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| The Wall of Jericho, artist's rendering, more information available here |
The power of a blueprint (or outline) for a novel is perhaps best represented in the plot of the novel. (I spoke in a previous post about how Rowling's outlining technique for Harry Potter benefited the page-turning plot of her books...).
In THE VALLEN, I also attempted to outline my story prior to writing the first draft. Note: attempted. I did map out an outline, using an Excel spreadsheet with timeline down the first column and characters/plot points/themes/setting across the top row. But my attempt at an outline quickly exploded into a megasheet of interweaving, sometimes unclassifiable clods of ideas.
Here's a screenshot:
Ha! What a mess this turned into! (At least I can laugh about it now, when I'm already completed the final draft and literally thinking about how soon I can start shooting queries off to agents...) As you can see, in order to even read what's in the outline you have to zoom in. And in order to grasp the entirety of the outline (timescale, plot turning points, etc.), you have zoom out. Which, subsequently, sort of defeats the whole purpose of an outline...
Lesson learned:
Excel did not work so well for my outlining purposes. The ever-expanding properties of digital cells (as opposed to physical, limited, confining 8x11 paper) encouraged more of a packing-it-all-in than a refining and editing-out.
As I perused and re-read all of my various notes stored on scraps on paper, legal pads and endless scrolls of emails sent to myself, I fit them into their place in the outline. For instance, when I came across a description of the wall in my notes, I typed into the cell intersection of "the wall" column and timeline row. But the sheer amount of research and backstory and world-building that's required for a dystopic story such as this all ended up crammed into my 'outline' and so rendered the whole thing useless.
When I realized this, perhaps about July 2018, right as I was beginning to write the first page of the first draft, I had a complete breakdown in my confidence. My story, so outlined, was a jabbering mess. The entire concept was ridiculous! The whole idea of THE VALLEN was a hopeless endeavor. A false narrative. Another failure...
Then I gave up on the outline. Gave up on a lot of ideas I had scribbled and perused and re-perused two, three, four times, and slaved over...was ready to give up on this whole novel...
Then came Essa running along the wall...I saw her, in like a dream...and then came the first page. The first chapter. The second chapter. A third, a fourth, and...there came THE VALLEN. Like a birth or something. Crowning out into the world whether I wanted her to or not. Didn't matter at that point.
Thanks for reading! :D
Look out for more VALLEN-related blogposts in the coming weeks!