Welcome to Step 6! This is proving gruelling for me. According to the snowflake method, this is where I grow my one-page story synopsis into a page-for-each-paragraph-of-that-synopsis synopsis. But my mind is panicking because it thinks we`re about to start actually writing the novel (we`re not even close to that point yet), and that blank document is the scariest thing I`ve ever seen in my life.
Things I Tried
1. Copying and pasting the paragraph to be expanded into the new document, so I can see what I`m working with and then delete it when I`m done. Usefulness rating: 0. I just keep staring at the thing, going `Okay, now what?`
2. Looking at the character synopses for each character for these points in the story. Usefulness rating: 2? This would probably be more helpful if I could have them all laid out in front of me in hard copy and the blank Word document up on the screen, but I`d really rather not draw that kind of attention to myself at work, where I should be working, and I can`t really justify digging into the school`s paper budget like that. Plus I don`t know where this default printer is. Or any of the printers on my list. I know there are printers in the staff room, of course; I can see that. But I don`t know which ones they are.
3. Abandoning it for a while and then coming back to it with a fresh mind. Usefulness rating: -1000. This is the worst thing I could possibly try. For one thing, I`ve already been working on this all day today, so my mind is in the novel zone (even if I can`t get it to actually produce anything) and I can`t concentrate on anything else. For another, I have nothing else to work on anyway. Thirdly, I`m paranoid about leaving it and then never coming back, the way I`ve done with all my failed novel attempts before this. I seem to have commitment issues, and I don`t want to set myself down the path to forgetting I ever tried this. This might work better if it was more of a physical abandonment than mental, but I can`t exactly get up and go for a run in the middle of the workday.
4. Googling to find out what other authors who use this method are doing. Usefulness rating: Possibly higher than anything else I`ve tried. Richard Denning talks about how he basically combines Steps 6 and 8. Carol Garvin talks about revising the snowflake method into a star to help her creativity.
Yep, I think I`m going to abandon Step 6. I like the way Carol Garvin likens this method to more of a daisy than a snowflake, constantly going back to the middle. I wrote way more than what was needed back in Step 5, and I think that`s part of my problem. I developed so much of the story in my character synopses that I have no reason to rehash it in yet another synopsis. So if your characters aren`t telling you much you might need this step, but mine are Chatty Cathies, so I`m considering myself ready to move ahead. We`ll see in a few weeks whether or not that was even remotely a good idea.
No comments:
Post a Comment