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Fleshing Out the Skeleton
Posted on December 14th, 2009 6 commentsLast week was a decent week of writing. I got the first draft done on my work in progress. Although, in reality, it is more of a skeleton than a true first draft. Somehow, I reached ‘the end’ at 30,000 words when usually my first draft ends up at around 110,000 words and I have to go back and tighten like crazy. However, this story has demanded to be written in a different way, with only the bones showing up to be put down in the first draft. Therefore, I must now go back and flesh it all out. I need to add tendons, then layer in some muscle. Then fat and flesh as well as a few veins. I think a lot of the story’s arteries are already in there, even though I only have a skeleton!
What I’m going to be doing in my next draft is layering in character motivations, making connections between my characters as well as ensuring they all have their own little plot arcs and conflicts. (Just the major guys get plot arcs though.)
Here are some questions I will be asking myself as I plan out the next attack:
* What does this character want? What stands in their way? What helps them?
* How does this character’s desires get in the way or help other characters with what they want?
* What kind of relationship between character X and character Y will result in the most interesting events, the most conflict, or the most conflict resolution? i.e. How will these secondary characters cause things to happen in the story?
* How can minor characters assist in developing plot points to help further the story question? How can these character’s help reveal the story’s theme or emotional message?
I’ve got some big questions for the next round of story layering and some major brainstorming to do. Now if I can just find a few hours of head space, I’ll be set.
Do you need quiet time to brainstorm? Or are interruptions okay?
writing: first drafts character motivations, first draft, fleshing out a first draft, fleshing out a story, interruptions, layering stories, manuscript first drafts, writing6 responses to “Fleshing Out the Skeleton”
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Congrats on the first draft! Sounds exciting and very interesting.Maybe adding the meat to your story will be be easier than trimming the fat. If it is please let me know. My stories tend to be rather heavy.
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I think it is a completely different kettle of fish. I’m going to be feeding this thing whole milk, whipped cream and chocolate. Usually I have to give my manuscripts nothing more than carrot sticks and make it run miles and miles.
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This story has been such an interesting process for you!
I very rarely get more than a half hour at a time for any writing activities, so I’m pretty used to interruptions
I’m also a pretty global thinker, so I don’t really mind interruptions anyway. Thankfull! -
With my other stories, I have been able to deal with interruptions, but this one sucks back every neuron I have in my head. So, either it is a more difficult story that requires more cerebral pull, or else I’ve gotten dumber since my last story. The thing is, I’m not sure which it is, which naturally leads me to believe that I’m rapidly losing brain power.
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Jean, I assure you that your brain is not leaking cells as you type. At least I haven’t found any on my blog or AQ yet. However, it’s interesting how very different this novel has been for you to write.
My guess is that you will come out of this process a much stronger writer. And, you’ll be up to any writing challenge after it’s over. Dieting or binging: both have a place in writing and their own set of drawbacks.
Have fun with it and if I see a stray neuron, I’ll let you know–after I borrow it for a while!
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It’s not leaking as I type? Whew! I discovered today that I can type 74 words per minute, so it would be a fairly decent flow if it was all leaky. Do watch where you step as brain cells are slippery and I think they are falling out somewhere, somehow.
Feel free to borrow any you find lying about.
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I am an aspiring fiction writer (children's, women's and commercial) and an agented nonfiction writer. I am also a member, critiquer and site moderator over on AgentQueryConnect.com. And, I also blog with other fabulous writers at all stages of the writing game on From The Write Angle.
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TK Richardson December 14th, 2009 at 14:10