The tale of two projects: kidney stone or maple syrup?

I still don’t have my writing process down pat. This has become bleeding obvious with my two most recent projects.

The Production – a high gothic YA novel – was a constant struggle, getting out 60k words was like passing a kidney stone. Whereas my current Nanowrimo project – The Ravens of Ambrovna: fantasy –  is flowing out like maple syrup.

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What’s the difference?

  • A well defined plot plan

I went a bit pantser on The Production, whereas The Ravens is an idea which has been knocking around inside my head for years. I created a Foolscap Method outline and character sketches about a year ago and it had time to breathe and marinate.

  • Years of background thinking through the characters and situation

With The Ravens, I have tried (and failed) to write this story in a few different genres over the decades, but fantasy seems to finally fit. Hoorah. The Production was a few lines of an idea and it took 30k words to work out who the characters were.

  • A more familiar genre

While I’ve never written fantasy before for a full novel, there are elements of fantasy in The Monolith series, whereas The Production is high gothic horror. This was a real change for me and bloody hard to get the tone right.

Who knows whether the different processes affect the end result, but I know which seems easier.

 

 

 

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1 Comment

  1. Danielle K Girl

    I’m trying something different on Book Two of my YA series – I’m actually going to try and be a plotter *gasp* – this should be interesting. Usually I’m like you were with the Production and end up writing about 3 novels to work out one.

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