Tag Archives: Plotting

Newsletter #111

Posted on August 28, 2019 by admin

DRAKENEWS 111: September. 2019 Dear People, This is a bit early because my webmaster, Karen, is going on a genealogical trip to get in touch with her German roots. (These, by the way, are in Hesse, not Bavaria, so I’m … Continue reading →

Posted in Newsletters | Tagged Motorcycles, Plotting | Comments Off on Newsletter #111

Dave’s Sample Plot Outline

Posted on October 29, 2014 by admin

There are frequent requests for a copy of one of Dave’s plot outlines. Here’s a pdf copy of his plot outline for What Distant Deeps: Plot Outline.

Posted in FAQ | Tagged Plotting, What Distant Deeps | Comments Off on Dave’s Sample Plot Outline

Newsletter #71

Posted on November 6, 2012 by admin

NEWSLETTER 71: November 6, 2012 Dear People, I fully intended when I wrote the immediately previous newsletter (70) to simply relax for a month. Believe me, I needed it. But my main form of relaxation is to read stuff, and … Continue reading →

Newsletter #66

Posted on January 5, 2012 by admin

NEWSLETTER 66: January 5, 2012 Dear People, Jeepers, a new year yet again. I hope you all–and all of us–have a good one. I’m at work on the plot for my next Tor fantasy, which at the moment I’m calling … Continue reading →

Posted in Newsletters | Tagged Bull Spec, eBooks, Essays, Manly Wade Wellman, Military service, Plotting, Robert Heinlein | Comments Off on Newsletter #66

Newsletter #65

Posted on November 7, 2011 by admin

NEWSLETTER 65: November 7, 2011 Dear People, I’ve finished the plot for Into the Maelstrom, which will be the sequel to Into the Hinterlands when John Lambshead writes it next year. (Next year isn’t nearly as far away as I … Continue reading →

Another Method of Plotting

Posted on July 11, 2011 by admin

Written for the Tor/Forge July 2011 Newsletter Last year when Tor asked me for an essay to accompany the publication of The Legions of Fire, the first of my Books of the Elements fantasy series, I explained that riding a … Continue reading →

Posted in Essays, Out of the Waters | Tagged Classics, Out of the Waters, Plotting | Comments Off on Another Method of Plotting

Newsletter #60

Posted on January 13, 2011 by admin

Dear People, I have a rough plot outline for the next RCN space opera, The Road of Danger. (The title is from a poem by A E Housman.) Whee! A rough plot may not seem very exciting to other people, … Continue reading →

The Motorcycle Way to Complex Plotting

Posted on May 10, 2010 by admin

  Written for the Tor/Forge May 2010 Newsletter THE MOTORCYCLE WAY TO COMPLEX PLOTTING Writers use various tools in their work. One of my tools is my motorcycle. Well, plural: my motorcycles. Bikers learn quickly that if they expect to … Continue reading →

Posted in Essays, The Legions of Fire | Tagged Motorcycles, Plotting, The Legions of Fire, Tor, Writing | Comments Off on The Motorcycle Way to Complex Plotting

The Fortress of Glass

Posted on May 9, 2010 by admin

My friend Mark Van Name is, among other things, a business consultant. After I sold the final trilogy in the Isles Series to Tor but before I started work on the three books, he asked me if I would like … Continue reading →

How complete are your plots?

Posted on April 30, 2010 by admin

How complete do you make the plot of a story before you write it? I do very heavy plots. I usually have at least 10% of the story/novel wordage in the plot. Here’s an example: the plot for The Far … Continue reading →

Posted in FAQ | Tagged Plotting, The Far Side of the Stars | Comments Off on How complete are your plots?

Do you plot sequentially?

Posted on April 30, 2010 by admin

Do you write sequentially, from beginning of the plot to the end? I do plots beginning to end, and I do very long plots, but there’s not a right way.

Posted in FAQ | Tagged Plotting, Writing | Comments Off on Do you plot sequentially?

The Sharp End

Posted on April 30, 2010 by admin

Did you take the plot of THE SHARP END from Kurosawa’s Yojimbo or from Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars? No, I took the plot from Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett, his first novel (a fixup from novellas he’d written for … Continue reading →

Posted in FAQ | Tagged Plotting, The Sharp End | Comments Off on The Sharp End

Newsletter #51

Posted on June 6, 2009 by admin

Dear People, I intended to start this newsletter by saying that I’d completed the plot of the next RCN space opera and am at work on it. Those things are true (we’ll get back to them), but in my mind … Continue reading →

Video Interviews

Posted on October 8, 2008 by admin

Video Interviews: Moses Siregar III posted a YouTube video in four chunks of the panel “The Continued Viability of Epic Fantasy” recorded at the World Fantasy Convention in Columbus OH October 30, 2010. Dave is on the panel with John … Continue reading →

Newsletter #47

Posted on October 4, 2008 by admin

Dear People, Folks frequently ask me how long it takes to write a novel. (People ask me a lot of questions that presumably seem simpler from the outside than they do to me.) The answer depends on a lot of … Continue reading →

Newsletter #46

Posted on August 3, 2008 by admin

Dear People, Foof. I _did_ finish IN THE STORMY RED SKY, the latest RCN (Leary/Mundy) space opera, as I said in #45 that I hoped to do soon. Usually by the time I’m three-quarters of the way through the rough … Continue reading →

Newsletter #43

Posted on January 29, 2008 by admin

Dear People, For a moment I thought was going to start somewhere else, but no: the big news this time is still that I’ve finished the plot for the next RCN (Leary/Mundy) space opera and expect to begin writing very … Continue reading →

Newsletter #42

Posted on November 22, 2007 by admin

Dear People, I’ve turned in THE GODS RETURN, the final book of the Crown of the Isles trilogy and of the whole Isles series. I hadn’t fully appreciated that till a friend congratulated me on completing my largest project thus … Continue reading →