Limes with Orange

Okay, this post isn't really about fractals, it's about The Snowflake Process for Writing a Novel. But since a snowflake (specifically the Koch snowflake) is an example of a fractal and is the metaphor being alluded to in the article (and my mind is still in mathematics mode), I stand by my title. Wow... two sentences into my post and I'm already digressing.

The article talks about ten steps of design to help you organize your creativity so that you're ready to write your novel. The first step is writing your one page story summary. And I'm thinking that my "Mary Higgins Clark meets Charmed" pitch ain't gonna cut it. So let's see... how 'bout:

"A career guide author writes a book about "How To Be A Witch" and ends up helping to solve a murder investigation."

Yawn. I wouldn't buy that book. Try again:

"An author writing a book about "How To Be A Witch" taps into supernatural powers when she becomes embroiled in a serial murder investigation."

Hmmm... not exactly a New York Times bestseller, but I guess I can live with it for now. (Any opinions?)

I'm not sure about the "three disasters plus an ending" approach suggested in the article, but it might still be a useful exercise in helping me organize my thoughts for my story. I'll let you know. And I'm also going to try the Outline Your Novel in Thirty Minutes technique.

I realize that this sounds like a lot of dabbling in a hodge podge of different approaches, but I'm still trying to figure out what will work for me as a novelist. I know what works for me for writing poetry, short stories and non-fiction... but not so much for novels. So last NaNoWriMo, I learned that my best writing hours are between 11pm and 3am, and that my best planning was in the couple of hours preceding that. I also learned that a dram of Scotch can help quell my inner editor, but more than that and I lose focus and get sleepy. This year, I'm trying to figure out how to organize my thoughts for writing. (Will save the details of what I've actually accomplished thus far for another post.)

Now for the audience participation... *cheers & applause*

I've decided to set this story in a fictional city with neighbouring fictional towns (long story), and I've been coming up with city names.

Poll: Which of the following sounds like the largest city in my fictional universe?
(a) New Franklin
(b) Logan
(c) West Haven
(d) Knightsbridge

Please, please, please vote via the comment feature. Thanks muchly.

Labels: writing