The Only Reason for Time

Now that our steno pad is 3/4 full and our plot rainbow is a mile long, we feel like we’re almost ready to write up an outline for Sibling of Music Novel. Before we do that, though, we want to make sure we have as many holes filled in as possible. There will always be corners we haven’t seen around, cans of worms we haven’t opened, right up until it’s time to write any given scene, but we like to get as much of that as possible out of the way in the planning stages. The writing goes a lot more smoothly (especially with two of us doing it) when we minimize the number of unknowns.

While Kent’s off at the day job, bringing home the bacon, Jen has spent her afternoons combing through our notes and typing them up in something resembling chronological order. Our brainstorming process is pretty loose, as it should be, and that results in a notebook that is wildly disorganized. Big plot points intermingle with character quirks and setting details. We don’t want to lose any of that little stuff, even if we can hold the broad strokes of the plot in our heads.

Eventually there will be a master document that incorporates everything coherently, no matter how large or small. For now there’s a prose outline for each of the main storylines, and separate documents for setting details and random notes. Each page of the steno pad requires Jen to flit around among these documents, inserting a line or two where appropriate.

Once she’s gotten through all the notes and gives everything a quick spit shine, these documents will give us a good overview of the project and will help us see where we are light on detail.

Our prewriting routine is quite involved, but it’s key to allowing us to write together as a team with minimal headache. What does your process look like?