I’m still hard at work on Book 3, which still doesn’t have an amusing working title for this blog (although GagaPants, as suggested by Emily, does have a certain irresistible quality about it), and while the love for the story remains, it is edging toward Getting Harder territory. Oh, progress!
This is what Book 3 looks like so far:
One of my favourite things about this book so far is how differently it has arrived from the others. I wouldn’t mind if all books arrived the way this one did. Cracked Up to Be was–as I’ve said–inspired by a question (“What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?”) and my interest in writing an abrasive female character. Some Girls Are was centered around a single scene that I can’t describe, as it’s a total spoiler and spoiling my entire book pre-release would be POOR.
But this particular novel started as a bunch of visuals in my head that didn’t really have a narrative so much as they did a feel. First I kept visualizing sunlight coming through really bright green leaves, a view of a town from somewhere above. A deserted street, JUST before the sun goes down with the kind of quiet that suggests a hot summer. I can still see these things in my head very clearly. Which is why I started saying I wanted this book to read like an indie movie directed by a hipster with an asymmetrical haircut looked like.
(Because everyone knows SPARKLY RAYS OF SUNLIGHT LACING ITSELF THROUGH LEAVES and A VIEW FROM ABOVE and DESERTED SUMMERY STREETS are Hipster Visuals, ok.)
Anyway, the weather was starting to really change around that point. I mean, where I live. I was starting to get a sense of summer and I wanted my book to have that too. So I’d go on walks with my mom and I could feel this impending season and all the things I liked best about it. I’d think of words that reminded me of the walks, which reminded me of summer and then I’d get home and write those words in notepad. Here are some of the words I wrote down:
Then I started working on a playlist that best complemented my collection of words. So basically, all of these steps were about keeping the feeling I wanted for this book readily accessible to me because feelings are fleeting. I was creating triggers. I am not sure I knew this at the time but it’s pretty obvious to me now (hindsight FTW!).
Then I wrote about 11 pages of the novel, with a vague idea of where I was headed. Mostly this was discovering my main character’s voice, getting introduced. After a certain point, I realized I should probably start outlining and making notes, so I did that.
I never used to be a full-fledged outliner before Some Girls Are. I’d make brief notes and plot points, but mostly I didn’t get too far ahead of myself. And then Some Girls Are happened and I converted because I never want to scrap a novel that many times AGAIN. Bless ~*learning the hard way.*~
This is what my outline/notes Word doc (currently) looks like:
A. Is the cast of characters. A brief line with name, age, role in the story (protagonist, antagonist) and their relationships to other characters.
B. Is the backstory. Everything I need to know that happens before the book, so I can have a point of reference for everyone’s motivations.
C. Is pretty much every character’s state of mind when the novel begins. Which, also in hindsight, I guess I could have fit into the character descriptions, but whatever. I just said I outlined. I didn’t say I was GOOD at it.
D. Is the actual outline. It’s incomplete. It basically consists of brief plot points–things I want to have happen throughout the story. I try not to go into too much detail. You will notice the outline is broken up and continues on the last page. This is because the last page is full of WAY LATER plot points in the novel. For some reason, I wasn’t able to plot even mildly ahead without distancing myself from my list of early plot points. I DON’T KNOW. I don’t question the way my brain works. Probably I should.
E. Lines and bits of dialogue that don’t have a place in the story now, but will later. It’s hard for me to write out of chronological order, but the cost of forgetting such things is ~too high.~
F. RESEARCH. All of that research centers around ONE SCENE that isn’t even going to be that long. And YES, I resent that. But it is a necessary evil.
G. My synopsis. It is six pages. That is probably too long. But I am not finished Editing the Hell Out of It, so there is that. And I should probably do that soon, seeing as one of my major plot points have changed. I hate writing these things. I HATE THEM. I HATE THEM SO MUCH. Before I began this synopsis, I haunted the Snarkives and Nathan Bransford’s How to Write a Synopsis post. Miss Snark and Nathan Bransford are awesome. But synopses (that’s plural, Y?) are not. GOD I HATE WRITING THEM.
So that is where I am at with GagaPants.
I really love how each book you write is a crazy exhilerating adventure. From the murky beginning where you start working on the foundation, having the foundation, building the house, to… revising the house extensively. I don’t know what will happen with GagaPants but the sheer act of developing it has reminded me very strongly how much I love to write and how happy it makes me to do it.
