Two Epic Road-Maps
Two interesting “road maps” for novel writing were online recently, from two different fantasy authors.
J.K. Rowling’s spreadsheet outline for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix shows not only the arcs and plotlines of the characters, but also the arcs of the legends or mysteries–the plot threads that are purely news or information–and how they are growing or spreading during each chapter, even if none of that is happening on-screen (the on-screen characters aren’t hearing or spreading that information).
Fascinating. In such an epic society-wide situation at that point in the saga, with Voldemort in the open, how much info is known about his plans and whereabouts is an important plot thread, even if it’s not in the scenes that the on-screen characters are having. It makes perfect sense in a story of that scope that Rowling would want to track it in her outline almost like tracking a character.
Several recent blogs have discussed swords & sorcery master Michael Moorcock’s speed-writing method used to write some of the early Elric novels in only three days (!). He mentions being very prepared, including having a list of cool fantastical images or things to use as he goes along. (I assume his preparations also included knowing the characters well). He used a prearranged plot format or structure–the fantasy quest–and knew general narrative problems he would need to solve. He broke goals or aims into immediate ones (must find the first magic item, in this chapter) and overriding ones (must save the world).
Likewise fascinating. Moorcock of course was great at S&S, so the events and dialog he could come up with on the fly are far better than what most writers could. But his strategies for planing, including having the plot structure in advance, seem astute moves no matter how long you have to write the whole novel.
