The problem with titles.

I've written the detailed synopsis of the first chapter of the project I've been outlining for the past few weeks. So I'm making good progress.

There's just one thing bothering me about it.

It doesn't have a title. I'm not very good at thinking up titles. Oh, occassionally, a project will come to me with a title already attached. And sometimes a title appears and inspires a project. But it's far more normal for my projects to either have really bad working titles or more of a generic label than title attached to them.

But I have to bite the bullet sometime, and I'd kind of like to have a title for this one by the time I put the detailed synopsis on the shelf to rest. So I'm asking for help.

How do you come up with your titles. I'm sure there's no magic trick to it, but I'm hoping that hearing how other people find their titles will help me find a way that works for me.

Thoughts on where I'm at

The snowflake outline progresses. I'm nearly done with the bit where you write a one or two sentence summary for each scene. This weekend I should be able to get started on the extremely detailed scene by scene summary outline this weekend. Hopefully I can get most of it done in one weekend and can then put it in a folder until September.

Then I want to work on another couple of outlines and do some worldbuilding in August. I also need to get to work on "The King's Head" soon. I'm going to be a busy little bee in August.

I'm a little disappointed I didn't get the editing on "The Sundered Light" done, because I'm not sure I'm going to get any done in August either. The more I look at it the I think a total rewrite may be in order rather than just an edit - but that may just be my lack of self-confidence talking.

And I'm having one of those periods when I'm deluged with ideas - most of which will never see the light of day, because once I examine them they're lame ducks. It's good to have ideas of course, but it's annoying sometimes when I'm trying to work on one thing and my brain is interrupting with other ideas.

Anyway I'll give a fuller report on my thoughts on July at the end of next week.

After Two Months

Yesterday marked exactly two months since I started this blog, and I've managed to blog every day so far. For me that's quite an accomplishment.

I'm currently wondering if it wouldn't be possible to adapt the Snowflake Method to Worldbuilding. It's all about designing a story after all, and Worldbuilding is all about designing a setting. I suspect it should be possible to use the techniques to create the setting, history and culture of a world with a bit of tweaking. I shall think about this.

I shall also Google about it.

The only thing I can find about Worldbuilding and the Snowflake Method is this blog post where the author comments on the lack of Worldbuilding in the method, and Randy Ingermanson (the Snowflake Guy) pops up in comments to explain why (he's sees Worldbuilding as part of the research phase - which suits me fine as I'm fed up with Worldbuilding methods that expect me to already have a story defined).

Yes, I will definately have to think about this and see what transpires.

Music helps me write

My current outline is still a work in progress, and I haven't done any actual writing or editing yet this weekend. This means I don't have much to report on that front, so instead I thought I'd talk about something I use as a tangental aid when writing.

Music.

When I'm writing, outlining, editing or otherwise music helps me. I'm not one of these writers who has a specific playlist for their fiction, but I find that having music in general going on in the background seems to have an effect on my creativity. I'd even go so far as to say that I suffer from Writer's block less when I listen to music and playing music when I am blocked can help me blast through it.

I'm not sure why this should be - but I suspect that it's partly related to the fact that I like music. Music helps when I'm depressed as well and I've noted a definite correlation between depression and writer's block (in my case anyway - obviously I can't speak for other people). And of course music blocks out extraneous noise which might distract me when I'm trying to write, which is always useful.

Are you bored of me talking about my outline yet?

I have a headache, so this will be a short post where I ramble on about the Snowflake Method some more.

Step Six's four page outline has grown into a six page outline - however I think this is mostly because it's supposed to be four typed pages, and I'm writing longhand. It's almost done now - just the black moment and resolution to detail. Several more steps to go, and this is already the most detailed outline I've ever written.

The next step after that is even more detailed character work, and then what basically amounts to notecarding - a list of one sentance descriptions of scenes. I hope to cover both of those in the next few days.

Then comes step nine - which amounts to telling the story, because what you do is summarise each scene instead of writing it as a scene. That means there will probably be a couple of pages of outline per chapter. It's basically a draft 0.5 of the novel. Goodness knows how long that will take, but I hope to be done with it by the end of July. Mainly because I want to outline another idea in August. I suppose nothing is stopping me from co-outlining two projects at once, but it might confuse me - I confuse easily.

