November 2024 News
This post will be about the details of my writing process, because right now that’s all I know. Not sure who might find this entertaining or useful. Apologies if no one.
First, though, here’s an unrelated pic of me and the boys from Hartoberfest because posts require pics. 🤘
Writing
I mentioned this already on Twitter but draft 0 of V&V2 is complete at ~100k words.
Roaring approval
Thank you, thank you. A lot of scenes are written but many aren’t. I tentatively estimate the final word count to be 200k.
Frothing rabid standing ovation
Thank you again. Now please calm down.
Draft 0 included finalizing the scene order. I developed a tool that helped and for the sake of this post I’ll call it the progression rubric. Maybe it can help you too, especially if you’re writing a book where the best scene order isn’t immediately obvious because of overlapping plot lines, a large cast of characters, or special reveals. To be honest it may help any book. It helps me with overall flow, pace, and themes. Those aren’t always easy to measure while you’re in the thick of it.
The progression rubric
I slap this at the top of every chapter and answer as much as possible. Definitions of each field are in [square brackets]
Name: [chapter name if you have one, or a placeholder]
Summary: [what happens?]
setting & theme
description: [physical setting]
vibe: [scary? tense? happy transitioning to sad?]
characters and stakes/tension
possible POV: [helpful if you, like me, love hopping to different points of view every… freaking… chapter]
start: [for when a character changes throughout a chapter]
end: [if so, mark that here]
other: [significant characters whose POV we won’t enter in this scene]
start: [they can change too!]
end:
Why this scene and what does it progress? [each scene needs to include two of the following if not all three]
why: [Why is the scene in the book? This question is vital for every scene/chapter]
Character Arc: [does a character change, progress, regress in this scene?]
World Building: [what will we learn about the world?]
Plot Advance: [specify the above “Why”]
What's next for character? [Asking this helps smooth character arc progression]
Previous Scene? [I find this useful because I jump around a lot. Analyzing the story this way can …]
Next scene? [… help with cohesion and clarity, even when scenes make significant jumps through time or distance]
I never know when a tool I rely on is actually an alien language to other humans and today is no different. But I’m going to share a filled-out one and maybe it’ll clarify further.
The following is from the third scene in V&V2. It’s probably spoilerish. I can never tell.
Name: Monks??
Summary: Key members of New Vim travel through the forest of Redemier to spy on the monks. Kraus incites a soldier into violence.
setting & theme
description: forest of Redemier (not unlike scenes from V&V, and Ruins South)
vibe: tense, nervous
characters and stakes/tension
possible POV: Irdessa, Kraus
start: Kraus is horsing around with a soldier and eventually talks him into shooting the monks with arrows.
K, “The key to an ambush is to take out the one no one’s watching. Then do the next. With each one you drop the rest get easier.”
S, “I don’t know about this. Irdessa said not to engage.”
K, “Listen kid, whenever I notice I’m acting like spineless sprake shit I have a drink. Take this flask.”
end: Everybody running down that hill
other: Maudie, Magpie, soldiers, Kale, Culver, Haik, monks
start:
end:
Why this scene and what does it progress?
Why: This scene complements the Epilogue from V&V and shows the Heathens’ side
Character Arc: Irdessa won’t trust Kraus after this
World Building: *complementary scene
Plot Advance: First encounter between Monks and Heathens
What’s next for character? basically a big ass fight for everyone
Previous Scene? New Vim, which ended with “We’re not alone here!”
Next scene? East Meets West, a battle initiated by Kraus activating the soldier then Leeroy Jenkinsings the monks.
You might observe that I don’t use some fields, misuse some fields, and there is some redundancy. That’s okay. It gets the job done. Could I tinker with this tool and make it perfecter? Maybe, but that’s procrastination. In its imperfection, this is exactly what I need.
Next Month
Draft 1 (which may be the final) will be well underway. I may even have an idea of finish date, which will help me schedule edits and cover image.
Great, so finances are in place for those things?
Not by any stretch. I’ll probably need to sell a kidney OR run a successful Kickstarter that will also produce deluxe hardback editions of both books, a map, more art, shwag, etc etc etc.
Cool. Really original. Beg for money and reward generous donors with polished turds.
I’ve never claimed to be original.
See you then
dtl
