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Spiral, thanks; that would be awesome. Even if I could just look at his blog; it'd be great to see another example.
Suddenly occurred to me I'm sort of writing a novel
- Thread starter Manuel Royal
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Just an update:
Column still ongoing; I don't know the numbers, but I guess enough people are reading it to make it worth paying me (a little) for.
Developments:
The installments have gradually gotten longer. I made the first one exactly 1,000 words. The ninth installment (Prohibited) came out to 3,500.
15,000 words so far; working on the tenth installment. At this rate, it'll be novel-length in six months.
I was asked to stop writing "ass" so much. The thing is, the paper is set up for nonfiction news articles, human interest stories, and opinion pieces. The language standards are not what you'd normally apply to fiction.
And my editor agrees with me about that -- but the problem is that the news articles get a lot of comments, and there are some rather angry individuals who often curse in the comments, and then have their language censored. If those people notice that my fiction pieces aren't held to the same standard, there'll be bitching and moaning.
So, I have to hold back the torrent of filth that's always waiting for me to release it. Not really a big deal. With the latest installment, apparently there was no problem with breasts described as "firm, quivering, and nourishing-looking." (I never said I was a great writer.)
And they didn't mind the couple having sex on a memorial bench in the city's most distinguished cemetery. So I can't whine about censorship.
My main problem remains the fact that I'm not getting other work done. Everytime I start to get ahead with this column, I let other things get in the way. But this weekend I'll try and make up the time.
I do notice I don't have the same anxiety I did at first. Gaining confidence. Even if they cancelled the column tomorrow, it's been great experience.
Have y'all had the same experience -- gaining confidence as you get deeper into a story? I'm still doing some heavy lifting; having to work out details of a criminal plot in one of the storylines (intersecting with a couple of other storylines). But the major characters are mostly established, and after awhile, plotting should be easier.
And thanks again for all the advice and encouragement I've gotten from my fellow AW denizens!
Column still ongoing; I don't know the numbers, but I guess enough people are reading it to make it worth paying me (a little) for.
Developments:
The installments have gradually gotten longer. I made the first one exactly 1,000 words. The ninth installment (Prohibited) came out to 3,500.
15,000 words so far; working on the tenth installment. At this rate, it'll be novel-length in six months.
I was asked to stop writing "ass" so much. The thing is, the paper is set up for nonfiction news articles, human interest stories, and opinion pieces. The language standards are not what you'd normally apply to fiction.
And my editor agrees with me about that -- but the problem is that the news articles get a lot of comments, and there are some rather angry individuals who often curse in the comments, and then have their language censored. If those people notice that my fiction pieces aren't held to the same standard, there'll be bitching and moaning.
So, I have to hold back the torrent of filth that's always waiting for me to release it. Not really a big deal. With the latest installment, apparently there was no problem with breasts described as "firm, quivering, and nourishing-looking." (I never said I was a great writer.)
And they didn't mind the couple having sex on a memorial bench in the city's most distinguished cemetery. So I can't whine about censorship.
My main problem remains the fact that I'm not getting other work done. Everytime I start to get ahead with this column, I let other things get in the way. But this weekend I'll try and make up the time.
I do notice I don't have the same anxiety I did at first. Gaining confidence. Even if they cancelled the column tomorrow, it's been great experience.
Have y'all had the same experience -- gaining confidence as you get deeper into a story? I'm still doing some heavy lifting; having to work out details of a criminal plot in one of the storylines (intersecting with a couple of other storylines). But the major characters are mostly established, and after awhile, plotting should be easier.
And thanks again for all the advice and encouragement I've gotten from my fellow AW denizens!
Hey Manuel. I just saw this thread. I don't know if you're still looking for advice; you're on your tenth episode, so you've probably settled into your own method for organizing your content. But it occurred to me that what you're doing is sort of similar to writing multi-chapter fanfiction -- with the notable difference that what you're doing is professional and much more original.
Still, it's similar in that you're writing it "chapter by chapter" the way ongoing fanfic is written, there's an audience waiting for each segment, each piece has to be entertaining in its own right, and you can't go back and change the things that have already been printed.
There are two things that I worry about when writing a new chapter of my story: 1) that the chapter I'm posting isn't entertaining, and 2) that I'm introducing something inconsistent with what I've already published or missing a chance to post something that should be included.
Not every chapter can be an earth-shattering event. In every chapter, I try to make sure the chapter begs a new story question and either answers one or at least brings the story to a new level of questioning. I try to make sure my chapter moves the story along--the characters complete a task, finish an important conversation, or get ready to move to a new location. I try to introduce something new about a character, the world, or the storyline.
As far as keeping things consistent, I just make careful notes (the way you are with your spreadsheet). I like to write my chapters all in the same Word document. I have a general idea of the overall plot, so I have placeholders for chapters where I've made notes that spread the story out over all the chapters. I also make notes about things I need characters to do in between--like, if I know a character has to open a door in Chapter 12, I make sure I leave a note for myself in chapter 15 for him to get the key somehow. If I know something has to happen, like Character A needs to mention a fact so Character B knows about it in Chapter 14, then I'll add it to a collection of notes that I carry from chapter to chapter as I write. If I can work one or more of those notes into the chapter I'm writing, then I do so and then remove it from my list. If this chapter isn't a good place, I cut and paste my notes into the next blank chapter. That helps me remember what things I needed to do.
I also have an important object that changes hands frequently, so I make a note at the beginning of my list about who currently has it.