The final step is step 10 - write your novel. I'm currently thinking of trying to write this one in September as a dry run for NaNoWriMo to check I can actually write a novel from an outline like this. If I do I'll keep you informed here.

More outlining today

Well the outline continues to gather material and the antagonist has definately developed a personality - which is good. I'm not so sure about one of the secondary characters. He seems a bit flat on paper, and I'm hoping I can give him better motives over the weekend. "Being helpful" doesn't really cut it - and he actually does have reasons to be invested in the situation, especially once he finds out certain things. I just need to make that clear.

I think this is another point in favour of the Snowflake Method. It helps you spot anaemic characters before they make it into your manuscript and either drop them or give them a tranfusion.

I hope to start on Step Six tomorrow now. Step Six involves writing a four page outline of the novel based on the one page one written in Step Four. It sounds like a fun step.

Making the antagonist's case

I'm still on Step Five of the Snowflake outlines. I'm currently writing the antagonist's outline and should be ready to start Step Six by sometime tomorrow. Since I have another long weekend off work this weekend I can hopefully get a good chunk of it done this weekend.

But writing a one page outline of the storyline from the antagonist's perspective is an interesting exercise. It forces you to think about why they are opposing the protagonist. People don't - in general - do things for no reason. Outlining for the antagonist can make any holes in their motives become obvious to you. This antagonist has a far more interesting motive for his actions than in my original idea now. In fact from a certain perspective he's not even wrong - it's what he does as a result of his conclusions that's the problem. It's proving fun as well.

I think that if you are worrying about the possibility that your antagonist might be two-dimensional doing an outline from their perspective which makes their case would be an excellent exercise.

If you do try it don't forget to comment and tell me.

I'm On Snowflake Step Five

The Snowflake Outline is still proceeding apace. I'm in the midst of step five - writing individual page long story outlines for each character. With any luck I'll be done by Friday and be able to use the weekend for step six - he says it should take a week but I suspect it'll take a bit less than that for me. With luck I should be ready for the step nine (the longest step) before payday. I really think this is going to work this time.

The Editing is not going so well. After due consideration I think the problem is one of approach, so I'm going to come at it from a slightly different angle. I'm not going to completely edit one chapter before moving on to the next. Instead I'm going to go through the whole manuscript editing for just one problem. Correct it in Word and then print out and correct for the next problem. Yes it'll use a lot of paper and ink but I think it'll make me feel less dizzy (the sheer amount of different coloured highlighting in chapter one made me woozy when I looked at it). I don't know if this will work - editing, like everything else in writing - is about finding the method that works for you. I haven't yet.

Outline going well

So far this attempt at the Snowflake Outlining Method is going well. I've already completed step three and would have started on step four except for the bit where I fell asleep this afternoon. I don't know if it's that this idea was better composted in my brain, or it was just the right time to try it again - but I don't understand why I've never managed to get this far an outline using this method before.

One of the character's needs his motivation tweaking though. It seems a little weak when I see it on paper.

The editing isn't going so well. It looks like I may have to go for a total rewrite which will take two or three months. I really hope it's true that the Snowflaking Method leads to stronger first drafts. All this editing is exhausting - I'd like to be able to do less of it.

Trying to Snowflake again and a shout out

Back in May I posted about Outlining in which I linked to the Snowflake Method and mentioned that I liked the idea but had never managed to pull it off. I also said that I was going to try it again in September.

Well I'm trying it now instead, and more than once. I've got a couple of ideas that won't get out of my head, so I've decided to outline them while I'm editing "The Sundered Light".

And that's going to take longer than I hoped. So much pointless interior monologue and too many beats. It's a bit overwhelming actually. I think I might re-outline it as well to see if I can't find any plotholes while I'm at it.

Anyway I've printed out the stuff about "Snowflaking" and I'm going to try to discipline myself to go through the steps in order. That's the problem with me and long-winded outlining methods. I lack patience.

Anyway I'll obviously post about how it's going.

I also need to give a shoutout to Zoe Whitten for her very useful critique of "Moonlight and Memories". I now have some idea what I need to do with it. Thanks, Zoe.

Nearly the end of June...

