I have now relocated from Hong Kong to Kolkata – The City of Joy. This is temporary for now, but it’s very nice to have a real office set up in India.
Here’s my India work station. I miss having the big PC and multiple screens, but I can’t argue with the extra leg room.
There is a desk that I sometimes use too, but it’s a little smaller than I’m used to.
Kolkata is a city full of fascinating historical culture. Here’s a picture of the guru Lokenath Baba that always impresses me with the intense charisma of his eyes.
Thoughts on science fiction, creative writing, media and philosophy.
Richard Rimington is a British writer living in Hong Kong, and the author of the Infinite Void series.
Join our Newsletter to receive THE SURVIVORS – a short story prequel to the first Infinite Void novel.
Processing…
Success! You're on the list.
Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.
I’ve completed the scene list, which describes the story in detail from start to finish (though there’s definitely going to be far more to add). It seemed coherent, maybe even logical.
So I moved on to the character profiles. That’s the process of writing out the events of the story from each character’s perspective. It’s a tricky task, as I’m writing profiles for at least 7 characters – 3 main characters, and 4 secondary characters. At the point, problems become apparent. Some characters disappear halfway through. Some suddenly change attitude. Some blatantly contradict themselves.
Ironing out these creases is an important part of preparing the story outline, and it’s satisfying too. It’s the period of most pure creativity – anything can happen, anyone can do anything. Describing the story from each character’s perspective does a quick and reasonably thorough job of ensuring the whole narrative makes sense.
From my treks – Residences of the rich and powerful in Hong Kong, high above the reservoir.
The goal is to discover critical problems early. Characters need to be doing certain actions at certain places at certain times, but they also need to have logical motivations and an engaging personal journey, even the secondaries!
(I watched a critique of Game of Thrones TV show recently, it’s noticeable just how many secondary characters there have no meaningful resolutions to their stories. The audience does indeed notice.)
This all gets more complicated when writing a series of books – these characters will definitely have to return for further developments in at least one more book that comes after this.
So I needed to plan the book after the next as well, Book 5. And I did! This is a big breakthrough achievement. I have now produced a complete and very rough outline of the structure and plot of the third Defiant Space book.
I probably won’t amend this new document much for a while, but it will be an invaluable reference tool. When unresolved questions arise during the writing of Book 4, I can return to this brief outline for Book 5 and confirm just what people’s hidden motivations truly are.
In Defiant Space, I could plant seeds and leave room for them to grow, but in this next book, just like my characters, I need to ensure everyone is heading in the correct direction.
For the rest of this week, I’ll be finishing off the character profiles, and seeking some feedback on the outline before I jump into drafting. Very soon, the prose must begin to flow, which normally means my caffeine intake will skyrocket.
Thoughts on science fiction, creative writing, media and philosophy.
Richard Rimington is a British writer living in Hong Kong, and the author of the Infinite Void series.
Join our Newsletter to receive THE SURVIVORS – a short story prequel to the first Infinite Void novel.
Processing…
Success! You're on the list.
Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.
Where am I on writing Book 4 (the sequel to Defiant Space)?
The outline is already done! I am now working on the scene list.
We are here:
What is a scene list? Well, a scene list is a step on the way to a producing a full Chapter Breakdown Plan. It’s a more precise and detailed oriented version of the book’s outline. So what’s the difference?
An outline is a description of the main events of the story – the emotional beats and narrative arcs that define the structure of the book overall. An outline will describe how people will remember the book later on, and the feelings it creates at different times.
But that still leaves us a long way from having a functioning plan for the book. An outline will be a list of only the major scenes and events. Many other scenes are essentially needed to take us to and from these big dramatic moments in a way that is logical and creates meaning.
These extra scenes can come in many different types. Some are pure fun. Others have will have vital and highly complex purposes. Devising them all, in a correct order, creates a full scene list.
A scene list is a chronological list of all the scenes an author intends to write for the book (although changes to the list later are very likely). The key is to be rigorous – how exactly do characters get from one situation to another? Who is present in each scene? What conversations do they have? Once this is determined, you can determine each character’s emotional arc during the book.
This will also likely to reveal weaknesses in the book. Is there a character who disappears halfway through? Are characters erratic in their decision making, or showing no growth?
Once all these challenges are considered, I can move on to preparing the character plan – that’s a description of the book’s events from each character’s perspective.
That’s where I should be by the end of this week.
Current number of scenes in Book 4: 72
Thoughts on science fiction, creative writing, media and philosophy.
Richard Rimington is a British writer living in Hong Kong, and the author of the Infinite Void series.
I’ve written three books now, and I’ve developed a relatively consistent method. It’s worked well for me so far, and it’s probably a typical example of how writers in the indie fiction market tend to work.
The difficult part is making the whole process happen in just six months of full-time writing! Writing the last book took me nearly nine months from start to finish, so there’s room for me to improve.
It’s also beneficial for me to lay it out the steps clearly, and so I’m going to produce a series of posts here on the blog explaining what exactly I do.
At the same time, I’m about to begin writing a new novel right now – so I’ll be able to compare in real time how much my plans line up with what I’m actually doing.
Generally, the phases are:
But we can go into much more detail about each of these steps. What I really do probably looks like this:
There’s also big differences in how much time each step can take. Drafting probably takes up to two months, whilst applying the proofread changes can hopefully be done in a single day.
Right now I’m somewhere between step 1 and step 2 with Book 4. In particular, I’m trying to establish the character arcs and development for each of the main cast this time around.
Looking forward to detailing this writing process more here in the future!
Thoughts on science fiction, creative writing, media and philosophy.
Richard Rimington is a British writer living in Hong Kong, and the author of the Infinite Void series.
Writing the Defiant Space sequel – working title ‘Book 4’
This is the very first update on my writing process in a while. It’s been a pleasant few weeks promoting the launch of Defiant Space, but it’s an important goal for indie writers to produce a new book every six months. My last book took me at least eight months, plus more time spent preparing the marketing.
Looking back, I think last time I was slow in starting the drafting process, which contributed to pushing the project past its deadline. It’s a very creative task, and it’s difficult, especially in the beginning. Having other stressful factors in life can really disrupt the writing process. For the best results, the truth is that a lot of authors seal themselves away from the world. I’m not enthusiastic to rush back to that, but I know I do actually enjoy it. I’ll feel happy when I’m writing all day again. But writing the first few pages of a new book can be an agonizing experience, and it can be slow.
Still not at the drafting stage for a while yet though. There’s plenty of outlining and scene design to be done first.
On Monday, I’ll post here a more in-depth breakdown of what the different phases of my writing process involve.
For now, I’ll share with you a glimpse of the outline so far. This is literally Book 4 in embryo state. These are wild times, anything can happen…
Thoughts on science fiction, creative writing, media and philosophy.
Richard Rimington is a British writer living in Hong Kong, and the author of the Infinite Void series.
Science Fiction Writing and Culture 