I never outline. Well, almost never. Halfway through a story I might jot down some thoughts on where it could go, or if I get in a tangle I'll think out loud on paper. But now I have these ideas for this epic fantasy I've been wanting to write.  I'm outlining mostly as a way of getting the ideas down so I don't forget them. I'm kind of enjoying this spate of pre-writing. I'm writing sloppy paragraphs like this (none of this is actually in my outline):

Jill goes to well, finds bucket outside on the ground. Problem, she worries about it. Finds bucket dented, smear of blood. Worries Jack's in well, but no sign of him.  Turns to look at distant hill; did he go without her? Turns to go, sees wolf tracks, assumes wolf has Jack. Remembers wolf vowing revenge for 3 pigs incident.  Knows she'll need help. She'll have to go to the woodsman. Afraid of him, poss. former relationship? Will ex help her rescue current boyfriend from big bad wolf?

The question is, how do you know when your outline is enough to fill a book vs. too much for one book? Can you judge book length by your outline?

Didja ever do this?

So, I woke up after a dream and thought, "Wow.  What an interesting basis for a story."  I was so intrigued by the idea, I emailed a friend.

"Three words:" I wrote.  "Post-apocalyptic.  Werewolf.  Porn."

I was advised to up my dosages.  Ok, so Laurell K. pretty much has cornered the werewolf porn market.  There's room for more, right?  Am I right?  Right?!

I know a few people have used the Snowflake Method or are using it now.  I'm poking around with it as a way of making sure my plot stays tighter this time than the last time (when I effectively had none). 

I'm wondering, though, if anyone else used it for a first-person POV story.  I'm having a lot of trouble with some of the steps because, for example, in Step 3 where one of the things is to write a paragraph summary of the character's storyline... In a 1st-person story, her storyline is THE storyline.  Is this, then, the same paragraph as the one from Step 2 or should it be something fuller? 

Anyone else have comments on this method, what's worked, what hasn't?

I'm very close to the end. I have one conversation and then it's the epic final battle, the bad guy loses, the good guys (mostly) win, and then there's the nice little denoument to wrap up everything into a tidy ending.

The thing is, I just today realized what it's going to take to turn the C-plot into a fully-realized, story-strengthening B-plot. I need to add in hints, foreshadowings, a couple of mysterious events that shouldn't be more than a couple of paragraphs, and finally write in one big scene containing a kidnapping, a battle, an unexpected alliance, a rescue, and an armed truce.

Since I'm a dyed-in-the-wool pantser, there's a very good chance that what happens in that big scene will change the ending. Not drastically, but it might change the specifics of what goes down, how it goes down, and how the 1st person viewpoint character reacts to it.

So should I finish, then edit and chance that the ending will have to be completely rewritten to accomodate the new scene? Or should I go back and write in the new scene, then pick up where I've left off and write through to the end? Any advice?

Quite awhile ago, someone was in the process of coding up a MU* version of the RPG.  I'm guessing they stopped since I haven't heard anything.  Now that the books are nigh, is anyone else planning one?  I'm not much of a pen-and-paper person, but I'll play in a MU* if one opens...

I'm only partway through the rewrite of the major things I knew at the outset needed fixing.  The rewrite won't be done anytime in the next couple of week or so, miracles aside.  But I'd like to line up a couple of people now to read through this thing.

The original was just over 50k words, about 115 pages in MS Word.  This version will be longer; though I'm not writing first for length, I do want to end somewhere over 80k.  Fortunately for me, there are several scenes that need to be added.  Sadly, there's one that needs to be taken out in its entirety since it's just bloody awful.

I do want people who can check my spelling and grammar.  I'm good at both, so you'll have to be better.

I'll also want general opinions on the characters and the flow of the storyline.  "I liked it!" will get you shot in the head.  I want a real critique; what worked for you, what didn't.  You should be able to tell me why you liked what you did and why you didn't like what you didn't.

Sorry if this comes across as too blunt, but I really want beta readers who can help me polish this thing for an agent's review.  Oh, you'll also have to be pretty quick with the turnaround because I'll want to keep up my momentum.  It's possible, if it'd be easier on everyone, that I could send it to you in pieces so you'll be reading the first fifty pages while I'm working on the final fifty and the stuff in the middle is waiting to be sent.  I'm honestly not sure how most authors handle the beta process.

So, I've long extolled the excellent advice given by uberagent Donald Maass in his "Writing the Breakout Novel".  Maass and his entire agency has a client list that looks like some kind of Authorial Nirvana:  Jim's there, Elizabeth Bear, Anne Bishop, Diane Duane, Robert McCammon... Let's just say that when it comes to kick-ass fiction, Donald Maass knows whereof he speaks.  Cred:  he's got it.

I had no idea he'd put out a second book last year, but I went out and got it even though I had to clean out my change jar to do it.  This one is called "The Fire in Fiction" and is equally full of moments where you'll smack yourself in the head as he makes it plain exactly how some of the best novelists in the biz are doing what they're doing.

In the section on Scary Monsters, Maass uses Jim's stuff to demonstrate that the way you make a monster scary isn't to pile on the adjectives or splatter the page with gore, it's to make the monster scary TO THE CHARACTERS.

I won't quote the entire two pages here (mostly 'cause I think that much of a quote constitutes a copyright violation) but he starts off by praising Jim:

"The king of humorous horror, though, is undoubtedly Jim Butcher, whose series about down-at-heels Chicago wizard-detective Harry Dresden has soared high on the New York Times best seller list and spun off tthe (sic) Sci-Fi channel TV show The Dresden Files.  Harry's sardonic narration never fails to amuse even if guts are flying and ghouls are dying.  Butcher, indeed, gives the supernatural its sting with that very juxtaposition."

He then provides a passage from White Knight where Harry is talking to Murphy about the current state of the war, then uses the scene where Harry kills the ghouls as an example to highlight the following:

"There's plenty of action in White Knight, including a series of gory ghoul attacks.  Butcher writes violence effectively yet Harry's matter-of-fact narration doesn't aim to shock us, surprise us, or creep us out (much) with visuals.  Butcher knows we've seen it all on TV.  Instead, the horror comes largely from inside Harry; that is, from his feelings."

And in the summary, Maass says:

'What pulls us through White Knight and all the novels in the Dresden Files, I'd argue, is not any macabre fascination with the occult but the innate appeal of Harry Dresden.  What makes Harry compelling?  His sardonic humor, of course, but also his high personal stakes.  Each plot problem matters profoundly and personally to Harry, and therefore it matters to us.  What horrifies him horrifies us."

The entire book is full of these bits of well-illustrated advice, and I emphatically recommend Maass' books to any writer looking for some concrete advice beyond the boring, heard-it-all-before "show don't tell" and "don't use passive verbs".

Anyone wanna beta 22 pages (in MS Word) of Dresden fic?  It's not finished yet, but I'm looking for:

- egregious grammatical errors (except those in speech, since people talk all messed up)
- continuity with Dead Beat
- repetition of phrases/words in close proximity.  For example, in the teaser I realized later that I used "sigh" a lot as a verb, and "around us/around him" within the same sentence.  It made things awkward and I sometimes don't catch that stuff until my fourth or fifth edit.

The continuity is most important.  You'll need to be very familiar with the story.  I will note that there shouldn't be anything outrageous; I even bought a new copy of Dead Beat when I started this, just so I'd have a copy to highlight and dogear and margin-note.

There'll be more to review before I'm done.

Oh, and to be picky?  If your spelling and grammar aren't at least as good as I display in my teaser post, please don't offer.  I need someone better than me to check me.