I have been wondering whether the fact that the outline for Jani 5 is so solid is one reason why I can't write it. It's written to be the last book in the series, much is tied up/taken care of, and things have to end a certain way to complete the circle. For the first time, I may have an outline that I actually stick to, which means that I have pretty much told the story already.
Some people find endings hard. I remember Katherine Kerr writing up to an event that she had known about for her long, long series of books -- and it was painful on many levels to actually write it. I think that slowed her down.
I've ended three series. The first one as Michelle Sagara, and the second two as Michelle West. But the latter weren't so much the end of the -story- as the end of arcs or segments in a larger tapestry, so the incipient sense of loss -- of those characters, of that world, of all the emotional entanglements I always have with my creations -- wasn't part of the process of either ending. The West books are books with a definite end for most of character arcs. The first time I hit one of the mid-point arcs was the end of a six book series. That's the mid-point of Kiriel's arc, for anyone who's read the books, fwiw.
If I were writing the last book, as in no more of these characters, I'm not sure what I'd be feeling. I'm not tired of them because, in the end, I'm not finished telling their stories.
The Luna novel is different; it's got a beginning, middle and end -- it's more of a series in a discrete sense than it is an Xology. When I finished the first of the three, I was ready to write something else because I had finished that story. The characters continue, and the situations change -- but this story that involves them is done. Mostly.
My outlines are long, 60-90 pages double-spaced, with snatches of dialogue, a spelling out of motivations. In the past, I have deviated from them enough that while I essentially kept to the tone, the actual story itself altered mightily. I don't think this one will alter much.
I'm so impressed by this. My one outline was about 12 manuscript pages in length, and even that killed me :/.
There are also things in this book that in a way presaged the crisis I mentioned before. I had a feeling something was going to happen, and it was almost as though I started working through it ahead of time. Then the crisis came, but it wasn't what I expected--same tone, different content. :-/ Now I need to work through it again in the writing, and I'm not really looking forward to it, even though as a plot progression, it is necessary. I feel the entire story arc would suffer without it.
I think that this is also dead on for making the book harder to write, fwiw. The two things in combination would slow me down. Glacially. But for my part, even with the uncertainty and our crisis (which involved my youngest when he was three), my brain did kick in, and I was able to begin to feel emotionally again.
Oh, word about that: I write from an emotional core. When I've been blasted to emotional cinders and I'm still standing at ground zero, I've got nothing left to give the book. Nothing. Zero. I learned this the hard way.
I also learned that my emotions do recover, that I can find my way out of ground zero, and that when I do, things pick up, sparks start to fire.
I have no idea if this is helpful at all, because it's always a dead zone while you're in it and there's always a stone cold fear that you're never going to leave :/.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2004-08-20 10:13 pm (UTC)Some people find endings hard. I remember Katherine Kerr writing up to an event that she had known about for her long, long series of books -- and it was painful on many levels to actually write it. I think that slowed her down.
I've ended three series. The first one as Michelle Sagara, and the second two as Michelle West. But the latter weren't so much the end of the -story- as the end of arcs or segments in a larger tapestry, so the incipient sense of loss -- of those characters, of that world, of all the emotional entanglements I always have with my creations -- wasn't part of the process of either ending. The West books are books with a definite end for most of character arcs. The first time I hit one of the mid-point arcs was the end of a six book series. That's the mid-point of Kiriel's arc, for anyone who's read the books, fwiw.
If I were writing the last book, as in no more of these characters, I'm not sure what I'd be feeling. I'm not tired of them because, in the end, I'm not finished telling their stories.
The Luna novel is different; it's got a beginning, middle and end -- it's more of a series in a discrete sense than it is an Xology. When I finished the first of the three, I was ready to write something else because I had finished that story. The characters continue, and the situations change -- but this story that involves them is done. Mostly.
My outlines are long, 60-90 pages double-spaced, with snatches of dialogue, a spelling out of motivations. In the past, I have deviated from them enough that while I essentially kept to the tone, the actual story itself altered mightily. I don't think this one will alter much.
I'm so impressed by this. My one outline was about 12 manuscript pages in length, and even that killed me :/.
There are also things in this book that in a way presaged the crisis I mentioned before. I had a feeling something was going to happen, and it was almost as though I started working through it ahead of time. Then the crisis came, but it wasn't what I expected--same tone, different content. :-/ Now I need to work through it again in the writing, and I'm not really looking forward to it, even though as a plot progression, it is necessary. I feel the entire story arc would suffer without it.
I think that this is also dead on for making the book harder to write, fwiw. The two things in combination would slow me down. Glacially. But for my part, even with the uncertainty and our crisis (which involved my youngest when he was three), my brain did kick in, and I was able to begin to feel emotionally again.
Oh, word about that: I write from an emotional core. When I've been blasted to emotional cinders and I'm still standing at ground zero, I've got nothing left to give the book. Nothing. Zero. I learned this the hard way.
I also learned that my emotions do recover, that I can find my way out of ground zero, and that when I do, things pick up, sparks start to fire.
I have no idea if this is helpful at all, because it's always a dead zone while you're in it and there's always a stone cold fear that you're never going to leave :/.