My target word count for my scifi/horror/fantasy novel is about 100,000, with two sequels planned in the work. I'm not attached to either number, it's just a completely arbitrary way for me to measure progress for book1 while designing literary cohesion with potential book2&3. I plan on going hard on Good Politics™ in the third book, before that it's mostly setup and dog whistles.
Outlines, character sheets, drafts of paragraphs/chapters that haven't had their book/chronology set in stone yet. Wild stuff.
Anyways, unsolicited advice on any aspect of fiction novel writing would be appreciated, no matter how random!
My one bit of advice is don't wait to go hard on Good Politics(tm) in the third book and instead deliberately weave some initial threads into your first book. They don't have to take center stage, but don't wait to put in stuff you look forward to putting in. Get it started, get it on the radar.
I had actually thought about this earlier. If I go full vegan-kropotkin-stalinist (with dengist-mao unity characteristics) in chapter one, will that alienate the average reader of books, or is it silly of me to be scared that people who read books would be chuds?
It's a lot to think about, and I have plenty of time to figure out the right amount of power level to reveal in book 1.
If you're stuck on names or other things you want to go back to, use a placeholder and/or put notes in parentheses like (mayor)
That way you can search the document and put the name in later.
Then using the search, you can remove any of your notes in parentheses.
I get stuck with an idea sometimes where I want it to be perfect and that slows me down.
Have there be a gratuitous sex scene half way through the book that doesn’t advance the plot whatsoever, make sure theres no romantic dialogue or anything of a sexual nature before this scene so that it is completely unexpected to the reader. And be particularly graphic, basically write the aristocrats joke.
It worked for midnight cowboy…
this is a really good idea, I will work this in the the fifth to the end paragraph of every chapter.
It's kind of hard advice to just immediately work into your process but you gotta feel stuff. Trust that your politics will shine through and just go with whatever makes you excited, or angry, or sad.
Planning makes it all go more smoothly but I personally avoid feeling locked into a plotline. Often having a vague idea of two disconnected plot points and no idea of how to connect them is when the best stuff emerges. You'll be establishing character relationships, feeling a little lost as to how to progress, and then something you wrote in dialogue will just slam a character into the right spot. It's the best feeling.