So that’s good.
I think I shall post this now and get back to it.
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publication date
Friday June 12th, 2009 @ 8:18pm
982 words, 84 sentencesmeta stuff
categories: fall for anything,writing
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Wow, you are far more organized than me. I am *so* impressed :). Good luck with GagaPants!
Thank you, Neesha! Hee, I feel terribly unorganized. The more I work on notes and outlines, I promise, the more unwieldy they become. :)
You really are way more organized than I am. Let me show you the seat of my pants. :D
! I YEARN TO BE A PANTSER AGAIN THOUGH. SUCH FREEDOM! ~*~
So interesting! Hope GagaPants continues to bring you lots of joy. Thanks for the peek at your process.
THE MORE I KNOW!
I already love GagaPants
I am officially inspired now.
ILUCP!
(You know what I realised last night? I’ve known you, Damon and Fiona for ten years. TEN YEARS! That is insane. We should have co-presdential cupcakes.)
Shiny!
I am so jealous…of your title. Gagapants? Why didn’t I think of that?
Also, I covet your organization even though you’ve been so modest about it;)
Jess: thank you so much! :)
Vero: Hee, thank you. xo
Briony: Aww! ILU2CP! And omg!!! 10 yrs for all of us already???? TEN AWESOME YEARS, Y?
Little Willow: ! ~*~ :D
Sarah: I don’t think there are enough books called GagaPants out there, so feel free to use it too. ;) And thank you so much. :)
Didn’t I request an outline blog like two weeks ago and you told me NO ONE WANTS THAT? Or maybe it was THAT IS BORING.
Clearly I’m just so cutting edge I’m predicting blog entries weeks in advance. I love the way you’ve got all your things organized. I do mine in separate files. I’ve got my outline file, my characters file (with pictures) and I keep my dialogue snippets at the end of the WIP file – then I move them up when I need them.
OMG. YOU MIGHT’VE. YOU GAGA INFLUENCED ME WITH SPARKLES.
You are ~the cutting edge~, bb.
Ooh, separate files. Ooh! Character pictures! I should do that. I need an excuse to google good looking people let’s face it. Or do I. Maybe I don’t. But I like having one.
Uhm.
I have FOLDERS for Boy Actors, Girl Actors, Scenery Pics (per book), General Book Pics, Cool Pics.
Oh, and then there’s one with pics of me in it, but pfft.
And since you inspire me, its only fair that I inspire you once in awhile! Plus, with as many awesome people as there are with the sparkles, we’ll all be inspired for a LONG time to come!
!!!!! BB, this is the BEST. POST. EVER. !!!! Omg your outline/notes breakdown is PERFECT!! I’ve struggled so hard trying to figure out how to compile all that stuff, and though yours may seem messy to you, it is SO organized!! And is a fabulous example of how to outline in chunks when you can’t write out of order, but ideas are there needing to be recorded, and they need to be structured but not necessarily tied together yet! I HEART you for writing this and sharing it with us! Screw books on outlines and formats and :P – All anyone needs is Courtney Summers.
GagaPants!!!
E
Courtney could you please come outline my book (plleeeeeeeeze?)
My reactions: oooo, look at all the pretty colors!
Can I request a post-THE END blog where you compare your writing experiences w/ and w/o the Rainbow Outline?
OMG. I am still giggling over “The More You Know.” But really, truly–your post is very helpful. I am inspired to shrink down my WIP and take a screen capture. This is my first real seat-of-the-pants project, though I know vaguely what’s going to happen. Well, not even that. I know an incident the action’s leading up to, but not the fall-out. Yikes!
I just finished reading Cracked Up To Be. Seriously, like an hour ago, I finished it. I started it last night when I was too tired to sleep and then couldn’t stop reading it until I was done today. Which is amazing, since I have a two-year old and I haven’t read a book that quickly since she was a couple months old. So hurray.
Also, I wish I could say that you’re more organized than me when you write. But I outline and plot the hell out of things. I use yWriter, which actually caters to my particular breed of anal-retentive writerness. Though, even with the spiffy program that practically reads my mind and creates features right before I need them, I still do have my outlining and character descriptions and stuff with pencil and paper first.
Because I love pens and paper, so that’s how I roll.
Anyway, I’m following you on Twitter now, and I thought I should say hi on here for some reason.
