Categories
Writing

The Power of Reverse-Outlining for Revisions

This might be the most useful technique I’ve ever discovered when it comes to editing and revision. I did it for the first time while I was working on Dronefall Two, Lightwaste. I’m at the dreaded revision stage for my current WIP, Rainchill, Dronefall Three, but I’m not dreading it like I used to, because I just finished creating my reverse-outline.
So, let’s get straight to business.
What is a Reverse-Outline?
I can’t remember where I read it, but somewhere someone said you should keep a running outline of your chapters and scenes that you can refer to during your revision process. I decided what I wanted was a concise, uncluttered, list-like map of my whole novel in clear chronological order. It looks a lot like a plot, but actually a bit more detailed, in my case, and much easier to read. A reverse-outline is an inventory of what’s there, in your finished manuscript, before you begin your revisions.
How do I create a Reverse-Outline?
If you decide to implement this tool into your own revision routine, you’re going to want to customize it and tweak it so that you get the most out of it. I give my first draft a rest for…probably too long, and then return for an objective read-through. I divide my outline into chapters and my chapters into scenes.
I label my chapters with numbers and names. I know a lot of people don’t name their chapters, but if you don’t, I might recommend that you give them names or some quick descriptors in your reverse-outline. This will just make it a lot easier to navigate and see your overall plot as you revise.
Most of my chapters contain three scenes, but the actual number of scenes ranges from two to five. There are several ways you can choose to handle your scenes in a reverse-outline. You could just write a quick sentence describing what happens. Or you could write the character goal, the conflict, and the outcome. I have been using James Scott Bell’s HIP acronym. H=hook, the thing that pulls you into the scene. I=intensity, the action or conflict of the scene. P=prompt, the thing that makes you read on. I find this method helpful because it highlights how readable and interesting a scene is…or is not. This way, when I’m revising, it’s easy to see when a scene is boring.
So, when I write all this down, it sort of looks like this:
Ch. 1 CHAPTER NAME
Sc. 1
H:a crazy thing happens I: it escalates to global hysteria P:someone get help!
I leave wide margins and make notes when I find a major plot-hole or scene I could improve. Once I’ve been through the whole novel, writing it out this way, I can get to work on revisions with my reverse-outline as a roadmap.
How do I use a Reverse-Outline?
A reverse-outline does some really helpful things for me. First off, it forces me to read my first draft quickly, and summarize my overall structure as well as my chapters and scene-work. I now have my story written out in its most important details in an easily accessible format. Not only have I probably made the major plot-holes and dropped threads clear to myself already, but I can keep this reference handy for all my smaller edits. Having the plot in front of me all the time will safeguard me against creating other plot-holes that might result from my stupid brain trying to mess with the chronology of my story in my memory. (This is a problem for me.) I want to be able to quickly check the order of events without searching my document.
There aren’t a lot of limits to how you can use the reverse-outline in your editing process. I’ve gone through and ranked my ten weakest scenes and gone back in to improve each one. I’ve marked which scenes were action and which were reaction, found the turning-points, and flagged the scenes that seemed too heavy-handed or forced. You can track the emotional range of a story, or the surfacing of sub-plots, or character POVs by color-coding. You name it. If it’s something you feel you need to edit for, you can use the reverse-outline to assist you.
Reverse-outlining might be particularly useful for visual people or those of us who stray quite a bit from our original plot and need to remind ourselves what actually went down in the manuscript. If you think this sounds like too much fuss, it actually isn’t. You’re going to want to read through your first draft anyway, and taking notes in this way really doesn’t take any extra time. If you’ve never done anything like this before, you might find that it actually helps take some of the pain out of revisions.  

Categories
My Books Poetry Writing

Songs from the Small Hours is LIVE!

I remember the Hale-Bopp comet. I don’t really know why. I wasn’t even three yet in Spring of ‘97. But I remember Mom picking me up and pointing it out through the bathroom window facing west. It was surreal, even to my very young mind—like a shooting star that had been stopped.

We haven’t had a comet like Hale-Bopp since. I’ve spent most of my life anticipating the next “Great Comet.” We’re overdue for one. So, in 201X, I was paying close attention when I found out a massive comet called Ison was passing the orbit of Jupiter, inbound.

Ison was predicted to be “the Comet of the Century.” But there was a certain degree of uncertainty. It didn’t take too long for scientists to recognize Ison as both a highly unstable body and what they call a sundiver—perhaps a self-explanatory term.

You may or may not remember how the story ended, but I think it was on Thanksgiving night Earth got word that Ison was a goner. I saw the time-lapse on TV. It swung around the far-side of Sol and a brilliant spray of vaporized material spewed out the other side. The nucleus was gone.

