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 is the current outline. The writing is just starting. Again, if you don't want spoilers, don't try to read it too closely. And as it is in current development, it is also subject to change.
I will post here my mess of a timeline. By mess, I simply mean my handwriting; it actually is quite organized, or at least I can make sense of it. That's all that matters when you write notes anyway, right?
Birth years, battles, ages at certain dates--all these things are so important when you write a saga-like story. Of course, I will eventually need to update this to extend the timeline, but I am thinking this is the last installment of the entire series so what would be the point. However, I do think every book I write is the last one. Who knows if it will actually be. :)
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You can see a few dogfight notes here. Those are from Dark Hunter. The bisected figure 8's are Needle-class ships. The Theta symbol is Slave-1/Raider. Also, in the middle on the bottom are story notes that haven't made it into the stories but answer questions like--Where was Ezra during the Jedi training under Luke? Was Kanan involved in the early Jedi training? I need to know those answers for story continuity if ever it slips into the written form.
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The graph on this is the Force graph from The Clone Wars animated series (the Mortis episodes). It has a front and center role in this trilogy--pun intended if you are astute enough to catch it. :)
And if you look closely, you will see notes labeled the first act and third act. Yes, I like a 3 act format and if you enjoyed any of my works, I would suggest that you like reading that format as well. But how in the world the Force graph can be split into acts...you will have to wait and read the final draft for yourself.
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This brings me to another point in my outlines: Typically, I outline a very brief epilogue for each book, where I introduce a seed of a new conflict for another story. Seriously, I never know where that story will go after the book is over... but it gives me a hook to start a new one... and boy do I have a good epilogue for this book planned. I can't wait until I get there!
Three pages of outline turn into ???? number of words in the final draft. We'll see.
