Daynote - Mon 8th Jul 2024

ON DECK: So close to the end of this outline. Maybe three hundred words left to write, but I ran out of time this morning. Might finish it off after work. I'd quite like to do literally anything else. 934 words on it this morning, wrangling the dual peak action scenes that are intercut with each other. Complicated and finicky. When I'm working on stuff like this, it often reads a bit like a script without dialogue, just barebones action bullets, with lots of 'Character X explains' and 'Character Y breaks into a run'. I always start doing very minimal one or two sentence bullets and by the time I get to the end each bullet point is a five or six sentence paragraph. Then I go back and make it all consistent and relatively readable.

Crucially, it's just a plan - I've learned the hard way not to stick too rigidly to outlines in the draft. If something cooler comes up as I'm writing, then I go with it. But outlining is part of my process now and part of how I sell books to publishers, so I'm constantly trying out different ways of doing it. And it's a big vector for self-doubt, since many ideas sound really stupid when you write them down as a few bullets. But on we go.

LISTENING: Chilling (sort of, it has some intense parts) to the latest Hynagogue Podcast episode this morning.

WATCHING: Alternated between LOWER DECKS and HOUSE OF THE DRAGON last night because we like a bit of tonal whiplash. The former was hilarious, the latter pretty grimly captivating. Unfortunately the Now TV version of Episode 3 has completely screwed sound, which made it sound like we were listening to it through a drainpipe, but we enjoyed it nonetheless.

READING: Still alternating MOSCOW X and THERE IS NO ANTI-MIMETICS DIVISION. The former has really ramped up after a gently paced first half while the latter is structured as a series of short, interlinked stories, each of which is a near-perfect droplet of spine-shivering concepts and horrifying imagery. Quite a book.

UP NEXT: If I give in to temptation and do some writing tonight, then tomorrow will be Something New! I have an idea for a short story I want to write and it will be lovely to do something that's not novel drafting or editing for a week or two.