Breadcrumbs and Plot Points
Usually, I write most weekends, several hours on both Saturday and Sunday. It's how I've managed to write and publish 15 books in 14 years (two nonfiction, seven fantasy, and six women's fiction). A question many people ask me is how I have written so many books, since I'm also still working full time. The answer is I write from 10-4 Saturday and Sunday, with very few breaks. My husband can attest to this.
Because I write most weekends, if I'm writing a single book, I generally remember most of what I've written recently. I have 3x5 cards with the overall plot points outlined. I usually have another card for each of the main characters and perhaps some characteristics of each - hair color, eye color, tall, short, etc. I use these cards as I write to ensure continuity among the characters' physical attributes, and to move the plot along.
With the current trilogy, I've not only written 3x5 cards of each book's major plot points, but I've also put them into the book, with tentative chapter titles, as well. Think of it as a meta-outline. Because my overall process includes flexibility in the plot details, this meta-outline serves as guardrails, within which I can play. They also help me know where I am relative to where I want to be, both in place and time.
Because the other thing I have is an overall timeline file - where each character should be and when. This is critical because each character - each book - happens in in parallel. But certain things that happen in one book are mentioned in the others or affect the plot of the others. As I've written before, I generally don't have a lot of description in my books about place and time. I like this flexibility too. I don't really know, for example, how long it takes to get from one of my fictional towns to another. It's a fictional world after all. So, all I've done in my timelines file is try to be similar in all the books about how long it takes the characters to get from one place to another, when the two places are about the same distance apart on the map of the world included at the front of each book. I don't know that anyone will ever take the books apart to such a level. But if they do, I'd like the distances and times to be reasonably aligned.
Anyway, all this to say that while the meta-outline means I know where I'm going eventually, the books also have breadcrumbs - hints of things to come. Sometimes these breadcrumbs relate to the main plot points, and therefore to the meta-outline. Sometimes these breadcrumbs are characteristics of the characters - decisions I've made about how characters will behave or stories of their lives before the time of the book.
When I'm writing a single book, I generally remember all those things from weekend to weekend. I remember the meta-outline. I remember the timeline - mostly. I often have that file open as I write. I remember - mostly - the characteristics of the major characters, to be repeated again and again for the readers. And I remember most of the breadcrumbs I've laid along the way.
One of the things I do when I edit a book is make a 3x5 card of breadcrumbs, which I then cross off as they are resolved along the way. In that way, I know I've left no breadcrumb without a resolution. And of course, my meta-outline and timeline files means there's continuity in those aspects as well.
All of these things are SO MUCH HARDER when writing three books at once. I find myself having to spend half of my Saturday writing time - when I'm returning to a different book than the previous weekend - just "catching up" on what I've already written. While this is good in that it also means I'm editing along the way, it means I'm less productive on Saturday than I would normally be.
On a normal Saturday - when I'm not writing three books at once - I would write at least one chapter, possibly two. Same for Sunday. Three or four chapters of writing in a weekend makes a whole book come together pretty quickly.
Keeping track of the breadcrumbs and plot points in each book, across all three books, is not something I'm capable of storing in my brain week to week. So, I have to review. And remember.
Thus, the writing is definitely slower.
Today, I wrote again in Kymri. And only wrote a small chapter. Because mostly, I read her story again. And noted the breadcrumbs and plot points. For tomorrow's writing.
Because I write most weekends, if I'm writing a single book, I generally remember most of what I've written recently. I have 3x5 cards with the overall plot points outlined. I usually have another card for each of the main characters and perhaps some characteristics of each - hair color, eye color, tall, short, etc. I use these cards as I write to ensure continuity among the characters' physical attributes, and to move the plot along.
With the current trilogy, I've not only written 3x5 cards of each book's major plot points, but I've also put them into the book, with tentative chapter titles, as well. Think of it as a meta-outline. Because my overall process includes flexibility in the plot details, this meta-outline serves as guardrails, within which I can play. They also help me know where I am relative to where I want to be, both in place and time.
Because the other thing I have is an overall timeline file - where each character should be and when. This is critical because each character - each book - happens in in parallel. But certain things that happen in one book are mentioned in the others or affect the plot of the others. As I've written before, I generally don't have a lot of description in my books about place and time. I like this flexibility too. I don't really know, for example, how long it takes to get from one of my fictional towns to another. It's a fictional world after all. So, all I've done in my timelines file is try to be similar in all the books about how long it takes the characters to get from one place to another, when the two places are about the same distance apart on the map of the world included at the front of each book. I don't know that anyone will ever take the books apart to such a level. But if they do, I'd like the distances and times to be reasonably aligned.
Anyway, all this to say that while the meta-outline means I know where I'm going eventually, the books also have breadcrumbs - hints of things to come. Sometimes these breadcrumbs relate to the main plot points, and therefore to the meta-outline. Sometimes these breadcrumbs are characteristics of the characters - decisions I've made about how characters will behave or stories of their lives before the time of the book.
When I'm writing a single book, I generally remember all those things from weekend to weekend. I remember the meta-outline. I remember the timeline - mostly. I often have that file open as I write. I remember - mostly - the characteristics of the major characters, to be repeated again and again for the readers. And I remember most of the breadcrumbs I've laid along the way.
One of the things I do when I edit a book is make a 3x5 card of breadcrumbs, which I then cross off as they are resolved along the way. In that way, I know I've left no breadcrumb without a resolution. And of course, my meta-outline and timeline files means there's continuity in those aspects as well.
All of these things are SO MUCH HARDER when writing three books at once. I find myself having to spend half of my Saturday writing time - when I'm returning to a different book than the previous weekend - just "catching up" on what I've already written. While this is good in that it also means I'm editing along the way, it means I'm less productive on Saturday than I would normally be.
On a normal Saturday - when I'm not writing three books at once - I would write at least one chapter, possibly two. Same for Sunday. Three or four chapters of writing in a weekend makes a whole book come together pretty quickly.
Keeping track of the breadcrumbs and plot points in each book, across all three books, is not something I'm capable of storing in my brain week to week. So, I have to review. And remember.
Thus, the writing is definitely slower.
Today, I wrote again in Kymri. And only wrote a small chapter. Because mostly, I read her story again. And noted the breadcrumbs and plot points. For tomorrow's writing.
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