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Posted By: Opera Ghost Jan 24, 2003 - 06:39 pm

I'm working on a fantasy novel and am currently suffering from what I call "Fuzzy Line Syndrome," where I have a beginning and an end, and then an ambiguous, fuzzy line connecting the two. Does anyone have some tips on how to outline a novel??? I would really appreciate some suggestions! Thanks!

Posted By: Holyoak Jan 25, 2003 - 07:26 pm

for a first draft, what I do is something I call "logical chapter progression". If you have a beginning, outline it out, put the key characters, movements, main ideas. Then, attach another chapter to it, one that connects to it logically. you can go anywhere with it, just make sure it fits together, like a jigsaw puzzle. Then once you have the 2nd chapter, do a third, then a forth, maybe a fifth. Once you have that many, go back and do detailed outlines with scene goals, forshadowing elements, main conflicts and ideas.

Once you have 5 chapters, then I would start writing. just write diligently and let whatever comes out happen. Don't fret about ANYTHING, no spelling grammar plot setting, just finish those 5 chapters. Then you'll have a "5 chapter" piece of your puzzle. From there, you can add 5 more chapters in the same manner as the first. Find the "edges" of the first five, then do a 6th that fits in where you want to story to go. You always have your grand idea in your head, and now you are fitting in the pieces in sections.

It is very, very difficult to quantify an entire novel in your head, at once. hell, books I've read and loved, I can't "bite off" the ENTIRE story in my head, only pieces at a time.

It is possible to write a book 5 chapters at a time, it's called a first draft. First drafts are hideous, hateful creatures that will make you hate your work and want to quit writing forever. Just finish it out, and then the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th draft is where you finally get to polish and make it something you can stand.

What you are doing is like a drawing. You want to end up with a nice oil painting of a man battling some beast. You start with pencils, an arm hodling a sword. Then you go "hmm, plate mail or chain?" and decide to do chain. Then you rough in a torso.. he's kind of hunched over. But what is he fighting? A minotaur? Okay. So you start the minotaur. Then you realize that you have no idea what a bull looks like, so you change it to a horned demon creature. Then you go back and do the guys legs... hmmm one is propped up on a rock, the other is hidden behind the demon....

and so on and so on. Eventually, you'll have a rough sketch drawing of what you *think* you want it to look like. Of course, it's a dirty sketch with horrible anatomy and nothing close to realism. So you draw it again, but this time you have already blocked it out, so the lines are clearer, the anatomy is correct. You found some pictures of bulls and changed it back to a minotaur. So you finish it and now you have a decent pencil drawing. On to the paints!

A novel is not easy. It is not a short undertaking. If you finish a first draft in less than a year, you are a speedwriter. If you first draft doesn't induce vomitting, you are a genius. Most novels that are "readable" are 4th or 5th drafts. And not just 4th or 5th edits, but the authors go back, read what they did, and then retype it from scratch after they read it and made notes. I am 70,000 words into my latest project, shooting for 200,000. Once it's done, I have to write it all over again, only this time I ***finally*** have the entire outline and story down on PAPER and can actually begin crafting a novel that is thought out, planned out, and properly, extensively, thoroughly outlined.

Posted By: Eleika Jan 26, 2003 - 01:25 pm

I just came up with an idea I want to try with my story (having my "fuzzy line" just a smidge clearer than yours, Opera Ghost). I'm going to put events on index cards, then arrange them in logical order. I can rearrange them (esp. if I decide a certain thing happens better in one city or another), and I can add new ones to the order, too. I'm thinking this could help my outline ... once I've made up the basics (at least, the cards of stuff I know will happen), I can lay them out on my floor and arrange them into heirarchies, adding and removing and rearranging as I see fit. It's a sort of physical way of "taking a step back from the story". Just an idea I got yesterday, I'll let you know how it works.

Posted By: Cyrus Jan 27, 2003 - 08:42 am

Excellent idea Eleika, I believe David Gerrold also mentions that in Worlds of Wonder (or it may have been Patricia O'Connor in Words Fail Me, whatever the case, if it works for a pro, it can work for you!).

Posted By: Ariette Aug 13, 2003 - 03:39 pm

Wow, Eleika, that is a good idea...i usually have pages of notes that I number and sort into a checklist, but the index card idea sounds so much better!