I don't think I'm going to finish "Opening" this month. I'm beginning to think the whole thing is a dubious concept for a story. It's more like an extended exercise in worldbuilding. Good for me since it fleshes out one of my universes, but not really publication fodder. It's kind of like Star Wars Episode One - it's only interesting if you know what happens next. That's why it was getting busy - I knew something was wrong and was trying to make it more interesting (and failing spectacularly). I'll probably finish it at some point, but I'm not going to rush it. And, hey, extended back story and worldbuilding may not be for readers but it's useful, so it's not a waste of effort.

Outlining is going better. I'm going to try using a method in the writing book I'm currently reading, and which I'll be reviewing this Wednesday. If it goes well I should have the outline for "Healing the Sunbird" done by Wednesday.

So, while at this point in June it doesn't look like I'll finish everything I'd hoped to by the end of the month, it has been productive enough.

Now my plans for July are much simpler. I intend to edit my fantasy novel "The Sundered Light". It won't be ready after this round of edits, but it should be much better. I'll probably do some more Outlining of ideas as well.

Plans for the long weekend.

The long weekend - with it's almost unlimited writing and outlining time lies ahead of me. If I can just defeat the demon of procrastination I intend to get a lot done over the next four days.

Tonight I'm going to do the first part of the outline for "Healing the Sunbird". Since all I have is a basic idea and a pile of world building for this one it's going to be interesting to see if I can make a coherent outline over the weekend.

Tomorrow I'm going to take on the fight scene in "Opening". The middle may have gone a bit to pot, but if I can get the start and ending right I think the middle will fall into place during the rewrite in August. I'll also do the second part of the outlining for "Healing the Sunbird". Will try to put together a list of question for my Cryptozoologist contact.

Saturday - More work on "Opening" - I want to try and get the first draft with all it's lumps, bumps and false starts done by Saturday evening. Hopefully send questions to contact.

Sunday - More work on "Opening" and on the "Healing the Sunbird" outline if they aren't finished. Possibly start work on the "There Might be Dragons" outline if the answers to my questions are back. If not start work on reoutlining "Firebird's Song".

Monday - Absolutely must finish "Opening" if I haven't already. Also get whichever outline I started on Sunday finished.

Taking my own advice

Yesterday I blogged about Writer's Block and tricks I use to overcome it. Today I was still feeling low and blocked up with regards to writing so I took my own advice and headed out to the park with my notes to work on the outline of "The King's Head". An hour later I headed home with a completed outline in tow. It's a little sketchy in the middle but my outlines often are. I know roughly what's got to happen between the beginning and the end and that's what matters.

One down two to go in the outline stakes.

Next up "Healing the Sunbird". Target - as well as finishing writing "Opening" do this one this weekend.

And amazingly I've actually found a cryptozoologist to ask questions of for the reseach for "There Might be Dragons". I found them on Twitter of all places. Now I just need to sort my questions out. This is the story least likely to be successfully outlined by the end of June as I have so much information gathering to do.

Now I just need to do some writing on "Opening" and today will go down as a success.

Writing Update

Things have slowed down to a crawl at the moment. Partly because my computer is acting up (it's rather old) and partly because I seem to have developed writers block - it happens to us all sometimes. I may have to do a post about dealing with it tomorrow.

I also may have to do some purge writing before it clears. Some of my old stories that need sorting out, re-outlining and re-writing won't leave me alone at the moment. Which is annoying when I want to work on the newer stuff. I'm sticking to my initial plan for June at the moment - I have a long weekend off work next weekend so I'll put in a concerted writing effort then. By a purge I mean write a scene in my head that's not to do with any of the stories I'm currently working on, because it won't leave me alone until I do. I'll probably do some of that before bed tonight.

Tuesday is my normal day off and I intend to spend it outlining. I need to get moving on the outlines if I'm to have them done by the end of June. The one for "The King's Head" is half done but I haven't even started the others yet. Then next weekend I'll really put in a push to finish "Opening". If I manage that I will work on re-outlining "Firebird's Song". If not I'll keep plugging away at it and do "Firebird's Song" in July. July is also edit "The Sundered Light" month.

So I'm sorted out until the end of July hopefully.

Short Stories shouldn't be this complicated

I've hit an interesting problem with "Opening" (yeah I dropped the 'The'). There's just too much happening for a short story or even a novelette. I'm either going to have to drop some things, or increase it to novella length in order to make it coherent.