But that was after I wrote the poem “I Dreamed of Ison.” I mixed the metaphors of the grandiose promises of comet Ison with the quiet childhood story of a stray cat, “Comet” who eventually disappeared again. It’s kind of odd reading it in retrospect knowing the details of Ison’s star-crossed meeting with the sun.

“I Dreamed of Ison” is one of the 31 poems included in my long-in-coming poetry book Songs from the Small Hours. The illustrated chapbook is finally available to the public via Amazon. (And via me, personally, shortly. I just ordered a box of 50 of those things to hand-sell.)

One thing though. I haven’t released it as an ebook. I just thought I should say that before you asked. I might or might not later, but I personally think it lends itself to paperback quite a bit more, and you would be cheating yourself buying it in electronic format—I might change my mind later. Depends on how many people yell at me that they would get it if it were an ebook, but have no interest in paperback, and throw smoke-bombs through my windows.

Honestly, I don’t know how many people actually read poetry—I mean once they get out of school. But if you’re one of those rare people, or would like to be, you can read my book. Here’s the link for it. You might enjoy it. There are poems about insomnia and butterflies and graffiti and windchimes and things like that.

You can buy Songs from the Small Hours here.

Categories
Dronefall giveaway My Books

Happy New Year! Goals, giveaways, etc.

Well, here it is. I can’t believe we’re now in the last year before the 20’s roar back around. It’s going to get weird, you know. We have such strong images of what the 20’s 30’s 40’s etc. represent that I don’t think anybody alive is really ready to adjust to the new millennium and a whole new round of decades by the same names. Or am I the only one who freaks out about things like that?

But anyway. This is going to be kind of a quick mishmash post. I’m just typing it up after work here at the library. Might as well. I’ve got a giveaway to publicize and I thought I might announce some semi-formal-ish reading and writing goals for 2019.

My artistic goals are really ambitious and I’m not going to write them all out here. Crazy stuff even outside of my writing life. Things involving producing two or three tin whistle CDs and learning digital art. I’ll be pretty excited if I even get half of this stuff done.

But first off…

Reading goals:

  •  Read 50 books. I didn’t set a number last year, and I ended up kind of wishing I would have. I got kind of lazy. But 50 sounds doable this year…provided I read some fiction and shorter books now and then. *rents a 550 page biography of Einstein from the library*
  • At least 12 books on astronomy/cosmology/astrophysics/space exploration. This shouldn’t be hard for me. That’s my second language. I’m a major space nerd. Also, this biography totally counts.
  • At least 8 books on the craft of writing. I don’t intend to stop growing, and writing and reading about writing are some of the best ways to do that.
  • read certain classics that have been on my to-read list for way too long. Yeah. Got to do that eventually.
  • Read some non-fiction on subjects I’ve never read about before. I love exploring new fields and I’m going to make that a priority this year.
  • And fiction is apparently also a thing. So I’m aiming to try some novels. Maybe some mystery, maybe some sci-fi, maybe some dystopia…maybe even…*shudders*…some YA.
And…
Writing Goals:
  • PUBLISH SONGS FROM THE SMALL HOURS! Literally any day now. Just waiting on my final page proof. 
  • PUBLISH LIGHTWASTE! Also very soon. I promise. 
  • Edit and publish Dronefall Three, Rainchill. The first draft is complete. (It was my NaNoWriMo project.) It’s going to come out this Spring. I won’t make you wait.
  • Write, edit and publish Dronefall Four. I’m really excited to get the book four. The plot isn’t on paper yet, but I’ve got a cool and slightly creepy concept ready, and there are dual storylines…it’s gonna be fun.
  • Write and edit Dronefall Five. Yes, I actually intend to finish the Dronefall quintet this year. Kind of crazy. I highly doubt that Five will hit the press until 2020, though. I won’t push it that hard.
  • Publish a collection of short-stories. I’ve written several short stories and short story ideas breed like tribbles in my head. I might as well do it.
  • Publish a second book of poetry in the Fall. Are you counting? Yeah, I want to publish five books this year. Told you I was going crazy. 
Anyway. I’m sure you’re exhausted just reading all this. Don’t get too tired. You’ve got a lot to d yourself this year and we’ve only just started. What better way to start than to enter a book giveaway? I mean, getting more books is prerequisite to reading more books, right? So, I just thought I’d like you to the giveaway celebrating the launch of Reveries Co., which includes a paperback copy of Dronefall among the loot. 
Here it is. To The Giveaway! Happy 2019! 
Categories
My Books

Everything I Can Tell You About Lightwaste

Allow me to encourage you with the rather hollow words that the publication of Lightwaste is just around the corner.  But it really is. All I’ve got left to tackle is a formatting issue that I can’t seem to solve. Once I get over that last of about a million speed-bumps, you will have Dronefall Two.

