Tag: novel

Very Tiny Countdown

~ Scott W. Baker ~ Leave a comment

It’s a NaNo countdown…very tiny…? Ah, what do you know from funny?

The outline is officially fully-formed, character intro to denouement, even a 2-page coda at the end.  While chapters are really glorified scenes, each scene is fully structured in its own little outline.  It’s a masterpiece of outlining if I do say so myself.  And, in the spirit of giving credit where it is due, I want to give the credit for this to my word processor, Scrivener.

The layout of Scrivener is very much designed for the outliner.  At first I was turned off by this because, contrary to my recent blog history, I am not an outliner.  I’m a pantser (but not the kind that sneaks up behind you and pulls down your gym shorts).  However, as I learned during last year’s NaNo, writing a novel is not really a pantser’s game.  Some degree of planning and structure is a necessity, though how much and what form varies author to author.  The only novel I ever finished writing was the very first thing I wrote, for which I had an outline (complete with Roman numerals and indents).  Scrivener’s index card system gave me tools with which to brainstorm and organize my thoughts; quite a feat, as anyone who has ever seen my desk can attest.  Moreover, the outlining system gives me the framework to start writing scenes and keep those scenes linked to the respective portion of the outline.  And I can’t wait to get to it.

I have only used Scrivener for one other project before, a very segmented short story entitled “The Scrapper and the Saint Bernard” for the collection Galactic Creatures.  In that story, each index card was a scene in which the main character spoke into his space suit’s recording device. It was 100% dialog, though 95% of the story was him talking to himself or to a mostly inanimate satellite.  (Confused?  Think Cast Away in space.)  Anyway, the story was very experimental in format and I wanted to have a feel for the structure before I tried to write the story; it needed a descent into delirium I had never attempted, and without stage directions.  I embraced the structure and was incredibly happy with the result.  There may well be something to this whole outlining thing.

Still, we’re talking about a sentence or two to structure each thousand words.  A pretty thorough substructure, no doubt, but I still have a whole lot of gaps to fill during the writing process.  And the outline went through some growing pains as each chapter notecard grew into 3-6 notecards.  Chapters split, merged, reorganized, new chapters spawned.  I’d be a fool to think the same won’t happen in the writing process.  And again when I finally reach the editing phase.  This is by far the largest project I’ve ever undertaken and I have done ten times the prep that I’ve put into any other project.  I have no excuse to fail.  So I guess I’d better not.

My goals for the next two days include reacquainting myself with the first few chapters of the outline and condensing my novel into an elevator pitch so I can tell people what the heck I’m writing without robbing them of a half hour.  That may be the biggest challenge of the bunch.

It’s almost here; good luck, WriMos!

Shopping Sprees and Other Bad Habits

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 3 Comments

I went to the used bookstore yesterday.  I love that place, but it’s not quite what it used to be.  Not sure why, but their SF section seems like they washed it in hot water.  I used to be able to find lots of Writers of the Future volumes there, but this time I found only volume 3 and a best-of edition.  I bought both despite their not-quite-reduced-enough prices.  I also picked up the third Star Wars short story collection in Kevin J. Anderson’s brilliant idea series (listen to him talk sometime — like at the Superstars of Writing Seminar in Utah — and he’ll tell you all about how they happened), Tales of the Bounty Hunters.  I’ve been curious about his Mos Eisley/Jabba’s Palace/Bounty Hunter collection, so I was pleased to find one.  I also nabbed Neil Gaiman’s Stardust (cute movie, better than anticipated), the newest copy of Analog I could find (this past May)…and I think that’s it.  Maybe one other I can’t recall.  Nothing I was dying to own, but all stuff I was happy to add to my collection.  Just don’t tell my wife.

In other news, I finished my Codex Halloween Contest story in time to compete for no prize whatsoever.  I’m fairly pleased with it, even if it does meander a bit.  I’m hoping to get some insight from other members on how to tighten things up.  I can’t read their comments until I vote, however, and I still have 7 or 8 left to read.

As I was recently asked in a comment, “How is the novel going?”  The status bar has been telling the whole story…nowhere.  I’ve come to the realization that my characters are the type my daughter plays with, with the clothing you put on them by folding down the little tabs.  Remember those?  Yeah, they were made out of cardboard, too.  Thin cardboard.  I need to do some serious character discovery before going further.  

So now I’m going to take part in my favorite writer-hobby: novel jumping.  I’m much happier with the development in my Naked Man story which has recently revealed to me it must be novel length.  It’s a stand-alone novel set on another planet and focusing on a bizarre religious custom based on an actual Japanese custom.  I’ve decided to work on this one as opposed to the YA SF novel…or the old YA fantasy novel…or the military SF novel…or the SF sports novel…or the other fantasy novel…(wow, lots of irons in the mental fire)…because it’s the most like my WotF winner.  That’s pretty much it.  But the similarities are good.  Well-developed (at least mentally) milieu: society, planet, religion, and colony infrastructure are all pretty clear to me.  The story centers on a few multi-facetted characters while the stereotypes get pulled in as minor players.  The conflict grows in stages and builds to a very significant size, all while building the internal conflict in the protagonist.  The conflict will affect multiple areas of the protag’s life: job, girlfriend, mother, brother, religious beliefs, self-image, view of society, and all in different ways.  It’s a deep story that says a lot about my personal view of religion and health care in America while extrapolating it enough that even I have a hard time recognizing it.  It’s ambitious in a way that will stand out from other novels.  Whatever novel I finish first, I suspect this one will be my first sale.  So it gets my attention.  No more switching until it’s done.  Maybe.

