October 21, 2011

Seven Things I Did to Prepare my WIP

Cherie from Cherie Writes..., Ani at Anime's Musings, and Bonnie Rae from Bonnie Rae, Just Words gave me these rocking awards:



Both rules state I need to list 7 things about myself, but considering I've done that ad nauseam, I figured I would instead list 7 things I did before I starting to my latest WIP :D

Seven Things I Did to Prepare to Write HARBINGER (YA cyberpunk fantasy):
1. Research! The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - various myths, permutations, biblical references, etc. Also Babylonian and Sumerian mythology. Super interesting stuff. Also nuclear power, which was both fascinating and alarming lol.

2. World build - politics, social heirarchy, cityscapes and other settings, a technological system along with a magic system, and world history. For more about world building, see this post! :D

3. Create character profiles - physical traits, personal mannerisms, an entire back story for each character, and how each character relates and/or feels about the other characters.

4. Procrastinate >_>;;

5. Outline in detail - I broke up the story into three acts first. Then broke those acts down into chapters. And then even further into each scene.

6. I wrote down several sets of dialog exchanges. It helped to move the story along even if it often changed and/or was left out in the actual writing.

7. Procrastinate some more. I wrote the first couple sentences, and then dithered around for a week or two before finally sitting my butt down and starting the story. (And finished my first draft in four weeks :D Who says I'm not determined once I get started?)

Thanks for the awards, ladies ♥

Also, I just reached 300 followers both here on my blog and on twitter! WOO~ That means I now have to think up an epic contest. HRMMMM. More on this later, o-hoho.

Have a wonderful weekend, guys!

Comments (16)

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Congrats on the award!
1 reply · active 701 weeks ago
Oh wow. I usually have a general outline. Like point A to point F and have to figure out the middle. The idea of knowing all the scenes ahead of time sounds overwhelming, but since I got to see the results firsthand ;) I know it worked! Congrats on the blog milestones as well!
1 reply · active 701 weeks ago
Thanks :D And yes, my outlines are obscenely detailed. The outline for Harbinger is *checks* 24 pages single spaced and 13,000 words lol.
Congrats on the award, and thanks for sharing your seven things! Just from the little you've shared, your book sounds excellent! And thanks also for your post on world-building. I've got a modern fantasy I'm working on and world-building is soooo hard for me, so thanks for the tips!!
1 reply · active 701 weeks ago
Thank you :) I love world building, so I'm glad it helped!
Congrats! And I love how you twisted this 7 random list (which is, totally ad nauseam by now) to give us an insight into your writing process. Wow, is all I can say. I love how you prepare for it. I'm so a pantser so I'm generally clueless when I begin. LOL! Not the best way to start.

XD
1 reply · active 701 weeks ago
Aaah, pantsing scares me. I used to be a pantser. My stories were paced horribly XD so now I outline like mad.
This is an awesome post! It made me feel that frisson of excitement I get when planning a new story.
1 reply · active 701 weeks ago
Cool! Thanks so much :D Yes, there's so much excitement in planning a story... and then procrastinateprocrastinateprocrastinate lol.
Wonderful post, and I am so intrigued by your story! Four Horsemen? Cyberpunk?! AWESOME! :D You are determined and very organized. This list was impressive (although my favorite is #4, hah), and wow, that's a quick 1st draft!

I'm off to read your worldbuilding post (love that stuff). Congrats on the followers! You are very deserving. :)
1 reply · active 701 weeks ago
My super detailed outline helped, trust me lol. Thanks so much :D
Yay! Look forward to the epic contest
Cool :D Now I just have to come up with one LOL
I really like this post, I love finding out what people have looked into in order to build up the world they're portraying and nuclear power? That one definitely caught my attention! It all sounds so fascinating!

Will be heading off to the world building post soon for a peek too XD
Congratulations, and thanks for sharing your approach to preparation! :)

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