, which means a completed story of at least 50, 000 words. (And in the case of a series of novels, we're talking thousands and thousands of words). For short stories and poems, I can certainly see the benefit of not writing an outline and just enjoy free creativity. But for organizing a whole freaking novel, geez, how could I not use an outline?

So, my next step is pretty clear now. Time to work on outlines, stop lazing about and write the damn prologue already. *nods*