It's been evolving with each book. With MASTER OF THE HIGHLANDS, I was much more of a seat-of-the-pants writer. I knew the general trajectory of the book and what the "final conflict" would be, but I allowed myself a fair number of cul-de-sacs along the way. With SWORD OF THE HIGHLANDS, I did much more in-depth research before I began, reading James Graham’s autobiography and learning about the time of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. And necessarily so! It is such a complicated time period, I wanted to get it just right.
I’ve gotten into one too many near-scrapes, though, letting serendipity play even the slightest of roles in the primary plot. I think this is particularly true of books like mine: relying so much on real historical events and characters, increasingly I feel the need to know exactly where I’m headed, and whether or not the right “real history” milestones will be waiting for me when I get there.
And so I did much more extensive research before I even began my third book (WARRIOR OF THE HIGHLANDS, February 2009.) I like to know enough about what is occurring historically to establish my plot milestones.
Then--and here's the thing that has changed my world--I write everything on sticky notes and put them on a white board. I love sticky notes! I've even gotten my critique partner hooked. I love how they enable me to jiggle around the storylines, see holes, and best of all, visualize the ending. Each subsequent book has had more sticky notes than the last!
— veronica
Sun, 06/08/2008 - 9:00am
Interesting, very interesting. Well now that you mentioned sticky notes I should tell you about this amazing notebook that I found. I have written about it on my Authors blog and I think you should give it a look at because it might be useful to you. Here is the exact link to the post WIP Notebook. I found out about it through Charlotte Dillion's blog and I'm very thankful that I found it because it has helped me so much in keeping me organized while I research and come up with character profiles while I'm writing my first manuscript this summer. Romance Readers & Writers Forum and Talk About My Favorite Authors
— Phoebe Jordan
Mon, 06/09/2008 - 10:07am
Thanks for the tip, Phoebe! I'll definitely check this out! My husband made me an Excel file where I can track how many words per day I write, but this looks like it has everything in one place.
It's been evolving with each book. With MASTER OF THE HIGHLANDS, I was much more of a seat-of-the-pants writer. I knew the general trajectory of the book and what the "final conflict" would be, but I allowed myself a fair number of cul-de-sacs along the way. With SWORD OF THE HIGHLANDS, I did much more in-depth research before I began, reading James Graham’s autobiography and learning about the time of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. And necessarily so! It is such a complicated time period, I wanted to get it just right.
I’ve gotten into one too many near-scrapes, though, letting serendipity play even the slightest of roles in the primary plot. I think this is particularly true of books like mine: relying so much on real historical events and characters, increasingly I feel the need to know exactly where I’m headed, and whether or not the right “real history” milestones will be waiting for me when I get there.
And so I did much more extensive research before I even began my third book (WARRIOR OF THE HIGHLANDS, February 2009.) I like to know enough about what is occurring historically to establish my plot milestones.
Then--and here's the thing that has changed my world--I write everything on sticky notes and put them on a white board. I love sticky notes! I've even gotten my critique partner hooked. I love how they enable me to jiggle around the storylines, see holes, and best of all, visualize the ending. Each subsequent book has had more sticky notes than the last!
— veronica Sun, 06/08/2008 - 9:00am
Interesting, very interesting. Well now that you mentioned sticky notes I should tell you about this amazing notebook that I found. I have written about it on my Authors blog and I think you should give it a look at because it might be useful to you. Here is the exact link to the post WIP Notebook. I found out about it through Charlotte Dillion's blog and I'm very thankful that I found it because it has helped me so much in keeping me organized while I research and come up with character profiles while I'm writing my first manuscript this summer.
Romance Readers & Writers Forum and Talk About My Favorite Authors
— Phoebe Jordan Mon, 06/09/2008 - 10:07am
Thanks for the tip, Phoebe! I'll definitely check this out! My husband made me an Excel file where I can track how many words per day I write, but this looks like it has everything in one place.
— veronica Thu, 06/12/2008 - 12:55pm