Working out the kinks

With TAO handed over to Catrine, it was time for me to continue onwards with Remnants. Before I could get to writing though, I knew I had to read through what I had, and plot out the rest. Cause the plot itself has changed a little bit since I first wrote most of it in 2015. Luckily, what I want to do will work with what I already have, so no major rewriting needs to be done at this time (later, well, that is another story).

I starter by reading what I had, and taking detailed notes along the way. I needed to have all the information that might come in handy later on, as well as figure out where things didn’t make sense. Good to know where I need to keep a close eye once I start editing the whole thing later on. I also notes down things I needed to research, and just things I should remember for later plotting.

It took me a few days to get through it all, and a few times I had to stop myself from starting the editing job right there. I need to continue writing though, and I know if I start editing now, I won’t be able to stop until I’m done. Considering how long I usually take editing, that won’t be good if I want to finish this book this century. In the end, I ended up with a ton of post-its, thirteen pages of detailed plot notes, and a small stack of other random notes and things to remember or research.

I also realised that I have a chapter that’s over 11,000 words long! It took everything I had not to start splitting it into smaller chapters on the stop. There was also a random paragraph where I basically repeated what I had written two paragraphs earlier, but slightly rewritten and littered with spelling errors. Ah, the joys of reading unedited things from a Nanowrimo word war.

Once I had all my notes, I found my cork board (yes, an actual one, not the Scrivener one), and got to work. I like visualising my stories, getting the plot up on the board. Makes it easier for me to see the whole picture. Also, I like to organise stuff, and the cork board can get pretty darn organised if I want it to be! Once I got the plot down on notecards, and pinned to the board, it became apparent that something had to be done about the chapter length on the last two chapters.

With everything I have so far neatly organised, I can see clearly I have my work cut out for me. There are a few things I ned to get done in terms of wordlbuilding, before I can finish plotting the story itself. I have a pretty good idea where I want to end up, but how I get there is still up in the air. So here are some of the things I need to focus on for the next weeks, before I continue writing this in April.

1. Worldbuilding
   • Planets, systems, ships, drifts, people, tech etc.
   • History; what happened before, how, why.
2. Outline and plot
   • Get a general outline of what is going to happen
   • Plot the story in details

Two steps. Sounds easy enough. Shouldn’t be a problem at all.