Writing Process
Mar. 22nd, 2007 02:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alanajoliI've mentioned that getting into writing this third book in the trilogy has been difficult for me, in part because I know that, on the one hand, there's quite a lot to resolve. On the other hand, I resolved quite a lot in Departure, so some of the inter-personal conflicts that had been building have stopped building.
In some ways, I model the forumla for a good trilogy off of the original Star Wars movies--the first trilogy I was aware of as a three-part-whole. The first movie is the set up, introducing the characters, having them win some great success together and solidify themselves as a team. The second is about the personal development of those characters, resolving (at least to some degree) the romantic tension built in the first story, while still building the conflict that holds the trilogy together in an arc. The third brings all the loose ends built into the first two stories together. (Keith Baker is just mean that he didn't do this in his "Dreaming Dark" trilogy, but it is rumored that he may have further books with the same characters on the way, so I won't hold it against him.) Book three probably has large-scale combat and grand special effects--however those translate into prose.
Problematically, my forte is the stuff that happens in part two of my ideal trilogy structure, and now I'm concerned that I've written myself into a corner.
I've outlined the next several sections (I don't call them chapters, because they're really just POV shifts), and I know the major things that have to happen in the novel. Getting there, however, is a struggle, and I'm not writing anywhere close to the five pages per day I really need to get done in order to meet my deadline. (I am managing to get more than five pages done on the days where I banish myself from the internet to write, so hopefully that will keep me on schedule.)
To share a bit of my current writing process with you, I'll describe the documents I have open on my desktop:
1) Regaining Home, single spaced, at about 30 pages. I told my editor I would turn in through page 60 tomorrow. Heh.
2) Calendar. This is the cheat sheet for the months, days, and seasons in the Chronicles of Ramlar campaign setting. It contains major holidays and the birthdays of my characters.
3) Into the Reach (second edit). This keeps me from flipping pages when I need to remember which of Tejarkn's ancestors that helmet belonged to, and etc.
4) "Characters appearing in Regaining Home." This is a document similar to the "Families" document I developed for Departure. It gives the characters who are related to each other, in what basic way, how old they are, what their names mean (if relevant), and a very little bit about what we know of them. Sometimes this is from the previous two novels, sometimes it's from the RPG (or the forthcoming Allies and Adversaries).
5) "Book 3." These are notes I developed as I finished Departure, reminding me of the loose ends I have to tie up. They include such things as: "Mordyss's body was taken back to the mountains of madness" and "The Stones of War (from Departure are special, possibly originally carved by Tylvare and Titans."
6) Departure (final edit). I had to use this one the other day to remember if I'd ever described Lydia's brother Eoin's hair color. I hadn't.
So those six documents are roughly keeping me on track. I've had to pull up a couple of preview pages from Allies and Adversaries (the two describing Zychariss and Istolil Hune, the two "epic" characters in the campaign setting) to make sure I'm writing the characters as they've been envisioned by their creators. That's quite a bit of a challenge, as well.
Right now I'm listening to the "Chronicles of Ramlar Official Sountrack" while I write. This is the first time I've listened to it, and while I think it's probably a good gaming background, but rather dissonant for writing to. Some bits have been very pleasant, but then they go into what feels like "combat mode," which hasn't been terribly helpful as I'm writing a sneaking scene right now.
In some ways, I model the forumla for a good trilogy off of the original Star Wars movies--the first trilogy I was aware of as a three-part-whole. The first movie is the set up, introducing the characters, having them win some great success together and solidify themselves as a team. The second is about the personal development of those characters, resolving (at least to some degree) the romantic tension built in the first story, while still building the conflict that holds the trilogy together in an arc. The third brings all the loose ends built into the first two stories together. (Keith Baker is just mean that he didn't do this in his "Dreaming Dark" trilogy, but it is rumored that he may have further books with the same characters on the way, so I won't hold it against him.) Book three probably has large-scale combat and grand special effects--however those translate into prose.
Problematically, my forte is the stuff that happens in part two of my ideal trilogy structure, and now I'm concerned that I've written myself into a corner.
I've outlined the next several sections (I don't call them chapters, because they're really just POV shifts), and I know the major things that have to happen in the novel. Getting there, however, is a struggle, and I'm not writing anywhere close to the five pages per day I really need to get done in order to meet my deadline. (I am managing to get more than five pages done on the days where I banish myself from the internet to write, so hopefully that will keep me on schedule.)
To share a bit of my current writing process with you, I'll describe the documents I have open on my desktop:
1) Regaining Home, single spaced, at about 30 pages. I told my editor I would turn in through page 60 tomorrow. Heh.
2) Calendar. This is the cheat sheet for the months, days, and seasons in the Chronicles of Ramlar campaign setting. It contains major holidays and the birthdays of my characters.
3) Into the Reach (second edit). This keeps me from flipping pages when I need to remember which of Tejarkn's ancestors that helmet belonged to, and etc.
4) "Characters appearing in Regaining Home." This is a document similar to the "Families" document I developed for Departure. It gives the characters who are related to each other, in what basic way, how old they are, what their names mean (if relevant), and a very little bit about what we know of them. Sometimes this is from the previous two novels, sometimes it's from the RPG (or the forthcoming Allies and Adversaries).
5) "Book 3." These are notes I developed as I finished Departure, reminding me of the loose ends I have to tie up. They include such things as: "Mordyss's body was taken back to the mountains of madness" and "The Stones of War (from Departure are special, possibly originally carved by Tylvare and Titans."
6) Departure (final edit). I had to use this one the other day to remember if I'd ever described Lydia's brother Eoin's hair color. I hadn't.
So those six documents are roughly keeping me on track. I've had to pull up a couple of preview pages from Allies and Adversaries (the two describing Zychariss and Istolil Hune, the two "epic" characters in the campaign setting) to make sure I'm writing the characters as they've been envisioned by their creators. That's quite a bit of a challenge, as well.
Right now I'm listening to the "Chronicles of Ramlar Official Sountrack" while I write. This is the first time I've listened to it, and while I think it's probably a good gaming background, but rather dissonant for writing to. Some bits have been very pleasant, but then they go into what feels like "combat mode," which hasn't been terribly helpful as I'm writing a sneaking scene right now.
