Here is a catalog of the outlines and notes I make for each of my stories. With each, I will discuss some of the helps that I have found useful so you can as well. Part of making a story enjoyable to the reader is giving the reader the sense that...
Here was a book where the setting was implemental to the story. It is a border-line horror/thriller, and so the setting was a major part. All the setting elements--where people were to go, where the creature was to hide, the lighting, the levels, the structure of the halls--everything had to be introduced early in the story in order to use in the latter half so that description would not slow the intensity of the chase scenes. It was incredibly important to know the ship inside and out before writing anything down. Every chapter had to introduce the setting as if it were a character so that later the reader could know the ship intimately and needed no description as the characters were racing through it.
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This was a rough diagram of the floor layout for the Blood Krayt... yeah, pretty rough. That weird "E" word in the middle is "Engine Room" No comments on my handwriting. :)
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A re-draft of the floor plans... a little better... I guess?
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Just a little drawing of what I thought Cotrell's ship would look like. I wanted it to have the Corellian mandibles but not look like the Falcon.
Ultimately two pages of notes and two pages of diagrams for 22,000 words.