I almost think the problem is too much Worldbuilding - I know all the people and groups who would react to what the protagonist is doing and can't justify not dealing with them. It looked okay in the outline but now it seems manic. For now the thing is to get what I have typed in and finish it and sort it out in the rewrite.

On the upside I'm halfway through the outline of "The King's Head". It should be finished before bed. And no way is this story going to be excessively long - it's far simpler even with the complication I've added. Given that my targets for June, as defined in this post, are merely to finish the first draft of "Opening" and outline three other stories by the end of this month I'm well on the way to fulfilling my goals. I'm actually considering adding 'write the first draft of "The King's Head"' and 're-outline "Firebird's Song" (my 2007 NaNo which needs to be made coherent)' to my June project list. I'll see how I'm doing on Sunday evening and then decide.

Writing Progress Report and Plans

I've now written over 3,000 words towards "The Opening" and I don't think I'm quite halfway through it. I guess that means it's another Novelette. I'm sure I'll write even more this evening so I've decided to try and reach 5,000 words by the end of tomorrow. That would make my target of finishing the first draft by the end of the week very achievable.

But you know how I mentioned that my outlines are loose enough that my characters can still surprise me? Well it happened again this afternoon. I was writing a scene with the secondary POV character and he reacted in a way I didn't expect, but which fitted his character far better than what I had intended. It doesn't actually change the plot (except I may have to add another scene) but it does change his part in the plot, makes him a deeper character, and - I think - makes things more interesting.

Speaking of Outlining - I haven't actually started on any of the outlines I'm planning yet, but I am intending to use the Outline Your Novel In Thirty Minutes method to start the Outline of "The King's Head" either tonight or tomorrow. And I found some nifty assorted colour notecards while I was in town yesterday that will allow me to assign each POV character a colour when Notecarding.

If I can keep to my goals I should be able to get quite a bit more done before I go back to work on Tuesday.

About Outlining

I never used to outline my stories. I've always liked writing by the seat of my pants and not knowing where I'm going to end up. Trouble is I usually ended up nowhere, hopelessly confused or up the creek without a paddle.

Eventually I realised that if I was ever going to finish a story I was going to have outline at least the basics of the plot.

The thing was I didn't have the faintest idea how to write an Outline and, to be honest, a lot of writing books gloss over that bit. I tried writing my story in the present tense in a page or two of A4, which was what most of them seemed to suggest. It just didn't work for me. I tried writing single paragraph summaries of each chapter - that was a little better, but not good enough.

So I threw myself on the mercy of the Internet and consulted the great oracle Google. What I found was that there are a great many ways of outlining and while all of them suited some writers none of them suited every writer.

Yay! I wasn't a failure I just needed to find the right method or methods. So I set out to try and find a method of outlining that suited me - and in the end I did. More than one actually.

It's probably significant that all the stories I have finished have been the ones I outlined. I've come to think of outlining as important this last couple of years.

Having said that I don't write super-tight outlines even now. There'a lot of wiggle room and the characters still slip the leash and surprise me sometimes. That's part of the fun for me though. What they don't do is suddenly throw up roadblocks to story progression that rival mount Everest any more.

However I'm not going to sit here and tell you how I outline, it's someone elses method and they deserve the credit. So without further ado here is a list of links to helpful sites about Outlining methods - not all of these methods worked for me, but that doesn't mean they won't work for you.

• Notecarding - This is absolutely my favourite method of outlining - and it works just as well with postit notes on a wall as it does with notecards on the carpet. :-)
• Outline Your Novel In Thirty Minutes - I like this one too. I use it for outlining more character driven stories and you really can get a basic outline writen in thirty minutes to an hour.
• Snowflaking - I've never actually been able to pull this one off. I like it in theory, but somehow I never quite get it to work. It's a good method though and a lot of people swear by it. I'm going to give it another go when I outline my Nano 2009 novel in September.
• It's Just a Phase - To be honest I don't really get on with this one, but it works for its creator and a lot of other people. It's just matter of taste and it might be more to your taste than it is mine.
• Novel Outlining 101 - This looks like a form of the chapter summarising method to me. As I said it'd never really worked for me, but again it works for a lot of people. And I love the way the creator actually demonstrated it by outlining her post first.

Five links. That's probably more than enough to get you started. Hope you found this post helpful.