Too long away from the bar

~ Scott W. Baker ~ Leave a comment

The progress bar for my YA novel, that is. I haven’t updated the blue in months despite some significant work happening during part of that. I didn’t update because I’d created a mess with some parts written twice and some pieces skipped over. To clear it all up, I cut and pasted the less desirable portion (albeit longer portion) into a different file so I could feel free to delete. From that big chop I’ve typed a little more and now my word count is about 10,000. That puts me up to 20% of my 50,000-word blind target.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I jotted down some notes from what I had before but I haven’t gone back to make the changes in the file, since I may well want to change them again before the end.  Mostly I wanted to read my copy so far to get back on the page I needed to be on.  I feel like I’ve overlooked a subplot and spent too much time on a character quirk, but I can iron all that out later.

I’m currently in a slow part of the story where a lot of milieu building, character building, and foreshadowing take place.  I know, boring.  I need to toss a little sabotage or paranoia in the mix.  Again, later.  Once I power through the next 1000 words or so, I’m into raw plot.  It’ll take another few thousand, maybe even the halfway point of the book, before the big game-changing conflict strikes.  The pacing is a little off, I’m sure; short stories are not just little novels.  As I read Old Man’s War — John Scalzi’s premiere novel, not totally outside the length target of my project — I am paying careful attention to things like pacing.  Never stop learning.

So the bar is current and I’ll update it more soon.  Jason Fischer (the Aussie in the mix at WotF 26) has cast down the gauntlet (though I think it was actually a mitten) challenging the WotF crew to write a thousand words a day.  I had already written about 800 today before the mitten dropped; I intend to hunt-and-peck a good 7000 words over the next week, though maybe not evenly spaced over the days.  I guess I’m targeting 1200 tomorrow.  If I can produce that much consistently, I’ll have a novel by month’s end.  Nevermind I have to get my Codex Halloween story written sometime…I’ll just deal with that later.  I’m a novelist for the next few weeks.  And hopefully a lot longer.

Long Lists and Short Progress

~ Scott W. Baker ~ Leave a comment

Found out this morning that my story T.O.L. has been added to ASIM’s shortlist.  That’s two stories in their holding pattern.  However the email says that only one in twenty stories has been making the transition from short list to print.  If that’s the case, they need to rename their short list or start being pickier, even with my stories.  A timely rejection with some positive comments (theirs always have comments) is a lot more useful to me than a three month hold followed by a rejection.  I could have the story in and out of one to four markets in three months.  I think I will stop sending them stories for a while, at least until the two stories are printed or released.  Their response times have slowed significantly and with this one-in-twenty thing, their backlog must be overwhelming.

In less encouraging news, I missed my two chapter goal for the weekend.  It turned into a half-chapter weekend.  Boo to me.  Lots of excuses, little production.  I need those chapters done by the end of the week.

There is a new possible distraction on the horizon, an opportunity that I was very excited about four years ago when it fell through and now I am on the fence about.  Like I need another distraction.  But it’s part of the goals I set for myself long ago.  I may still back out before it becomes an issue and it might not happen, but right now it’s a distinct possibility, better than 1 in 4 chance.  No more details than that for now, lest I jinx anything.

Very late so short post

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 3 Comments

Queried Ann VanderMeer at Weird Tales, an act that sped up the rejection of G.B.  I guess that frees it up for other markets now.  It’s an odd fit anywhere.  I almost wonder if it’s more mainstream than it is SF, little glowing automaton and all.  It’ll fit somewhere…maybe.

In other news, the blue bar has inched a little more.  I’m still miles behind on grading and have some other significant distractions to deal with (particularly from church) and it will stay stagnant for a few more days, but I got the ball rolling.  I think it starts too slow, taking way too long to get my protagonist into space. Chapter 3 ends with a shuttle launch, so he’s headed up now.  I went ahead and split my first chapter into two, so the progress isn’t as miraculous as it sounds.  I really want to get to work on the next chapter, but duty calls.  At least I’ll be driven to get back to work.

But right now I’m driven to get back to sleep.  Night.

Novel Numbers

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 8 Comments

I’m having a hard time believing I can finish this novel in just 50,000 words.  I just finished my first chapter and it was over 3k.  I could probably make two chapters out of it if I must, but the story is still just getting going.  My character will be on the spaceship by the end of the next chapter (probably 2k words or so) and the ship will begin its 50 year voyage at the beginning of the third.  The novel will end before that, leaving lots of sequel room.