Scott: SCENERY PICKS! This is not something I have ever considered. AND YOU ARE SO RIGHT. ~*sparkleinspiration*~
Emily: Omg, bb, you are so flattering. I am glad you found it remotely organized and also helpful. YOU ARE AWESOME. And also, thank you for gifting me with the title of Book 3.
Teri: Heee, wellllll….. OKAY. BUT I ASK TO BE COMPENSATED IN SKITTLES. ;)
Tiffany: Ooh! That’s an idea… yes! I have a potential future blog! Thank you.
Sandmore: Hee, I love that image. Feel free to gank it! It needs to be all over the internet much more. And hey–seat of the pants is AWESOME. I have to tell you, I miss it. There’s nothing more exciting than writing to a conclusion you’re not even sure of. And I mean that. ~*memories*~
Deb: Hi! I’m glad you did say hi. I added you back on Twitter. It’s hard for me to follow everyone but introductions are always helpful. :) Anyway, thank you so much for commenting! And yay!! Thank you so much for reading CUTB! :D And I have never heard of yWriter but it sounds awesome. I have to admit, the lure of shiny organizational programs/software/material are always attractive to me, even though I always go back to a messy word doc. I don’t have the focus required for them & I admire anyone who can take full advantage of them. :)
If only I was this organised! My walls are covered in bits of paper / maps / photos with further piles of the stuff on my desk (if it hasn’t already slid onto the floor). Great post though….
Michael
“gasoline, baseball bat, blackflies, river, summer, night, sunset, car” !!!!???
I am thinking that my novel-in-progress and your novel-in-progress might be friends. They could sneak out in the middle of the night, go skinny-dipping, maybe get drunk and break a window or start a fire, stay out all night and wake up covered in bug bites on the hood of some guy’s car.
But, in all seriousness, your organization of this novel is so impressive! My novel is getting jealous.
About the synopsis: The fourth draft of mine is four-and-a-half pages. But it’s done at long last. p.s. You know this already, but: I HATE THEM TOO!
Have fun with GagaPants!
Michael: That’s fantastic, though! I love the idea of organized chaos in the working space. :)
Nova: They would TOTALLY be friends! There is skinny dipping in this book three, which is uncanny. So they would definitely indulge in that. ANDDD SO MANY CONGRATS FOR FINISHING THE DREADED SYNOPSIS! That cannot be said enough. You are my hero. When I start refining mine I Will Look To You, grrrl.
You ARE a public service announcement bb.
This is really cool. It’s neat to see your process and for you to tell us what worked and what didn’t with all these books.
Question–when you say you wrote 11 pages of your novel, getting to know your character, will those pages actually stay part of the book (like the opening, a key scene, etc) or did you just the character them in a situation for giggles that would help you get to know them better by seeing how they reacted and to get a handle on their voice? Just curious as to whether your getting-to-know phase ends up in the book or not. :-)
So, this is me after seeing the first little screenshotty thing:
“OMG HAVE TO READ”
*CLICKCLICKCLICK*
“Whaaa..? nooooooo”
I am so incredibly naive. :) I resisted the temptation to click the second one (lie).
+ Outlining – welcome to the dark side!
Pseudosu: Hee!
Angela: Thank you!! & Those 11 pages are still there as they are part of the opening/key scene (as I knew vaguely what would happen in chapter 1, just not so much about the people it was happening too). They have been edited as I go along, but at this point–they are critical. I don’t know if that will ultimately change though. :) I’ll let you know when it’s done and edited!
Emilia: Heee! Even if they had lead to a flickr page, I have resized them so the text is all blurred. ;) And yay! I like being on the dark side! IT’S SO COOL OVER HERE.
Thanks so much for sharing your outlining process Courtney! It’s interesting to see how other people work and sometimes their process might help your process, you know? I’m going to come back to this when/if I decide to get back to my tornado novel, or one of the other ones. Sheila is first, and she already has a process of sorts. (“Tell my story or I’ll eat your brains!” It’s a pretty good motivator.)
I really hope you can get back into this novel. Stories with that sense of feeling that sets time and place and atmosphere are really great to read.
I’m glad you enjoyed it! I hope I can get back into this one too. :)
PS I wish my characters were of the brain-eating type! I need that kinda motivation!!!!
I can send Sheila over to cheer you on if you want.
That offer sounds terrifyingly tempting!