[stylist] Novel Outlines/research

loristay loristay at aol.com
Wed Jul 14 03:40:26 UTC 2010 

Agreed.  I've had my own adventures with lack of research, mainly about the character of places.  If not for my travel (Join NFB, see the country!), I'd still be thinking Beverly Hills was flat, that Boston was mapped like a grid, that the hills in Ithaca were actually climbable... Well, you get the idea.  I have had to junk a couple of stories because the geography wasn't like Long Island, which is flat, flat, flat, and reasonably navigable, with the exception of Levittown.
Lori
On Jul 13, 2010, at 9:58:16 PM, "Donna Hill" <penatwork at epix.net> wrote:

From:   "Donna Hill" <penatwork at epix.net>
Subject:    Re: [stylist] Novel Outlines/research
Date:   July 13, 2010 9:58:16 PM EDT
To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Hi Lori,
Thanks for sharing this. I think it is so important to be well informed, 
accurate and consistent in writing. Calling it fiction doesn't excuse 
anything. The more realistic your work is -- even the fantasies -- the 
more believable. There might have been some battles with native 
Americans in 1820, but your budding author friend should have 
thought/researched her subject a bit more thoroughly. It is amazing how 
little things like that can ruin a perfectly good story.

Donna

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loristay wrote:
> I don't use outlines per se. Sometimes I'll write a short story, then expand on that. If I know how it ends, well and good. I don't always. That sometimes means I have to toss out material that doesn't work.
>
> What I do find some writers do is to write without researching, and then they get caught in a glaring error. One recently gave me material to read in which she said her main character's father died in battle in 1820. So I asked, who was fighting in the U.S. in 1820? I knew about the war of 1812, and the Alamo, which I'm told is 1836, and the civil war, about 1858, but not 1820. When I asked about it, she said, "oh, I just picked a date."
> Now it's possible there was some fighting going on in 1820 in some obscure place. But she hadn't done her research, and I picked up on it. I'm not a historian, so if I picked up on it, so would just about anyone who read the piece.
> Lori
>
> On Jul 11, 2010, at 5:45:43 PM, "James H. \" <n6yr at sunflower.com> wrote:
>
> From: "James H. \" <n6yr at sunflower.com>
> Subject: Re: [stylist] Novel Outlines
> Date: July 11, 2010 5:45:43 PM EDT
> To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
> Joe,
> if you look back a few issues of slate and style, you can find my 
> article "herding your ideas" where I deal with this.
>
> outlines are not the end all and be all.
> I think for nonfiction they're pretty much a requirement for a piece 
> of over 500-words. but for fiction, authors have used all kinds of methods.
>
> for organizing fiction writing for myself I don't use something like 
> an outline, nowhere near that organized or precise.
> I take ideas and elements and string them together into what I call a 
> "sketch" just written like a paragraph only I use telegraphic 
> language since I'm the only one who's reading it.
> then I can go back and stick in other elements or cross connections 
> once I have the plot line put together.
>
> as I write from one of these, I sometimes find I have to reorganize 
> during the composition, usually putting things together in a different order.
>
> some authors journal while they write. the journals allow them to 
> quickly put down ideas related to other story elements where they're 
> not composing at the time, or to other pieces 
> altogether. journalizing allows those ideas to be dealt with quickly 
> to avoid distraction during composition.
>
> hope this helps Joe.
> jc
>
> At 02:55 PM 7/11/2010, you 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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