symbolic 05: to hang a skeleton
If you look at the table of contents of a Hardy Boys book -- or a Nancy Drew mystery, the process is the same -- you'll notice that the story is broken down into a series of succinctly titled chapters. "Frank and Joe Find a Clue." "Chet Falls in a Hole." "The Mystery Man Revealed." Each one is a swift summation of what you'll find in that chapter.
My buddy Tom calls this "The Hardy Boys Outline." Each chapter has its purpose, clearly defined and spelled out on the first page of the section, and, if you read down the list of chapter headings, you will have a basic idea of the course of the story. We don't need a detailed plot. If you've got character sketches and the trailer, then the ideas are percolating in your head. This is just a framework to hang them all on, a roadmap by which to orient yourself. The Hardy Boys Outline helps you see what is next so that you never get lost.
I use a sheet of butcher paper that is three or four feet long -- big enough to be readable from across the room -- and I give myself 25 chapters. If the book is going to be 50,000 words, then each chapter is 2,000 words long. 100,000 word novel means chapters are 4,000 a piece. You can break them up later, but for the time being, give yourself 25 divisions.
Start at the top. Keep it short. Write legibly. Bang them out. If you get stuck, use "SEX" as the contents of a chapter. You don't have to advance the plot during that chapter -- no one ever stops reading because there is sex on the page -- and it keeps you moving. Forward momentum is important.
And, suddenly, you've got a plot. A start, middle, and end in easily digestible segments.
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The naming of the Hardy Boys Outline falls to Thomas J. Lindell who, while he would qualify himself as a "failed writer," still has a good idea or two in his head. You just have to wait patiently sometimes for them to fall out.
writing
This is a reasonably comprehensive list of my published work, both virtual and physical.
THE MISFIT LIBRARY
I am Nine of Thirteen, one of the members of the Misfit Library, a writing collective which puts out a quarterly journal of our respective work. We are scattered across the globe and determined to change the face of the planet one story at a time. The link above will take you to Misfit Central where you can acquire copies of the journal as well as read exclusive online material.
SYMBOLIC
I wrote a column for OPi8.com's Transmit blogs: journals of the new dark underground. SYMBOLIC tracked the novel I was working on, referencing the process and the research materials which mad up the backbone of the work. In addition, SYMBOLIC busied itself with ruminations and considerations on the nature of language and communication. And a wee bit of mythology. The first 100 entries of SYMBOLIC can be found here on this site as well as at OPi8.com.
LITERARY REPRESENTATION
I am represented by Scribe Agency as my literary agents. Please contact these gentleman if you have any queries about my work.