And the next iteration...

[seawasp]

Late last night I finally finished the second version of the outline for "Boundary" and sent it off to Eric (he acknowledged receipt this morning; how long it will be until he can get around to reading it and kicking it to pieces, I don't know, but hopefully it with withstand the kicking a bit better than the first version. ;) ) It's a good-sized outline for a starter, close to 9k words all told. By the time we're actually ready to write the novel, though, it'll probably be two or three times that. This is a new challenge for me, and to some extent for Eric, in that it's basically hard SF (there will be mention of a MacGuffin at one point, but the MacGuffin won't actually play any part in this particular story) and not an action-oriented story. I actually never contemplated DOING a Clarke-style "scientific discovery" story until Eric threw the concept at me.

I have to finish one project for work today, hopefully during regular business hours (I don't want to work late) and then do my bio for ICON so they can get it in their program book.

Comments

[rugor.livejournal.com]

Good luck with the project-- I hope you don't have to work late, that could cut into your writing time.

The story idea sounds interesting. I'm curious to see a new take on a Clarke-style story. I largely stopped reading him after Gentry Lee took over most of the writing work on his novels.

9K is long for an outline. I'm barely past 11K on my current novel and the outline fits in two pages. Admittedly, as time goes on I find myself going back and adding more and more to my notes.

It's funny, now that I've finally started to write a novel based on a story that's been kicking around in my head for years I can see that "The Imperium" is in a lot worse shape than I thought it would be when it was just the germ of an idea.

At least once Eric's through with the kicking you should have something very solid to go on, and that should make the storytelling that much easier.

I'm sure you'll be able to pull it off, even if you have to do the typing without a Lens.

"Boundary" (working title) and other stuff...

[seawasp]

Good luck with the project-- I hope you don't have to work late, that could cut into your writing time.

I didn't, so I was able to get a couple of things done yesterday.

The story idea sounds interesting. I'm curious to see a new take on a Clarke-style story. I largely stopped reading him after Gentry Lee took over most of the writing work on his novels.

Now that I'm working on it, I'm rather excited about the project. It uses a lot of stuff I know and stuff that Eric knows, and I think our writing approaches will complement each other nicely. "Boundary" could be a hell of a good novel once it's finished.

9K is long for an outline. I'm barely past 11K on my current novel and the outline fits in two pages. Admittedly, as time goes on I find myself going back and adding more and more to my notes.

"Long" is relative to a lot of things. My outline for "Demons of the Past", the space opera that's waiting for Jim's approval, is 40,000 words long, including background explanatory notes, tech notes, and so on. I suspect the book itself would be about 250 - 300k.

It's funny, now that I've finally started to write a novel based on a story that's been kicking around in my head for years I can see that "The Imperium" is in a lot worse shape than I thought it would be when it was just the germ of an idea.

BTDT -- you have something in your head that seems clear, straightforward, and all there. Then you go to actually write it down, and THAT is when you realize just how many parts of it you glossed over in your imagination with handwaving. Writing that outline for Demons convinced me of the need for such a thing. Okay, I didn't bother with an outline for "Diamonds are Forever", but that was (A) a shorter story -- about 43k -- and (B) something me and Eric sort of thrashed out quickly in about three conversational iterations, and he then left me to write it. It was a relatively straightforward and simple story that almost wrote itself. Anything more complex and you'll need an outline.

At least once Eric's through with the kicking you should have something very solid to go on, and that should make the storytelling that much easier.

Undoubtedly. Eric *KNOWS* what he's doing. Doesn't mean he's infallible, but his basic gut instinct on what makes a story tick is excellent, and so I can generally take his advice without worry. He also LISTENS and takes what I say seriously, so if I do bring up a usable point, I know it will get included.

I'm sure you'll be able to pull it off, even if you have to do the typing without a Lens.

Shhh. There may be zwilniks about. Don't give anything away.