Walking the Path

 
I outline my novels before I start writing. I've mentioned this before. I spent 2 weeks doing it recently. So I doubt this is news. I've also used the following quote many times:
 
"…there's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path." –Morpheus (The Matrix)
 
I love that quote because it neatly encapsulates my experience with outlining a novel, then writing the novel from the outline.
 
Sure, I know where I'm going, and I even have a plan for how to get there. But just like no battle plan survives contact with the enemy and just like tracing your finger on a map from Barstow, California, to Wilmington, North Carolina, in no way represents actually driving along I-40 and what you'll see along the way, having an outline and writing from it are two different things.
 
The past few days of writing I've been struggling with something that seemed easy when I planned it. I bring the three main characters of GoSH1 together with (what I hope is) a bang. And since all three characters are main characters, and don't know each other at the beginning of the novel, I thought it would be cool to write the introductory scene from all three viewpoints. Each character witnesses and responds to the event and the other characters individually before coming together later on. Each character ends up only seeing a part of what happened, and through their eyes one after the other the reader begins to realize what's going on in the bigger picture. The idea sounded good and that's what I plotted out. Even looked OK in outline form.
 
The obvious challenge with such a thing is keeping the actions and dialogue in sync. That's not too difficult, though, and even helps pad word count some as you reuse dialogue.
 
A bigger challenge is making all three versions of the event interesting. Not only do the characters need to be introduced, the overall plot needs to be moved forward and/or hinted at in a way that builds tension even though the reader already knows what's going to happen.
 
I expect the first 4-5 chapters of the book are going to require some editing and re-syncing before I'm done.
 
After the opening, the story follows a much more traditional, linear approach, as the characters have been brought together.
 
Or, at least, I that's what I have in my outline…
 
-David