June 12, 2008
I’m technically supposed to be spending Day 13 finishing up research. However, I feel pretty comfortable with where I am with that right now, so I’m going to move ahead to the next step (which keeps me one day ahead of schedule, so I can take a break or use it later for another step).
So I’ll be spending some time Friday and Saturday working on something called a Story Evolution Worksheet from First Draft in 30 Days. This part will actually be more writing-oriented, and will force me to work through the basic conflict and story threads a bit from beginning to end. So here’s where I’ll really start to see where my subplots are lacking, and hopefully in the process, I’ll be able to flesh it all out and tie it all together in a somewhat cleaner fashion.
I may even end up using that extra day on this, and going through Sunday - will update at that point.
And on another note, tomorrow I promise to try and get an actual post about book marketing up for you - and we’ll be talking about virtual / blog publicity tours not too far in the future, but more on that later…. 
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June 12, 2008
Two days left for research. I ended up not using any of the extra worksheets provided in the book yesterday. Only one (the fact sheet) really applied well to my story, and I’d rather use note cards for things like that (I’m a note card junkie). That’s the beauty of any plan like this I guess - you can tailor it to your own work habits.
I also didn’t focus on the language issues I’d planned to deal with. So I’ll probably do some of that today. Instead, yesterday I picked up some library books to help with deeper information on the primary research point for the book, and started looking through them for info I still needed to figure out. I’ll be doing more of that today.
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June 11, 2008
I took care of my clipping and organizing yesterday, attaching research notes to the appropriate character sketches and such as planned.
However, I didn’t get a chance to do anything with the extra worksheets from the book. That’s because I try to work on my novel outlining in the evenings, and last night we had one of the nastiest storms I’ve ever seen - lost power for a bit, and waited a few hours before plugging the computer back in (when the power went out the first time, the surge protector didn’t do its job, and my boot sector got screwed up - couldn’t restart the computer - fortunately I was able to get it fixed quickly - whew!).
So I didn’t have as much work time as I’d hoped. Today’s task then will be to see if I can use any of those extra worksheets, and to dig a bit more into a specific topic that will affect one of the characters (a regional dialect I need to familiarize myself with a bit more - so some reading and some listening are on the plate today).
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June 9, 2008
Just four more days left dedicated to research for the first novel I’m outlining for this project. My goal for tomorrow is to take some of the simple background research I’ve done and start attaching highlighted pages and note cards to my character sheets, setting sketches, etc. I’ll also be going through some of the other worksheets in the First Draft in 30 Days book and filling them out as appropriate before delving a bit deeper in following days into some of the primary research issues for the book.
I’ve also determined that I still need to add one or two significant subplots. I’m toying with a few new ideas (in addition to those I added a few days ago), but haven’t set anything in stone yet. The novel falls within the horror genre and, while I won’t resort to gratuitous sex and violence for the purpose, I really need to add a little je ne sais quoi to up the intensity at parts. I think new subplots can help me address this, while also forwarding an angle I’m including for the purpose of making the story carry some series potential. I think not knowing what my characters are going to do fully is really half the fun of this.
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June 9, 2008
I didn’t see a need to update on the novel research project over the weekend. So here’s instead an update for Saturday, Sunday, and today - my days 7-9 (which are days 10-12 in the First Draft in 30 Days program if I’m not mistaken).
As mentioned previously, I picked up several films to watch in addition to my general background research (4 of them). I’ve watched three, and am planning to watch the fourth later on today.
I’m also working on going through the research sources I’ve picked up in books or online resources I’ve bookmarked, and will be pulling out elements that I want to incorporate into the book or character sketches. I’ve done a little bit of this already (and picked up some tid bits that were pretty interesting to learn), so right now it’s just more of the same.
In the book, Day 13 is the last day for research (which would be Day 10 - tomorrow - for me). At this point, I’m quite positive that I’ll be using the extra three days I accumulated earlier by getting through other aspects quickly as extra research days. So at the end of my research period, I should be back in line numerically with the program as it’s laid out in the book.
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June 6, 2008
Today was my sixth day in outlining a new novel using the program outlined in First Draft in 30 Days. It was my third research day, and technically day 9 in the book’s plan.
I finished pulling up and bookmarking basic sources I’ll be going through for background research in the next few days. I would love to read a few novels in the genre I’m working in during that time, but there simply won’t be the time. So I’m committing a royal sin as a writer, and trying to work in movie versions instead (keeping in mind that I used to be an avid horror reader years ago, and quite a bit in this specific niche - so this is really just for a refresher course).
I watched the first today. I don’t want to share the niche / sub-genre, so I can’t go into details about the movies. There are 12 more I’d love to get my hands on, but realistically I’ll probably only watch about four - I still have plenty of other research to do with my time.
This is why the book suggests you start your research long in advance of beginning your outline. I absolutely agree. However, for testing purposes that obviously wasn’t possible (a few months ago I had no intention of working on a novel, nonetheless this one). So I’m doing the best I can with the time I have.
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June 5, 2008
Just a quick updated today - as I mentioned yesterday, I’m a bit ahead of the game in my 30-day effort to outline / draft a new novel based on the book, First Draft in 30 Days. While I’m on Day 5, if you follow the book’s plan, this would be Day 8.
I’m in the early days of the research phase, which is supposed to last seven days (I’m on my second). Today I just spent some more time pulling and bookmarking basic resources for some of the topics in my research list. I didn’t finish the list - I still have eight topics to pull resources for (one or two will probably take their own research days - like choosing a specific knife for one character that’s going to play a big role in the story - not my area of expertise, and so much to learn!).
