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*does the dance of yay*
OHOHOHOHO. This page is awesome, thank you ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
naatz ♥ It's a method for developing a well-structured, balanced novel. I've been using it for my mermaids, being all "bah, I don't even know the second half of the book" -- and now I KNOW. LIKE MAGIC. It makes you start with the one-line summary, and then every day you expand on that a little more and whee suggestions.
A genetically engineered mermaid and a marine biologist face space pirates and a ruthless corporation to save a water-covered world.
This might need some tweaking, but as a one-line summary I rather like it... Any suggestions for streamlining it?
(ahaha I wrote a "save the world" story. Way to up the ante.)
And then there's the back-cover-style summary, but it's kinda spoilery so
Lìadan has left her birth pod for a last summer of discovery before she settles down when she meets Arun, a biologist who wasn't aware this water-world was inhabited, much less that its inhabitants were descending from genetically engineered mermaids.
Lìadan and Arun are exploring Lìadan's world when space pirates who eavesdropped on Arun's reports come to loot the drowned cities, the merpeople' inheritance, before the world is placed under Protected status. Arun, Lìadan and the pirates are still fighting it out when a megacorporation decides to get rid of the merpeople and outside witnesses in order to claim the ore the planet is filled with. Arun, Lìadan and Blue, one of the pirates, struggle to send word out, and have to run from persistent manhunters while they wait for the cavalry.
The summer ends, the water-world safe again under the protection of the government; but Lìadan realizes that she will never be able to go back to her simple, tribal life, and nor does she want to.
If you can help me refine it -- poke and prod and question and suggest. Go ahead. I shall wuv u. ♥ It's probably going to evolve, and take all sorts of twists and turns and stuff, but hey. That's what I'm starting from, at least. Bwee!! so happy. I FINALLY KNOW WHERE MY STORY IS GOING.
As for Teamwork,windshades helped me fix what I had written, now let's see if I can continue it... XD;
naatz ♥ It's a method for developing a well-structured, balanced novel. I've been using it for my mermaids, being all "bah, I don't even know the second half of the book" -- and now I KNOW. LIKE MAGIC. It makes you start with the one-line summary, and then every day you expand on that a little more and whee suggestions. A genetically engineered mermaid and a marine biologist face space pirates and a ruthless corporation to save a water-covered world.
This might need some tweaking, but as a one-line summary I rather like it... Any suggestions for streamlining it?
(ahaha I wrote a "save the world" story. Way to up the ante.)
And then there's the back-cover-style summary, but it's kinda spoilery so
Lìadan has left her birth pod for a last summer of discovery before she settles down when she meets Arun, a biologist who wasn't aware this water-world was inhabited, much less that its inhabitants were descending from genetically engineered mermaids.
Lìadan and Arun are exploring Lìadan's world when space pirates who eavesdropped on Arun's reports come to loot the drowned cities, the merpeople' inheritance, before the world is placed under Protected status. Arun, Lìadan and the pirates are still fighting it out when a megacorporation decides to get rid of the merpeople and outside witnesses in order to claim the ore the planet is filled with. Arun, Lìadan and Blue, one of the pirates, struggle to send word out, and have to run from persistent manhunters while they wait for the cavalry.
The summer ends, the water-world safe again under the protection of the government; but Lìadan realizes that she will never be able to go back to her simple, tribal life, and nor does she want to.
If you can help me refine it -- poke and prod and question and suggest. Go ahead. I shall wuv u. ♥ It's probably going to evolve, and take all sorts of twists and turns and stuff, but hey. That's what I'm starting from, at least. Bwee!! so happy. I FINALLY KNOW WHERE MY STORY IS GOING.
As for Teamwork,
windshades helped me fix what I had written, now let's see if I can continue it... XD;
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|Meduza|
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X is the main guy; Y is the bad guy;
they meet at Z and all L breaks loose.
If X+n doesn't solve Q, then R starts,
and if R starts, it's Lsquared.
where:
X is protag
Y is antag
Z is conflict and/or primary complication
L is resulting further complication
X+n is X plus allies (if applicable)
Q is the actual problem/obstacle
R is the Big Problem
L is the cost of failure
Heh. Okay, that reads oddly, but if you go to the bookstore and start at the top of a section and scan the backs of every teaser/cover-copy, that's the basic formula. And whether I like it or not, I've found it's true: setting your story down in 15 words or less, then expanding to a two-paragraph (under 200 words) explanation, and then creating a two-page synopsis of start to finish (touching just the highlights) and then expanding from there... you're essentially outlining and then expanding each time.
If it works for you, then do it! It doesn't for everyone, but I wish I'd learned it sooner, because it does work for me. ;-)
Wherin it is revealed that I fear Algebra
...
Ya know, that seems about right. Scary.
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Almost-stealage stuff. Not quite plagiarism, so I'm not too sure of how much it'll bother you, but stealage of Saki n' themes without recognition.
Yeah. That's all.
Also, I worship you. ^o^
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I, personally, have reaped much benefit by studying (http://jimbutcher.livejournal.com/) at the foot of the Master (http://jimbutcher.livejournal.com/profile).
Ja, -n
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thanks for the link. Will look into it. ^^
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Yeah, I see what you mean.
The expanding stage by stage bit does seem like it would make things a lot easier and more structured. I don't work like that for my fanfics at all, but for a novel, I can see the advantages. I'll keep playing with it. ^^
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