Monday 26th October 2020

I wouldn’t say this novel I’m planning is a paint-by-numbers but I’m imposing a lot of structure on it.  I want to see just how far I can take structure.

The plan is to make this my NaNoWriMo novel, but that leaves me only a few days to really outline it.  And given this experiment, I can’t just say I’ll pants parts of it.

So that means character sheets – although I’m not sure of the characters just yet – and an outline – where I currently have just a first chapter and an epilogue.

My protagonist might be black – although I’ll be honest and say I am worried I’ll get it slightly wrong.  They might be gay – although I’m not sure if that’ll break part of the concept.  I might have an antagonist although I’m still not sure what their motives are.  I’m going to need those character sheets!

What I’ve done practically is to create the file in Scrivener.  At this stage I work in corkboard mode, moving scenes around and taking this 10,000 foot view of the story as a whole.

Given that I tend to move scenes around it was probably unwise to create 25 numbered scenes, but even if I question my sanity in numbering them, I feel I know enough about how I write to know that 25 scenes is about right for the length of the novel I’m aiming to write.

Of course, scenes could split, merge or get sub-scenes and if needed, I will do that, but for planning purposes 25 it is.

In the notes for each scene I’ve asked the question what is the scene goal and whether it is achieved.  The possible answers are:  “Yes”,  “Yes, but…”  and “No, and…”

I realised that given one of those scenes is an epilogue, that leaves me with 24 remaining scenes… which is divisible by 12, and therefore able to match onto the story circle.   This idea is used a lot in film making and a little like the Hero’s Journey where specific vague actions happen at certain times on the 12 hour clock that the circle represents.   I’ve therefore taken each of the key stages and mapped it to the scene.  So the “Acceptance and Departure” Stage which is around 3 o’clock on the circle, maps to chapter 6.

And yes, I worry that perhaps that using the Story Circle could result in something a bit formulaic, but this is what this experiment is about.

My idea is that this, if nothing else, will help me plot and outline.  Especially given I have NO idea about the story right now.

I have a few days to work it all out.

Of course, I may have made my structure so rigid that I’m headed towards creating a total mess… but therein lies the fun and experimentation.

For a first day on a totally new project whose original idea is not even a few weeks old, it’s good progress.  But I still have a long way to go.

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