RE:New Final Report
Or: What We’ve Managed to Get Done
I ended up getting a lot more done than I anticipated I would be able to in the time given. While the story diverged quickly from my planned outline, I was able to produce a (largely) complete work. It’s not quite the publisher-ready pass I wanted, but I think one more pass at it will bring it to what I want.
Tools
The toolset did not change. I used Microsoft Word to write and Trello to keep the project organised.
Project Goals
- A concrete outline for the full two-part story.
- *Main Goal* A robust and largely complete manuscript for the first half of the events occurring before The Fall.
- *Stretch Goal* A work-in-progress of the second half of the events occurring before The Fall.
Weekly Progress Logs
Week 1
The plan is set in place to utilise this course over the term to work on personal writing, to hope to produce at least half of a publisher-ready manuscript, and if things go well, the whole of the first novella. First thing is to finish the new outline, which already my mind is spinning on diverging from (as I have done with every other outline for this manuscript I have created), but perhaps I can combine some old with some new and accomplish my goal.
Week 2
Outline and first chapter are done, though I’m not sure I’ll stick to my outline as closely as I would like. I suppose it’s more the order of events that needs to remain intact that the minutia.
The outline, such as it is, is up on Trello and the prologue (a bit of text art I’m particularly happy with), as well as the first chapter, are linked here.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzrkSxwnXX1_ZTd5cVJva1liRGc
Week 3
So far the major milestones are largely in place, though I’ve expanded the background storytelling to give more of a base and changed some of the names from the original plan to create more of a fantasy feel. Maybe that change was unnecessary? Chapters 2-4 are linked below.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzrkSxwnXX1_MDR5MlVYeTVoOG8
Week 4
Don’t have as many chapters done this week as I’d like, but the milestone events are still intact and that’s what’s important. Maybe I’m putting too much into the backstory? Chapters five and six are linked below.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzrkSxwnXX1_bnhjcHZRNmlodjg
Week 6
Events have gotten a bit convoluted within the story, and it… dilates with the outline. Some things are happening as I projected but some events are occurring slower and some are being dispersed. Major events are still playing out largely as planned but I think from here on the outline is no longer accurate. Still, it’s looking like I’ve met my main goal here in getting have the manuscript done, and are on track to possibly getting the full The Fall narrative done by the end of the term.
Chapters nine and ten are linked below:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzrkSxwnXX1_OVJRWlVCTFJoNXM
Week 7
Well underway to getting the full events of The Fall written, but blocks of three or four chapters in the outline are being compressed to two-ish chapters in the manuscript, and those chapters are more compressed than I think I really like for a ‘finished’ work.
Chapters eleven and twelve are linked below:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzrkSxwnXX1_c1N3bFRCdjdoVEU
Week 8
As I near the end of the story I find myself reflecting upon some of the changes I made to the narrative. The story could use another pass before I think it’s ‘done’ but I am confident that it can be publisher ready at that point.
Chapters thirteen and fourteen are linked below:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzrkSxwnXX1_ZXIyb3pYUHcxaGc
Week 9
I’ve gotten a lot farther on this pass that I expected I would, which is something to be proud of. It’s still not ‘done’ but like I said last week, I think the next pass could be the proper finish of it, just needs a little more polish.
In thinking back from the past draft, the original outline for this one, and the pass that I produced I have gathered several ideas for the next pass, not the least of which is simplifying things. To forego the fancy names, and to maybe not focus so much on the events that occur before Pira appears as the main character. These and many more things to consider for the next time I give the story a go.
The epilogue is linked below:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzrkSxwnXX1_emp3V29rZnNOYmc
Reflections
Despite diverging from my original outline, I am pleased with the direction the story took. I think in the next pass I will try and bring the story back in line with the original plan, incorporating some of the new ideas included in this pass. I am surprised a bit that I was able to finish the full story, although because of the changes it ended up being much shorter than originally intended.
This course has been a great affordance of dedicated time to work on this project, and a great way to close out my two years in this programme.
I will continue to use Trello when planning projects, it’s been a tremendous tool to help keep my thoughts in order and I can definitely see using it for other projects in the future.