[stylist] Novel Outlines

[Jewel S.]

The books I'm working on have no outline. However, I type them all up
on my computer. Each book has a older, and within the folder, I have
folders for each character and each setting. For example, one book is
about a girl named Erica who has dreams about a well and who "falls"
into a dark place whenever she has a bad moment...so, I have a folder
called "erica" which contains a description of her physically and
emotionally, a background file that talks about her history before the
book (which starts when she's 16 or 17) and a file that talks about
her connections to other characters. I have a folder for her mother,
who is a big character, and for her sister, another major character.
These folders contain the same basic information about the character.
Then I have a folder about the dream...what is the dream, where does
it come from, how does it affect Erica, etc. Another folder is a
description of Erica's home, one for her town, and one with events of
the times (what's happening in the rest of the world) that I can refer
to for scenes. Since Erica is interested in psychology, I also have a
folder with psychology research, and one about soccer since Erica
plays soccer.

So, no outline, but as you can see, I get pretty organized. Everything
is in folders. Story bits are placed within the main folder with an
appropriate name (ex. Dream- May 8, 1998)...sorta like a journal.
Eventually I will combine like dates and create chapters out of them.
Still in the beginning process, though, and the characters aren't
quite telling me what to do yet.

~Jewel

On 7/11/10, James H. "Jim" Canaday M.A. N6YR <n6yr at sunflower.com> wrote:
> p.s.
> I should have mentioned in my comments: use braille absolutely if you
> know it!   use braille for the outlines, sketches, journal,
> etc.  hard copy is very good for the human brain/mind.
> jc
>
> At 04:21 PM 7/11/2010, you wrote:
>>Hi Joe,
>>Glad to hear you're having some forward progress. Mine is almost
>>done, and yesterday I had a major break-through and wrote the last
>>chapter. I knew what was supposed to happen, but not how I wanted to
>>tell it and/or not tell it. Inspiration is a wonderful thing when it
>>finally hits!
>>
>>As for outlines ... I didn't use an outline like you would use for a
>>term paper, but I did plan ahead and used a calendar, which I guess
>>was a sort of outline. I did a lot of off-paper thinking about the
>>events that happened prior to the beginning of the book, the
>>character' lives prior to the book, etc. and I kept notes -- on tape
>>in those days -- about my thoughts, including my conflicts about
>>going in different directions and how that would impact other parts
>>of the story. Everybody has a past, and I wrote up back stories on
>>the major and some of the minor characters. That was very helpful in
>>giving me an idea of how they would respond to a given situation.
>>Initially, I wrote out a broad overview of what happened in the
>>book. I did have a list of chapters, which was helpful, but it has
>>changed a bit.
>>HTH,
>>Donna
>>
>>Read Donna's articles on
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>>
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>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>Joe Orozco wrote:
>>>         Hello all,
>>>
>>>Okay, so my so-called novel is coming along at a decent hum.  Who knows if
>>>it will ever amount to anything, but damn it, at least it's coming along!
>>>So, my question:  How many of you guys use outlines to write, and if you
>>> do,
>>>what kind of format do you use?  I'm considering a few different outcomes,
>>>and although I always hesitated to use outlines for anything other than
>>>academic pieces, I think I'd better become more organized.  Any thoughts,
>>>tips, suggestions would be most appreciated.  Thanks.
>>>
>>>Joe
>>>
>>>"Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves,
>>>some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."--Sam Ewing
>>>
>>>
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