{"id":7617,"date":"2017-04-30T23:48:41","date_gmt":"2017-04-30T23:48:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/?p=7617"},"modified":"2017-04-30T23:49:16","modified_gmt":"2017-04-30T23:49:16","slug":"the-role-of-scaffolding-in-writing-a-long-novel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/the-role-of-scaffolding-in-writing-a-long-novel\/","title":{"rendered":"The Role of Scaffolding in Writing a Long Novel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"935292dc3777a442bfac1862e7690561\"I\u2019m cur\u00adrent\u00adly 250,000 words into a nov\u00adel that looks like it will go to 300,000 words. It could go as long as one of my favorite nov\u00adels, Anna Karen\u00adi\u00adna<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Since my longest pub\u00adlished nov\u00adel to date (A Truth Stranger Than Fic\u00adtion<\/em>) is only 90,000 words, the nov\u00adel-in-progress will like\u00adly end up being three times as long.<\/p>\n

While writ\u00ading the cur\u00adrent nov\u00adel, about every 80,000 words I\u2019ve had to stop and erect what I call scaf\u00adfold\u00ading: out\u00adlines and sketch\u00ades of remain\u00ading scenes, char\u00adac\u00adters, plot arcs, etc.<\/p>\n

When adding rooms on to a house or anoth\u00ader large struc\u00adture, builders will often erect scaf\u00adfold\u00ading because it gives them a stag\u00ading area from which to work\u2014a place to accu\u00admu\u00adlate mate\u00adri\u00adals, and a sta\u00adble set\u00adting from which to knock holes in the cur\u00adrent struc\u00adture, etc.<\/p>\n

Up to now, I\u2019ve hat\u00aded hav\u00ading to do this drudge work. I\u2019ve hat\u00aded los\u00ading writ\u00ading days erect\u00ading tem\u00adpo\u00adrary orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion\u00adal struc\u00adtures that won\u2019t appear in the final book.<\/p>\n

But this week\u00adend, while fin\u00adish\u00ading what I think will be the last scaf\u00adfold\u00ading work for this nov\u00adel, I real\u00adized the ben\u00ade\u00adfit scaf\u00adfold\u00ading offers me: It makes the remain\u00ading writ\u00ading much more effi\u00adcient, because I don\u2019t have to spend time grop\u00ading in the dark, won\u00adder\u00ading where to go next with the nov\u00adel.<\/p>\n

\"scaffold-14253_960_720\"Whether you\u2019re writ\u00ading a very long nov\u00adel or one of more stan\u00addard length (60,000\u201380,000 words), here\u2019s how to erect scaf\u00adfold\u00ading for the remain\u00ading pages of your nov\u00adel:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Make a sim\u00adple list of all the chap\u00adters and\/or major scenes and sequences (sets of scenes that work togeth\u00ader) yet to write. Give each chap\u00adter, scene or sequence a sim\u00adple title: e.g., \u201cJANE\u2019S BIRTHDAY\u201d or \u201cGRADUATION CEREMONY.\u201d<\/li>\n
  2. Once you have this list, put each title at the top of a blank page (on your com\u00adput\u00ader or a legal pad).<\/li>\n
  3. On each page, list all of the images, char\u00adac\u00adters, ideas, dia\u00adlogue, etc. that you would like to appear in that chapter\/scene\/sequence. Close your eyes and try to see the scene in your mind as a movie, and write down the ele\u00adments of the movie as they play in your mind.<\/li>\n
  4. When you fin\u00adish a first draft of this process, put the work away and return to it in a day or two. Read through your draft, see\u00ading it as a movie in your mind, and try to see it in more detail the next time through, adding details as they occur to you.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I\u2019m cur\u00adrent\u00adly 250,000 words into a nov\u00adel that looks like it will go to 300,000 words. It could go as long as one of my\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,19,337,77,76,14,233],"tags":[338,339,340,95,92,93,341,342],"class_list":["post-7617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-craft","category-fiction","category-novel-writing","category-novels","category-process","category-writingexperiences","category-writing-life","tag-novel","tag-novel-writing","tag-novel-writing-process","tag-novels-2","tag-writers-2","tag-writing","tag-writing-tips","tag-writingtips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7617"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7626,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7617\/revisions\/7626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}