narrative outline and poe

Okay, I know I yammer on about outlining all the time, but I have yet another tidbit to share. I had been working with an outline for a book in which the bulk of the action takes place over a few weeks. I separated the actions for each day or span of days, so I would always keep track of how much time the action was taking and how far we were into the time span. This was useful, but I was having trouble getting a whole picture – it felt like a random list of scenes taking place each day, with no cohesive structure or theme.

I’m sure you’ve heard the advice to write about your book in letter form, to a person you love/respect with whom you would like to share your story, but not send it? Even better: write it out in narrative form with the intention of sending it to someone whose opinion you value. This made all the difference.

Revising the outline, I fine-tuned things I may have been lazy about otherwise. I thought of the overall themes and how these are evident in action and dialogue sequences throughout the book. And I didn’t hold back any good bits.

It still needs work, but I think this is a good start. Mind you, I’ve been working on this book for nearly a year, so the fact that this is ANOTHER START could be intensely frustrating if I think about it too long but lalalalala I can’t hear you what are you saying? Anyhow, it has COMPLETELY transformed from the book I started late last summer – all in exciting ways. Now I just have to write the darn thing.

In other news…I came across these dark and enchanting Harry Clarke illustrations from a book of Poe short stories. And I am in love with them. You can view them here: http://50watts.com/#Harry-Clarke-Illustrations-for-E-A-Poe.