[stylist] Story development/strategy

[Homme, James]

Hi Chris,
Thanks for all your ideas.

I doubt that I will ever become a novel writer, but I have given some half-serious thought to some non-fiction, like a book called Web Accessibility For Dummies. It just occurred to me also that I would like to write a better set of documentation to a piece of software that I use and love. It seems to me that the actual menus and dialogs of the program would form the outline of my work.

I'm a little daunted by both projects, though, because all I've ever managed to write have been 500 to 700 word articles. I guess I could divide the projects into each little piece, and eventually, it would be done.

Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Chris Kuell
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2011 9:04 AM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] Story development/strategy

Hey Brad,

I think Justin and Bridgit pretty much covered your question, so I'll only
add that in reading over many interviews with authors, it seems that in
general, genre writers (mystery, thriller,romance, western...)tend to work
from outlines, while writers of more literary fiction tend to throw a couple
of characters into a setting and see what happens. The key in either case,
as Justin properly pointed out, is a good editor who will point out
inconsistencies, a dragging pace, characters or sub-plots which are
inconsequential, flat dialogue, excess verbiage, etcetera. It sounds like
the book you read your wife lacked a good editor.

Personally, I've tried both approaches and find I work best somewhere in the
middle. My first novel was written based on a 'middle', as Bridgit put it.
Without going into the history, I'd read about how about 30% of patients
with early onset Alzheimer's turn violent. This became all too apparent when
the mother of a blind friend pushed her down the stairs one day. The idea
came to me as something like: what would happen to a family who decided to
keep grandpa home rather than sending him to a assisted living facility, and
he killed a family member?Like Bridgit indicated, I chewed on it in my mind
for a bit, then sat down and started writing. It took me 4 years to
complete, including 4 different beginnings and 3 different endings, to come
up with a finished work I was happy with.

My wife, an anal-retentive type, insisted I try writing from an outline for
my second novel. Being an open-minded, curious type myself, I decided to
give it a shot. About 4 chapters in I started deviating from the outline,
which seemed to 'plotted' to me. Certain characters had morphed a bit, and a
great sub-plot arose which I hadn't originally anticipated. I ended up
keeping the changes and modifying the outline, which I have to admit has
helped me to keep things moving in the right direction. Personally, I find
writing the middle of a novel difficult, like you are climbing a big hill
with that elusive climax somewhere ahead. Once the top is in sight, it gets
much easier. A loose outline can help keep you on the path.
Everybody is different, and you need to try various stuff and see what works
for you. Since you have such a strong music background I might recommend
books by Nick Hornby. His love of music is a part of each of his novels,
which are all very funny, yet serious. I'm not saying you should try to copy
him, but check out his style.

chris




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