But while I continue to wrestle with that, let me tell you everything you get to know about Lightwaste right now. First off, it does have a cover.

And a back-cover copy.

The strongest lies are invisible.

Halcyon Slavic wanted to disappear. That was why she ran away from society in the first place. She could slip under the radar, do what she believed was right, be whoever she wanted to be. In her smothered world, these simple desires all require some degree of anonymity.

Yet when she accidentally discovers that she has in fact, no legal identity on the world-wide database, something changes. Apparently, the facts of her own identity are being hidden, but why? In a fevered search for the answer, Halcyon leaves the shadows of District Three Point five and returns to the exposure and control of the world she was raised in—a world that dangles by a fragile string of well-told lies.

She’s come to get the answers. She’s come to pull the mask off. And she’s come to wreck the equilibrium in ways she never thought she could.

It’s a bit longer than book one, which will likely be the trend throughout the series. It’s also strongly Halcyon-centric, which has its pros and cons. First off, you learn some stuff about Halcyon, and hopefully get a chance to connect with her more than you did in book one. Halcyon can be a strange person to work with. She pushes and pulls a lot while I write. In this book she’s really trying to get her footing and decide what she’s willing to fight for. She knows how to keep her head down, which she’s done for most of her life, but she’s starting to question if its really possible, or even right to keep hiding.

Lightwaste is kind of a product of my college years, actually. I found myself confronted with some of the same kinds of opposition Halcyon faces in returning to her own school campus in search of records about her own identity. I think a lot of college-age Christians are going to recognize what they read here—and probably younger ones too.

The Advocates for Education and Social Development—which is a massive international organization that controls education and media in the Dronefall universe—is really the biggest influence on the society Halcyon lives in. She finds herself sort of accidentally taking on this cultural behemoth all by her lone in Lightwaste. And the fight is anything but fair.

So, the focus of Lightwaste is a little different from Dronefall. It’s going to feel a bit more political than the other books in the series—though I deliberately avoid the details of politics in the Dronefall Series in favor of underlying issues. But it sets the stage and really defines the opposition for the last three books and I expect is going to feel very real for people who have been paying attention to current events.

Also, you get Zoltan Sycora’s backstory. Can I tempt you with that? I thought maybe I could.

P.S.: In anticipation of Lightwaste’s release, book one, Dronefall, is only 99c on Kindle. If you haven’t started the series yet, and would like to, here’s your chance. Thanks for having the patience to read to the bottom of this post.

Categories
100k in 40d NaNoWriMo

Recap Time

Well, I sort of went radio-silent after claiming that I was going to beat the odds and still hit my goal on November 30th. The reason? I was kind of busy doing it.

You need to see my stats to appreciate what happened in November. I have created a graph for you to observe.

No, I’m not kidding. This is actually how I work. What you are observing is a numerical depiction of what it means to have energy-spikes. This really worried some of my professors in college.

This graph only spans from Day 7 forward. I got the brilliant idea of creating a word-count log in my writing notebook at that point, so that’s where we start. Yes, you are reading it right, I had a zero-word day on the 14th. My brain went on strike. I also had an 8,245-word day on the 23rd.  Not claiming that was particularly healthy, either, honestly.

I hit my 100k on day 39 of the proposed 40. My average word count per day was 2,982. But as you can see, I rarely did anything like that. Overall, I like to think I was pretty unstoppable, considering that I was way behind where I wanted to be until the last two days. I kind of decided not to worry and to just embrace my talent for uh…total inconsistancy.

In this way, Dronefall III was born. Book three is called Rainchill, for those who haven’t heard. There’s been a great deal of action and suspense and some big reveals. If you get through the first two books, you will hopefully be rewarded by this one. But you still haven’t gotten the chance to read Lightwaste.

That will be rectified soon enough. Hold on!

Categories
Uncategorized

BLACK FRIDAY! a huge selection of indie books available

So, I thought it would only be fair to stop my insane last-week-of-NaNoWriMo writing and tell anyone within hearing some news from the wonderfully generous world of indie authors. There is a huge sale going on through Cyber Monday. There are over 150 clean indie books in a wide variety of genera on sale for as little as 99c or free. There are even some paperbacks available.
  You could get yourself a pretty good lineup of reading material if you tried. I’ve watched a lot of these authors, and some of the books are on my own to-read list, even though I try really hard to keep my to-reads under control.
  Anyway, check out the sale. And hurry up.

This is the link. You know you want to click it.
What’s more, if that’s not enough, there’s also a crazy giveaway going on. A really crazy one. I mean a literally 20 paperbacks to the winner crazy one. Do I have to say more? You probably will be wanting the link to that one too, won’t you. Okay.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Best of luck to you!