I’m still having fun with this, although I have to admit, I’m looking forward to getting through this phase to get into some actual writing. I do know it’s necessary though, and I’m just thankful some of my setting and character choices are things I know enough about that they won’t require excessive research. I’m even looking forward to getting more involved with the in depth research rather than just the surface material I’m pulling right now. Soon enough though, right?
At this point, I imagine I’ll end up using those three days I saved by working quickly in the beginning towards extra research time within my 30-day limit.
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June 4, 2008
Today was my fourth day of working on the first of two novels testing out different drafting / outlining programs. According to the program I’m following in First Draft in 30 Days, I’m on Day 7 (I finished some other aspects up quicker than scheduled), which is the first of my research days. There won’t be anything too exciting to report while I spend the next few days to a week or so researching.
I’m starting out with 25 general items on my research list (I’m sure I’ll add more as I get more involved with the writing down the road). Today I started looking at the more basic topics where I needed more easily-accessible research (basic background and such).
Today was spent doing nothing more than finding reputable online sources for information on 10 of those 25 topics, and bookmarking them for later reference. Tomorrow will probably be more of the same for the rest of the topics, which will then allow me to figure out which topics will require additional primary research such as interviews, so I can start trying to set things up or digging deeper for other information.
And that’s really all I did today for the project. While reviewing some of the sources, I did learn a few things already that I found interesting, and which I’ll definitely have to apply to the story, so I’d say it’s off to a good start.
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June 4, 2008
(Note: This post was originally published at All Freelance Writing.)
Today was the third day of experimenting with the First Draft in 30 Days program for drafting / outlining a novel (as discussed in this post). I’d already mapped out the basics of my characters and settings. Today was about the plot.
While I had the main plot pretty much in mind, this step was good for me. It made me think a bit more about the climax and, more importantly, my subplots. I realized I didn’t have quite enough of them, but was able to flesh it out a bit today, and I’m pretty confident that I’ll have enough going on to keep things interesting now.
The next two days will be my first days of doing any free form writing - mostly laying out the beginning summary-style. I’m really hoping to get that done in just one day so I can get ahead of the game though (to leave myself an extra research day if I might need it, or to simply finish in less than 30 days if that’s possible).
EDIT: I did end up spending some extra time in the evening on the next step, and actually did the work required for days 4, 5, and 6 of the plan. It essentially involved me doing free-form scene-by-scene outlining for all scenes already planned, and making notes of areas where scenes need to be added later and such (since some of it obviously depends on research).
It took longer than other aspects, but once I started typing I didn’t want to stop until it was finished. It only amounted to about six pages single-spaced of actual content, and plenty will get filled in with the research phase.
I did realize that I need to find a way to break up some of the natural repetitiveness necessary for the particular story throughout the middle of the book, so I may end up adding another subplot or two to explore some other things to keep it fresher - just not sure what they should be yet to stay in line with the primary story goal(s).
Anyway, that’s the progress update. Fun stuff. I’m not sure if I’ll use those three extra days I’ve just accumulated for more research, or if I’ll save them for another portion of the program where I may need more time later, or if I’ll simply finish things up a bit faster than 30 days. Either way, I’m glad I have some wiggle room.
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June 4, 2008
(Note: This post was originally published at All Freelance Writing.)
Well, I haven’t given up on this first novel project after just one day, so that’s progress. Yesterday I had to think about characters. Today I had to start thinking more about settings, and the things I’ll need to research soon to flesh out the story as accurately as possible.
I’d already been keeping a little research list whenever ideas popped into my head, so that was easy. I think the one issue I faced was with settings - much of that involves me doing research (which I haven’t gotten to yet), so the setting notes I jotted down are rather vague for now.
While I’m not giving away plot details, I will share a bit about the settings and things I’ll be researching:
Settings
There will be two primary settings: the bar at a club in Philly and two neighboring apartments in one of the nearby but quiet city suburbs. This is actually the area where I live. I chose it partly for that reason (less research, I know more about the locals, etc.) and partly because some of our area details are actually perfect for the subtler plot points in the story.
Research
I can’t give away all of the things I’ll be researching, because it would give away story points. But here are a few of the things I’ll be looking into:
- Bartending
- Local wildlife in our suburbs
- Small concealable knives (especially something fitting for a woman)
- Diabetes (from insulin shots to food choices)
- Female superheros (and no, the book doesn’t involve them - it’s something I need to research for a very tiny piece of dialog from a child)
- Violence in Christian history
- Polish immigration to the US after WWII
- Psychological issues and reactions such as reactions to severe remorse, how fears are instilled through brainwashing or traditions, the thought process / justifications people have for killing, etc.
- How blood is drawn and stored (such as for a blood drive)
- Bar / club interiors (perhaps some first-hand research is in order!)
- Philly murder and other violent crime rates (we’re generally pretty bad)
Keeping the Story Fresh
Yesterday I think I mentioned how it can feel like the story is playing in my mind like a movie. This isn’t the first time that’s happened. When I was working on my last novel outline (which I’ll be using to draft a book when these two outlines are completed), the same thing happened.
I was able to use that to not only keep the story fresh on my mind (hard to forget when you can literally visualize it), but I was able to pull up certain plot points “on demand.” I did that by essentially creating a running soundtrack for the book (helped that I was working with musicians more at that time). So I would associate certain scenes with certain songs, and when I wanted to work on something, I would simply listen to the song to be able to separate the scene I was dealing with mentally.
I haven’t done the soundtrack thing for this story yet, but considering the fact that I have most of the plot (even if not most of the individual scenes) laid out in my mind already, I think I may need to soon do that. Has anyone else done something like that when working on fiction, or am I just nuts?
And that’s all for today folks. Tomorrow I start briefly laying out the main plot points (most of which I already have in mind). Perhaps at some point soon after that I’ll run the overall concept by someone else privately for feedback and input.
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