Hardcopy folder sorted and made sense of... text files located and transfered. Okay, I'm just about ready to start posting bits of the story. Before I do, I should discuss my method of outlining. Based on a method from JMS's (J. Michael Straczynski of "Babylon 5" fame) writings about how to plot stories, I divide a story into 6 parts...
Teaser (Introduction): 10% of total,
Acts 1-4: each 20%,
& Tag (Conclusion): remaining 10%.
The Teaser sets up the conflict. Acts 1 and 2 add increasingly important complications, Act 3 brings the problems to a critical head that must be resolved, and the 4th brings the main plot thread to a resolution. The Tag resolves or accentuates any remaining plot threads, especially if the story is to continue.
Think of the structure as a probability curve... arcing up into tension, and then crashing back down. (More on this later...)
Not everyone does it this way, but I do it to determine the dramatic structure of a story... when I actually start drafting I let the story tell itself, but I try to touch on the plot points of the outline as I go.
I note as I poke through the texts, that I haven't actually worked on the story since 1999... (format was in Corel 8 Wordperfect!) I'll have to look through and re-edit as I go... I think I was explaining things more than I should have.)
Anyways... just checking in.
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