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Working on a post-NaNo schedule
In two weeks NaNo will be over and I will either have a complete first draft or else I'll have to re-evaluate how long the plot of this story wants to be. Assuming it's the former, I need some way to maintain momentum so that the draft doesn't get relegated to the back of the WIP folder. I want to make something out of this piece of shit, if at all possible.
December has 31 days in it.
1. Character portraits: getting a better idea of who these people are.
My characterization tends to adapt on the fly and thus is not always constructed or consistent. I have between seven and eight characters who need to be deepened and explored, so that when editing the actual bulk of the text, I can have that iceberg effect that informs the words I put into their mouths.
The characters I mean to work on are: Melody, Shadow, Una, Andra, Korin, Tasadar, Gilia, and one very important character who has not yet been named (or appeared). This list might change if the story evolves unpredictably.
2. Setting: a more detailed description of major locations.
There are between three and five major locations where the plot takes place. Each of these has a sketch of description and character in the text itself, but I can add detail to that. Mainly this means having a pretty good idea of how big these places are, what the physical environment is like, the social milieu, stuff like that. A little history.
The three major locations are called Everleigh, Asteralia and Moondell. The two additional ones are called Norwald Circle and Foxwick.
3. A map: some idea of the ecological biomes I'm traveling through, and their relationship to each other.
4. A more detailed sketch of the map, with distances and the names of interim locations and major features.
5. Timeline: better and more detailed than the elementary one that I started sometime last week.
6. House schematic: this is the big house at Moondell, which is more complicated than other structures in the story.
7. Detailing the very minor characters: anyone who's someone gets a name, including Melody's six siblings.
8. (This is dorky) Summary, elevator pitch, and query letter.
9. History of Pelia, Melody's homeland. The social context makes this particularly fraught, so I want to give it plenty of thought.
10. Demographics: everyone is not-human, which means I need to have a solid description available to work from for each species I deal with (at least three).
11. Writing on themes: free writing, this is usually how I "discover" the hidden themes that my brain buries deep in the narrative.
12. Writing on influences: a little clarifying to myself on why the story is similar to thinsg that I've read, and how it is different from them.
December has 31 days in it.
1. Character portraits: getting a better idea of who these people are.
My characterization tends to adapt on the fly and thus is not always constructed or consistent. I have between seven and eight characters who need to be deepened and explored, so that when editing the actual bulk of the text, I can have that iceberg effect that informs the words I put into their mouths.
The characters I mean to work on are: Melody, Shadow, Una, Andra, Korin, Tasadar, Gilia, and one very important character who has not yet been named (or appeared). This list might change if the story evolves unpredictably.
2. Setting: a more detailed description of major locations.
There are between three and five major locations where the plot takes place. Each of these has a sketch of description and character in the text itself, but I can add detail to that. Mainly this means having a pretty good idea of how big these places are, what the physical environment is like, the social milieu, stuff like that. A little history.
The three major locations are called Everleigh, Asteralia and Moondell. The two additional ones are called Norwald Circle and Foxwick.
3. A map: some idea of the ecological biomes I'm traveling through, and their relationship to each other.
4. A more detailed sketch of the map, with distances and the names of interim locations and major features.
5. Timeline: better and more detailed than the elementary one that I started sometime last week.
6. House schematic: this is the big house at Moondell, which is more complicated than other structures in the story.
7. Detailing the very minor characters: anyone who's someone gets a name, including Melody's six siblings.
8. (This is dorky) Summary, elevator pitch, and query letter.
9. History of Pelia, Melody's homeland. The social context makes this particularly fraught, so I want to give it plenty of thought.
10. Demographics: everyone is not-human, which means I need to have a solid description available to work from for each species I deal with (at least three).
11. Writing on themes: free writing, this is usually how I "discover" the hidden themes that my brain buries deep in the narrative.
12. Writing on influences: a little clarifying to myself on why the story is similar to thinsg that I've read, and how it is different from them.