As I said I might, and since most of you have behaved impeccably (by my standards), today I’m sharing the outlines for the first four chapters of current work in progress, The Dummy.
It’s quite detailed — a novel this challenging needs to be, I feel — so it should give you a fair idea of just what I want to achieve with it.
Take a look when you have time to spare and let me know what you think.
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Do hope you find a discerning publisher and that your books are available across the pond in the near future in the vast sea of fiction available I still have a hard time finding good books….
Thanks, Evanne. A tough old game, this finding a publisher lark, but I shall certainly keep trying. And if not, you can always become one of my test readers!
ur outline is good
Thank you.
Gary, how odd. I mean, writing such a detailed outline. I never know what’s going to happen in my stories/books until I get there
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Your detail at this point is fantastic and I like ensemble cast of characters. At least, it looks like you’ve set it up to have any of them carry subplots. Felt a little like reading Tolstoy
Having to “translate” talking ABOUT the book, which is what the outline is, into SHOWNG the book is something I’ve never done and can’t imagine. I always dread the other way around — trying to write a 2-page synopsis about a 500 page book when I finish.
Have you always written this way — outline first?
You know, I think you’ve hit upon something; I actually read War and Peace over the summer and loved its sheer scale. I think that may have rubbed off LOL
No, when I first started writing, I didn’t outline at all. I flew by the seat of my pants! And, on the whole, I enjoyed working that way. The problem was, I didn’t always know what the central point of the novel was whilst working on the first draft. I always THOUGHT I did, but by the time I reached the end… well, it could be a little messy!
I don’t always outline this extensively, however. But with a book like this I can’t really imagine doing it any other way. This is my way of working out the “shape” of the novel — getting the mechanics in place so that I can focus on the language when it comes to writing it. Quite often, I’ll only outline two or three chapters ahead, but I just couldn’t imagine doing that with this one. The novel dictates my approach, I suppose.
Regarding subplots… I think that’s fairly inevitable, however, Bobby is the linchpin that holds them altogether and, really, it’s going to be his story (he’s the dummy of the title.) The characters will never wander too far away from him.
Or the story won’t, at least.