Holly Lisle's Blog, page 9

Why I’ve been AWOL from blogging (AKA the dangers of stand-sliding on the playground)

In my first run through my five-novel Ohio series, I carefully plotted the first book, wrote it, love it…

And carefully plotted the next four books.

Followed by ignoring my outlines and pantsing the novels.

Why?

Because it was fun, it was exciting, it was like being a kindergarten kid again, standing on the top of the sliding board in my slick-soled Mary Janes and skiing down standing up (until the playground teacher grabbed me and told me I was never allowed to do that again).

That same recess matron also made me stop running up the teeter-totter so that I could hit the other end before it dropped to the ground (that drop out from under me was the fun part.)

She was a killjoy — but in her defense, I never ended up in the hospital with a playground injury.

So…

Sometimes, you know what works, and you know how you do what you do, and you have proven it through a whole lotta books and stories and deadlines…

And knowing what you know, you climb the ladder to the top of the slide anyway, thinking DAMMIT, screw the rules…

And you stand up in your Mary Janes and try skiing down the damn thing, and this time, you go over the side and hit your head on the concrete.

(Because yes, when I was a kid, school playgrounds were covered in concrete. Our parents and public schools really were trying to kill us.)

Anyway…

Ohio One is solid and done.

I’m managing to cannibalize some scenes from Two and Three into completely new first drafts. I’m just about finished with the PLOTTED, OUTLINED, Book Two, and this time the novel is working.

I’ll be able to use more pieces of Two and Three in Ohio Three.

However, where books Four and Five are concerned, like Bugs Bunny, I shoulda turned left in Albuquerque. I did not end up anywhere near where I wanted to be. (Bugs Bunny info at Wikipedia).

Instead, while I might be able to cannibalize a few scenes from them, Four and Five are essentially write-offs, and I’m not counting on being able to use more than the few scenes that I know still fit in the story universe.

So… this is going.

It’s not going quickly, and I’m thoroughly pissed off with myself for chasing rabbits and skiing down the sliding board standing up.

The skinned palms and skinned knees really, really weren’t worth the thrill.

The Weekly Sheldon

The Weekly Sheldon #2

Working all week on Ohio 2 rewrite.

The Friday Update & Weekly Sheldon

Still working on the revision of Ohio 3. It’s going well, but it’s going slowly — there’s a lot I want to change to make these stories both tighter and richer.

I love what I’m getting.

And I have quiet company while I get it. Sheldon is right in here with me.

Civilization Versus The Full-Body For-Keepsies Panty Raid… and The Survival Value of ADD

The Ohio Novels: Sheldon, Because…

I’m revising.

It’s a process. I’m doing back-to-back read-throughs of five novels (over 500,000 words of fiction, and then I’ll be doing the work to make them the books I want them to be).

First draft is where I explore what the story can become. That’s all finished.

Revision is where it becomes the story I love.

Here’s the problem: I’m not going to have anything to say about writing for a while, because I don’t do spoilers or hints, and I do all of my revision working offline on a paper copy of the book, where even if I were inclined to demonstrate progress (and I’m not, because again, I don’t do spoilers), the medium isn’t amenable. So…

Sheldon. Because once a week, I can post a picture of him, confirm that I’m making progress, and then get back to making the novels I wrote about my very odd version of Ohio into their best versions.

To 169 on the write-in of Ohio 2

A lot of stuff is going from this part, to be replaced by some significantly better stuff following a line of thought my editor pointed out to me.

I’m excited by how things started coming together here.

Today went better. I love a LOT of Ohio 3.

I made it a nice chunk of the way through Book 3, and there is, in fact, a whole lot of story that’s worth saving — that’s funny, and in places moving, and overall very strange — but which fits the world I’ve built and the characters I’ve put into it.

So after a few stressful days, there’s actually a whole lot about Ohio Three that I’ll be keeping.

Cannot even begin to describe what a huge relief this is.

Replotting Ohio 2… The Experiment that Went BOOM!

Book 2 has a lot of salvageable material. A lot of awesome world stuff, some wonderfully funny scenes, some pretty scary scenes.

It was fun for me to read, and I made myself laugh a bunch of times, got a little teary-eyed, did a light revision and passed it off to my Editor.

Matt, however, is really, really good at what he does.

And he discovered that while the story is a lot of fun, what it doesn’t have is a strong story through-line.

Here’s the thing…

I had a line-for scene plot for the book built out.

It, however, lacked the sort of epic sense of wonder that made my heart beat faster while I was writing it. 

So… when Epic Sense of Wonder crept past me while I was being a good girl and following the plot, my hunting brain caught the scent… 

…And chased.

I got some great stuff out of the chase. The plot, however, got eaten by volemarines and vile scunners in the process. 

So now, I’m going back and figuring out how to keep all the epic stuff, the sensawunda stuff, the glorious terrifying magic and the really creepy evil…

WHILE STILL HAVING A DAMN PLOT.

Today… plotting worksheet and tight focus.

There are folks saying, “But you teach classes on how to write novels.”

Yup. I also invent and test new processes, because if you do the same thing every time, you get the same results every time. And to get BETTER results, and consequently better novels, you have to experiment.

Many experiments… um… explode.

And the person looking at the new processes, and experimenting, is the one upon whom they explode.

SO…

THIS process is not going to be in any new class coming your way from me. You can thank me later.

And more of the same… OHIO 2 (NO… THREE) Revision

I’m going through all five novels.

At the moment, I’m tearing apart Book One, which I got right, to find out where I need to take Book Two THREE in the revision.

It’s a complicated process, and I’m managing to give myself regular headaches going through it. And all of this is my own damn fault.

I have a good process for plotting and writing novels, but somehow, I was having so damn much fun with these that I didn’t use my process. I essentially pantsed my way through Books 2-5, having built out my four line-for-scene outlines for each of the remaining four books… and then ignoring the damn things to chase “better ideas.”

Well, if you know what works for you, and you decide to ignore your proven process to go rabbiting after “Ooooh, SHINY!!!”, you deserve what you get.

And here I am.

And more of the same… OHIO 2 Revision

I’m going through all five novels.

At the moment, I’m tearing apart Book One, which I got right, to find out where I need to take Book Two in the revision.

It’s a complicated process, and I’m managing to give myself regular headaches going through it. And all of this is my own damn fault.

I have a good process for plotting and writing novels, but somehow, I was having so damn much fun with these that I didn’t use my process. I essentially pantsed my way through Books 2-5, having built out my four line-for-scene outlines for each of the remaining four books… and then ignoring the damn things to chase “better ideas.”

Well, if you know what works for you, and you decide to ignore your proven process to go rabbiting after “Ooooh, SHINY!!!”, you deserve what you get.

And here I am.