Categories
100k in 40d NaNoWriMo

Watch This

100k/40d day: 15

NaNoWriMo day: 5

Total word count: 21,525

Status: lagging 15,975 words

I have just finished drawing 290 little circles.

I’m alright.

I organized the 290 little circles in rows of ten. Each circle represents 100 words. Every 100 words, I plan to fill in one of the circles with a yellow colored pencil I have here with me. I’ve sectioned the rows off into 5 groups of 5 and 1 group of 4. The sections represent the six days I’ve given myself to catch up.

It almost looks possible. Especially with a cup of coconut almond bark tea—both of which will likely be gone before I’m finished writing this. I’m going to attack this thing. You probably won’t hear from me until Monday or later. I refuse to report until I’m caught up.

So, until then, good luck on whatever your own daring and dangerous adventures are this week. And I kind of hope you’re not as impractical and over-ambitious as some of us. I expected to do more tutorial and how-to post along the way here…but mainly I’ve been doing things wrong. So, here’s my tip for the day: don’t do things the way I do things.

Be back when I’m caught up. What, you don’t think I can do it? Let me show you something. Hold my tea.

Categories
100k in 40d NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo Begins

100k/40d day: 12

NaNoWriMo day: 2

Total word count: 13,662

Status: lagging 16,338

Well, I’m not sure that I calculated that quite right. I counted today’s minimum required word-count as missing. I have not yet begun to write! Not today. I just got off work.

The books is going very well. The plot moves very fast but there’s still time for jokes and stuff, which is important. This entry is going to be quite short, I think. I don’t have much to say here, but I definitely need to get back to the book.

Happy NaNoWriMo to all. If you want to “buddy” me on the official NaNo site, my user name is TheLaughingVulcan

Categories
100k in 40d

Still Alive After Nine Days

100k/40d day: 9

Total word count: 10,038

Status: lagging 12,462 words

Well, to my credit, this is how you’re supposed to start a story—a comfortable while after its actual beginning and with the protagonist already in major trouble. 12,462 words behind? Do you know what that would do to some people’s blood pressure?

I’ve heard people on NaNoWriMo forums freak out about lagging by 1,000 words—just for scale.

Luckily, I have naturally low blood-pressure to start with, and am not particularly concerned. Here’s a little math.  Even if I wrote no more today, and nothing at all tomorrow, when November hit, I would still only need to write 2,998.7 words a day to clear 100k by 11/30. That, for me is still only about 2.9 hours a day at the keyboard.

Okay, somebody take this calculator away from me. I have the nasty habit of mathematically justifying procrastination.

But that’s the numbers. So, how’s the actual book going? Not horribly. I’m in chapter three. I’m busy foreshadowing plot point one, which is due in chapter five. It is, by far, going to be the most intense first plot point I have ever used in the series so far. It’s going to have dramatic effect on the whole rest of the series. I’m very excited.

So, don’t pretend you don’t know me yet. If you keep watching, you will see me catch up. I’ll try to keep you better posted than I did for the first 9 days, as well.

Signing off.

Categories
100k in 40d My Books NaNoWriMo

I’ve Got an Even Worse Idea Than Usual

Well, time to shoot the moon again.

For those of you who don’t know me as well, I have a reputation for taking on projects that may or may not be possible and driving myself crazy. It’s funny because when I have some practical task to undertake, I prefer to find some clever way to shirk it. I’m not a deadlines person. I’m not a checklist person. But I like to prove things to myself now and then.

And it’s just about that time of year.

In November of 2016, I was in the first semester of my senior year of college. It wasn’t an ideal time to attack my first National Novel Writing Month marathon. But, you know, I didn’t relish college life and I took the opportunity to distract myself. I kept my grades up, but otherwise…well, it went better than I expected. I exceeded the 50,000 word goal of NaNoWriMo, and passed all my classes.

So, basically, I’ve decided that was too easy and have built on to the 50k words in 30-days challenge. I’ve given myself a timeframe and a wordcount. 100k words in 40 days.

The project begins 10/22/18

The manuscript will be the complete first draft of Dronefall III, entitled Rainchill. My daily minimum wordcount will need to be 2,500. Slightly more demanding than the traditional NaNoWrimo itinerary of 1,666.666666666667 words….

Shout-out to the crazy people who actually know how to write .666666666667 of a word.

I invite you to gawk at my bizarre antics throughout this 40-day period through the window of Stardrift Nights. Hopefully about twice a week I will be logging my progress and increasing panic here on my blog. I’ll be keeping you updated on total wordcount, where I am in my plot (sans any spoilers), challenges I’ve tackled, weird typos, snippets, records and anything else broken.

I wish you all the very best of luck on your own NaNoWriMo challenges this year. And whenever you need to assure yourself someone is suffering more than you are, feel free to come over to Stardrift Nights.  

The race is on.

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