All in all, having placeholders for my chapters lets me go in when I get an idea and makes notes about it in one chapter or another. Eventually those chapters with notes start to form a nicely detailed outline.
Something else I struggle with in these one-chapter-at-a-time stories is that I do get to see reader feedback in between. Some people are really happy with what I've been doing, and others not so much. Some of the more vocal readers tempt me to change direction, but I've realized that when I change direction to make one reader happy (and then change direction, again, to make another reader happy), it leads to inconsistency in the story and in the characterizations. There are certain things you can change to satisfy readers that don't really affect the overall integrity, but you have to know what will and won't hurt your story and stick to your guns if you're routinely reading feedback on the forums.
I also agree with Maryn's advice to write ahead. In my story, I'm currently behind because I don't have the next three chapters written... however, I do have several chapters after that already mostly written, so when I go to post those, I'll have some nice breathing room. It's hard to write ahead (I'm such a procrastinator), but you just have to make yourself do it and remind yourself that you're going to much happier in the long run if you're not stressing out about deadlines.
Hope the 10th installment is going well!
Still, it's similar in that you're writing it "chapter by chapter" the way ongoing fanfic is written, there's an audience waiting for each segment, each piece has to be entertaining in its own right, and you can't go back and change the things that have already been printed.
There are two things that I worry about when writing a new chapter of my story: 1) that the chapter I'm posting isn't entertaining, and 2) that I'm introducing something inconsistent with what I've already published or missing a chance to post something that should be included.
Not every chapter can be an earth-shattering event. In every chapter, I try to make sure the chapter begs a new story question and either answers one or at least brings the story to a new level of questioning. I try to make sure my chapter moves the story along--the characters complete a task, finish an important conversation, or get ready to move to a new location. I try to introduce something new about a character, the world, or the storyline.
As far as keeping things consistent, I just make careful notes (the way you are with your spreadsheet). I like to write my chapters all in the same Word document. I have a general idea of the overall plot, so I have placeholders for chapters where I've made notes that spread the story out over all the chapters. I also make notes about things I need characters to do in between--like, if I know a character has to open a door in Chapter 12, I make sure I leave a note for myself in chapter 15 for him to get the key somehow. If I know something has to happen, like Character A needs to mention a fact so Character B knows about it in Chapter 14, then I'll add it to a collection of notes that I carry from chapter to chapter as I write. If I can work one or more of those notes into the chapter I'm writing, then I do so and then remove it from my list. If this chapter isn't a good place, I cut and paste my notes into the next blank chapter. That helps me remember what things I needed to do.
I also have an important object that changes hands frequently, so I make a note at the beginning of my list about who currently has it.
All in all, having placeholders for my chapters lets me go in when I get an idea and makes notes about it in one chapter or another. Eventually those chapters with notes start to form a nicely detailed outline.
Something else I struggle with in these one-chapter-at-a-time stories is that I do get to see reader feedback in between. Some people are really happy with what I've been doing, and others not so much. Some of the more vocal readers tempt me to change direction, but I've realized that when I change direction to make one reader happy (and then change direction, again, to make another reader happy), it leads to inconsistency in the story and in the characterizations. There are certain things you can change to satisfy readers that don't really affect the overall integrity, but you have to know what will and won't hurt your story and stick to your guns if you're routinely reading feedback on the forums.
I also agree with Maryn's advice to write ahead. In my story, I'm currently behind because I don't have the next three chapters written... however, I do have several chapters after that already mostly written, so when I go to post those, I'll have some nice breathing room. It's hard to write ahead (I'm such a procrastinator), but you just have to make yourself do it and remind yourself that you're going to much happier in the long run if you're not stressing out about deadlines.
Hope the 10th installment is going well!
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Hi, Heza! Sorry; didn't see this till now.
All your ideas are good.
(AOL doesn't like to let go of money, even though they just spent $135 million to buy HuffPo. And almost half their revenue comes in from older users who don't understand that they could cancel their AOL subscription and still keep their AOL e-mail. Think I'll use that in the column.)
Right now, I'm not actually ahead -- but, I've gotten more efficient about writing the pieces. Something like 800 words an hour. So, I've got enough breathing room to start working on other things as well.
Heza, thanks, and everybody else, too.
Oh, yes, I definitely worry about that. I've seen other such series with major continuity problems, and I'm trying to avoid them. But sooner or later a sharp-eyed reader (probably my girlfriend, since I'm not sure anybody else is actually reading it) will catch a contradiction.
Do you actually mean "begs a question", or do you mean "raises a question"? I've been begging questions all over the place, counting on my readers to raise them, and trying to answer some here and there along the way.
That is a super idea; thanks! Don't know why I didn't think of it. I've had each installment as a separate Word file, but there's no reason at all not to have them in one file. (For the upload, I have to cut and paste the text anyway.) That would make it much quicker to search for terms, or to look back at what I said before. I'm going to implement that today, by combining the twelve (so far) files into one.
All your ideas are good.
Well, so far I've gotten almost zero reader feedback. No idea how many people have actually read it. My editor told me traffic wasn't very good, and they cut my rates in half.
(AOL doesn't like to let go of money, even though they just spent $135 million to buy HuffPo. And almost half their revenue comes in from older users who don't understand that they could cancel their AOL subscription and still keep their AOL e-mail. Think I'll use that in the column.)
Right now, I'm not actually ahead -- but, I've gotten more efficient about writing the pieces. Something like 800 words an hour. So, I've got enough breathing room to start working on other things as well.
Heza, thanks, and everybody else, too.
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