jpskewedthrone | On Words, Notes, and Maps

So after my little gripe session about all the little things a writer does besides write that take away from the writing itself yesterday, I managed to get down to writing. I only produced about 1000 new words on the current WIP (still untitled). Good words I think. Not that great for an afternoon of writing though. But this is because I ALSO spent a good portion of time writing out a bunch of notes about the plot and characters and such that the hindbrain had revealed the day before while driving home from school. This isn't even close to a plot synopsis. It's mainly just a bunch of short notes of . . . possibilities. Things I thought might be interesting directions for the book or the characters to take. In my experience, about half of these ideas pan out during the course of the novel. The rest just don't fit in the end, when I reach the part of the book where I think those pieces are supposed to go. So while I don't count these words in my progress meter, I do count them as progress on the WIP.

Another thing that I count toward progress is the creation of a map. No maps appear in the Throne books although I did have maps to help me along the way. A map gives me a center and helps me keep organized, but for some reason when I create a map it . . . sets me free. The world starts coming alive because I start thinking about what's over here, and what's there, and what makes that city unique . . . all of these types of questions start spilling forth and it's these types of things that make the world feel real to me.

Unfortunately, one of the consequences of making the map yesterday is that I realized I need to make the world seem more . . . populated. I mean, it's set in the middle of a city and the first scene is early, early in the morning, before most people are out and about, but I need to get across how many people there are, how large the cities, how connected they are with trade and commerce and all that. It doesn't have that closed-in feel yet, so something to work into the new chapter once those characters get to the city. I need it to feel like there are tons of other cities out there, and that people aren't focused on their own little chunk of the world but have a more worldy perspective.

Plus, I need to make the city much more unique and cool. *grin*

So a productive day yesterday on the writing front. Chapter 1 is done, and chapter 2 started. Hopefully I can get chapter 2 finished this coming Friday, and chapter 3 done over Thanksgiving week. Then work on the synopsis.

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This sounds so, so super-awesome. Also, I love to see a writer keep writing.

It's part of that whole you-only-have-one-story-in-you fear. To see someone turn out a terrific story... and then go and turn out MORE is just fantabulous.

I've got TONS of stories I want to write. Whether they'll be good or not . . . I'll just have to find out. *grin*

You have chapters? And a synopsis? I...am insanely jealous.

I know where one chapter break in this Story o' Doom is going. ONE. Count 'em. And I have no idea what my endgame is.

This is what comes of writing a novel by the seat of my pants. *beats Muse*

I always write by the seat of my pants. I knew the chapter had ended there because the "arc" of that segment had ended and I was skipping to a new character. A skip to a new character doesn't always indicate a chapter break for me, but the ending of that little arc always does.

The new chapter has one scene with one character, but the next scene is from someone else's POV, but it isn't a new chapter yet. No arc.

I'm curious about your map-making, because I often want to make maps for my fantasy stories but have trouble doing an entire world one.

Do you start from the inside and work out (like, start with a main city and then build out until you have the whole country/countries/world) or do you start with an outline of the shape of the entire country/world and work inwards? Or do a combination of both? Does that question make sense?

And, have you posted any of your working outlines online anywhere? Being an outliner myself, I'm curious to seen an outline that resulted in a published novel.

I don't really work from an outline, so I don't have any outlines posted, but I can post what my "plot notes" look like. Watch for that post in the next few days. I just can't do the outlining ahead of time thing. It never works.

Hmm . . . this question prompts me to write a post on mapmaking. My POV on it anyway. So watch for that post in the next few days.

Post on mapmaking is up. If you've still got questions, ask!

Glad to hear I'm not the only one who makes his own maps while writing. There's no better way to get a better understanding for the world you've created than by looking down at it from waaaaaay up high. :D

I agree. *grin*

I love reading fantasy, in fact I love the whole genre, but I tend to get stuck at the map making stage. I think I prefer making the world to actually writing it. I tend to obsess over ridiculous details.

And you do know that 1000 words is actually quite a lot to write in one day, don't you? When I was writing my dissertation for uni, I had to write 10,000 words which took me over a month to write. If I could have written 1000 a day, I'd have been done in under ten days!

To be fair, I envy your ability to create likeable characters and realistic settings. I find that to be one of the main problem when writing original works. I can do neither. But anyway, good luck with the new story. I hope it comes together. And have fun fleshing out your world. Thats the fun part. :)

Well, the focus is always on the characters and settings. I do the map just to help me stay organized. I don't like to say someone is from that country in the west and then a chapter later say the country is in the east. That kind of thing. So once I get so far into a book, I have to start putting all of my cities and towns and countries and whatnot onto a map so I can keep everything straight. No map appears in any of the Throne books, mostly because it isn't really necessary for any of those books. There aren't "world-spanning" events in play in those.

1000 words in one day is fairly decent. I usually shoot for 750 in a day, but that's when I'm working at least 5 days a week. With the day job, I only get in one day a week of work if I'm lucky (meaning if grading papers doesn't interfere), so 1000 seems rather lame. I'd like to get an entire chapter finished on that one day, but I know that's not likely to happen.

Do you count good words and bad words differently when writing the rough draft? Or do you massage the bad words later, before completing the rough draft, until they become good (enough) words to be counted even as rough draft material? I've never finished anything novel-length and am intent on doing so with my current WIP, but my pace and quality seem to be varying wildly, and I have angst about being able to smooth out the truly atrocious stuff at the end.

Map Time is starting to approach for me too. I haven't actually done it yet, and the map of the city is fairly clear in my head, but when you realize you've described the same tribe as living in three different directions... :)

I do not count good vs. bad words in the rough draft stage. Any words are good words, since I'm progressing. I worry about massaging those words into good words later. I just want to get them down on paper so I can reach the end of the book and find out what the book is really about. THEN I can go back and make those bad words into good words, because I'll what it is the book wants to do by then.

I still angst that the book sucks along the way though. I just try to shove that aside while I'm writing.

Thank you very much. This is useful!

In a city, someone is always awake. It might be the street walker or the street sweeper. It could be maids on thier way to work. It could be some friends trying to get someone home after a literal all-nighter.

I've *never* been in a city when someone wasn't around and I've lived in New York City and Philadelphia.

Suelder

Oh, yes, I realize this. I have the main character mention some of the people she does see out and about even though it is early--bakers, messengers, travelers, street urchins huddled in corners, etc--but the majority of the people aren't out and about.

Oh my, that comment came out much more snarky that I meant it to. I was mostly reminiscing. Honest. :P

sorry 'bout that.

Sue

On Words, Notes, and Maps

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Yes, please tell us more about the mapmaking...

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Stupid Question Time

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