🗺️ I hate getting lost
Not while traveling, because that can be fun.
Definitely while driving into town because it usually means I’m late.
But mostly when I’m writing, because it means I’m writing slower.
You see, my current novel is meandering. It’s become an unruly beast, a large and hungry snake thrashing about and biting me in the ass.
It’s serial fiction written live, well mostly, because I’m learned now through trial and error to create a buffer and batch chapters ahead in various stages of production.
So I might have two in Outline, two in Drafting, and one in Editing.
Writing A Chapter Each Week is A Bad Idea
Having done this for a few months I realized it’s not ideal for me because each busy and chaotic week I need to remember where I’m going.
I end up going through an entire production loop with each chapter.
In TRE parlance, through Prepare, Produce, Package, and Promote
In more common terms Outline, Draft, Edit, Polish, Create an Image, and Publish.
Every week! Silly Zane, no biscuit!
Most of us know that assembly lines work well.
Break a big complex task into component parts and get a person to specialize (or focus) on a single step.
But as a one-person business, it’s only me, so I need to batch to benefit.
That is, take one step and do it repeatedly so you get more efficient at it. So I get in the flow of it. So instead of running from A to B to C to D and back again.
Rather loop five times at station A → outline five drafts.
If you’re struggling to write faster, seriously consider batching your work.
Outline a few and push a few chapters through the Edit stages.
And then schedule. Pat yourself on the back and enjoy a coffee break.
The key to working ahead is knowing where you’re going.
We’re back to me being lost and why it’s a problem.
Doing batch work is a commitment and committing resources only to change my mind and change direction again and again is a waste of hours I don’t have.
So I ask myself:
What is my story really about?
What am I really trying to say?
And like all good ideas it came to me in the shower.
The least useful place to write anything down.
The novel as a thought experiment
Each novel can be considered a fascinatingly detailed thought experiment.
Particularly speculative fiction. In these stories (and others) the author poses a question, often in the premise of the world, and shows the answer through the characters’ lived experiences.
We need the detail to draw us in — it has to be immersive for it to work.
Let’s call it, the original virtual reality, powered by good-old-fashion grey matter.
No $3500 goggles are required.
But we need the detail to feel and to believe.
For it to resonate with us.
For the question to stir something in us and for the answer to change us.
Good fiction changes you
We learn and we grow. And we’re hooked. Voracious readers know this.
A well-crafted novel often explores complex themes, ideas, and moral dilemmas through the lens of its characters and their experiences.
They present a thought-provoking scenario and invite readers to contemplate the implications, consequences, and possible resolutions.
And herein lies the power of that question
Novels allow authors to construct intricate worlds, develop multidimensional characters, and weave multilayered plots.
Through these elements, we authors can pose profound questions about human nature, society, morality, and the nature of existence itself.
We can challenge conventional wisdom, explore alternative perspectives, and delve into the depths of philosophical, ethical, or scientific inquiries.
All to set up and answer that question
By immersing readers in a vivid world, novels can create an experience that nudges them to think deeply about the central issue.
The exploration of these questions and the search for answers can stimulate intellectual curiosity, emotional engagement, and personal reflection.
Novels are a safe space to contemplate and explore different ideas
They allow for imaginative and hypothetical scenarios to be played out
They can encourage readers to step into the shoes of characters and witness the consequences of their choices.
Developing empathy for strangers who could be startlingly foreign and yet somehow still similar and relatable. Subject to the same desires and pains as us.
Prompting reflection on how these choices relate to our own lives, and asking us to relook at dusty beliefs and reconsider long-held assumptions.
Through this process, novels serve as transformative thought experiments to expand our understanding of the world and ourselves.
Helping us develop empathy for others
They can provide a rich and captivating medium for intellectual exploration and personal growth. And this essential question and answer within novels can be considered the novel’s North Star.
It’s the guiding light within the narrative. The lighthouse helps steer the author away from the rocky shores. Away from danger by staying on course.
I love this concept because it means writing a novel can be a quest in curiosity. To follow important questions and explore the answers, but also narrow my focus and give myself a heading.
A direction to focus on.
So instead of just writing and seeing where I end up. I ask myself a set of questions, moving from what I know for sure to what I’m trying to discover.
The result helps me like my North Star) clarify my thinking and speed up my work.
Give it a try and let me know how you go.
Prompt for Defining Your Novel’s Key Question
This ChatGPT is a very long prompt, around 800 words, and includes Q&A steps and formatting examples. So I’ve linked to it to keep this article short and make copying and pasting the prompt much easier for you.
This prompt asks you the following questions to help you focus down:
What is your chosen genre?
What is the central theme or idea you want to explore in your work?
Do you have a basic plot for your story?
Who is your main character(s)?
What do they want or need?
What opposes them?
What is the essential question in your story?
How does your story answer this question?
Get it here: Define Your Novel’s Key Question
(Best done on a laptop or desktop and not mobile).
Did you try it out?
Let me know if you tried out the prompt and if the result helped you focus your current work in progress.
Or If you have ideas to improve the process let me know and I’ll update the prompt (and give you credit).
Or just to say hi, you can always just say hi. 👋
What do you want next?
I have two articles in draft at the moment but which one is more valuable to you now?
If this helped you, saved you time, or get you to write a little bit faster, please share it with someone else you know who might be struggling and could do with direction.