Anyway, I took the time to do some more writing tonight.  I had to do it, studying be damned.  I’ll make up for it tomorrow.

3000 words per chapter puts it around 16-17 chapters.  Maybe that’ll work.  I just need to keep the words coming to figure out how long this thing will be.

Writing…not…happening…

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 1 Comment

Read the title of this post like a dying William Shatner character and you’ll understand how I feel.  I have writing momentum.  I know what I want to write.  I wrestle a little on the sentence level, but that’s what writing is about.  I am ready to write this novel. So what’s the problem?

Everything else.

I know I should be writing regardless of everything else, no matter how thin my time allowance or how important my distractions, but in the realm of priorities, the novel is on a lower rung.  Tests are the main distraction.  My students take their end of course test on May 3rd (even though the course continues until the end of May).  And of course there’s that blasted Praxis on Saturday.  I’m still writing when I get a window, but most of the windows are getting filled with other things.  Next week will be clearer with the Praxis behind me.  May gets even better with the EoC behind my students.  Then the bliss of summer.

There will always be disruptions and distractions.  I find I work better with a bend-but-don’t-break mentality than with a Postman’s Creed mentality.  So the novel will get there…eventually.  Once I break the 10% mark it should be smoother sailing, or so my calendar suggests.  *crosses fingers…then uncrosses them to type*

It Has Begun

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 3 Comments

I have officially and formally begun my as-yet-untitled YA novel.  I’m aiming for somewhere between 40,000 and 60,000 words, so let’s call it a cool 50,000.  (Maybe I’ll get a progress bar set up some time.)  

I’m currently sitting at 1500 words.  That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s 3%.  Woohoo!  At that rate, I’ll have a finished draft in 67 days (2 days to get those 1500 words).  I do intend to speed up a little.  

I’ll aim to have my first draft by June 15th.  It would be better if it was done by the beginning of June, before I go to ConCarolinas.  We’ll see how it goes.  Hopefully my outline will help ward off writer’s block.

No to go home and get another 1500 or so tonight.

New Beginnings

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 1 Comment

Well, I’ve done it.

Okay, nothing is done, but I’ve started doing it.  I have made my selection from the scattered array of unfinished novels in my drawers (sounds like I keep them in my underwear, doesn’t it?) and I have decided to attack my YA SF novel.  An interesting choice since I had so little written already (only about 5000 words) and was really stuck on where to take it when I put it down.

I could have gone with the military clone novel which had six well-received chapters written.  Or redrafted the (finished) YA fantasy that was my very first writing project.  Or the fantasy novella that I was in the process of expanding to novel length.  Or that novella’s prequel that was showing more promise despite less progress.  Or the Roller Ball-esque SF sport novel I started eons ago.  Okay, the sport one was no more logical than the choice I made, but there are real arguments for the others over the one I picked.  So let’s reason things out.

The reason I didn’t run with the military novel is, well, I have no military experience.  Sure, “Poison Inside the Walls: was somewhat militaristic, but I really think I may save the clone one for a collaboration project.  (Brad, you taking notes?  Just saying…)  I also feel like I have a better track record with science fiction than with fantasy, so that’s the road I’m paving first.  Still, I’m not abandoning fantasy; that’s what got me writing in the first place.

I feel like I have a fairly solid perspective for writing this SF novel.  As a teacher, I have an interesting perspective for viewing teen behavior.  And the fact that it’s going to have a lot of scholastic settings (not so unlike Harry Potter, but on a sublight ship rather than in a magic castle) will give me that much more perspective.

The problem with my first draft was that it started too slow and too fast all at once.  There was no action to speak of, not on-screen action, but I tried to catapult froschool boy to space cadet in a single chapter.  Whew.  Again I’m taking a page from J.K. Rowling and letting the story set up a little while I draw out the drama of going into space.  (Relax, my similarities should end there.)  I was thinking like a short story writer and not like a novelist.

So today I got to work on the rewrite of the first chapter.  I only finished one scene, but it was a good three pages or so, nothing to sneeze at.  I open with my main character getting bullied rather than having him whisked away from school in a police car.  (Yeah, yeah, HP gets bullied in the beginning too.  So what?)  The drama in the old draft was too far removed from my protagonist.  Now it’s in his face.  Literally.  A rough outline of events will get the story to where I had previously left off, but the character will be fully developed by then and that point will mark the beginning of his change.

I’m setting myself a goal of 5000 words per week to get this done.  At that rate, it should take about a month to get the story where it left off before and another twelve weeks to get the draft finished.  80,000 is a good word count for young adult, isn’t it?  So that puts me into July.  However, summer should provide ample opportunities to speed up the process.  With luck, I’ll be celebrating my first draft on the same night everyone else in America is setting off their own fireworks.

So it’s a new start, a new first chapter, a few new goals to meet.  C’mon muse, don’t fail me now.