DUNE 7 BLOG

Friday, April 21, 2006

Skeletons and Such

For the past month, while working on the copy-edited manuscript of HUNTERS while doing the next edit and rewrite of SANDWORMS, I've begun the creative work on the sixth volume in my "Saga of Seven Suns" epic, titled METAL SWARM.

After spending most of the year so far intent on the fine-tuning of already-written manuscripts, the initial idea phase of a big novel is very exciting to me. Over the course of writing the first five "Seven Suns" novels, I had the overall story arc already mapped out in my head. While writing Book 5, OF FIRE AND NIGHT, I kept a running file of specific ideas for scenes or chapters, character interactions, plot twists. When I finally sat down to plan out METAL SWARM, I looked at those hundreds of notes and began to sift and arrange them into the actual story.

Brian and I do the same thing for every DUNE novel. After brainstorming the novel and taking copious notes, often on index cards of various colors (a different one for each character or storyline), we lay out the story, placing the events in order, setting up a timeline, arranging the high points.

When that's done -- as I just finished doing for METAL SWARM -- I compile those one-line chapter descriptions into a file, then use Word to color the text, keyed to each character or storyline. We call this the "skeleton" of the novel, and it's vital for us to see the overall picture, especially of a novel as complex and interconnected as a "Seven Suns" or "Dune" novel, which have so many point-of-view characters and so many storylines.

The Skeleton is the equivalent of an architectural blueprint. Before I begin any further work, I spend days or weeks reading and rereading the Skeleton, rearranging chapters, fine-tuning character interactions, making sure everything fits together exactly the way it should be.

For example, here are the first five chapters in the Skeleton of HIDDEN EMPIRE, the first of the "Seven Suns" novels. Because this is the initial volume in a seven-book epic, I had a great many concepts and characters to introduce. For this, I created a scenario of a grand planetary experiment (using an alien device called the Klikiss Torch to implode a gas giant into a small blazing sun). [In my actual Skeleton each one of these chapter lines would be displayed in a different color.]

HIDDEN EMPIRE

1. Chairman Basil Wenceslas and the two archaeologists Margaret and Louis Colicos on station, watching experiment preparations to use the Klikiss Torch to ignite a gas-giant planet. Colicos background.

2. Basil POV, explain the real purpose behind the experiment, why the Terran Hanseatic League wants to turn a gas giant into a small sun (to make the frozen moons habitable for expansion).

3. Adar Korri'nh, commander of the Ildiran Solar Navy, and his fancy ships, watching the experiment and curious. Introduce Ildiran race. The Adar is concerned: Why do the humans need MORE planets to colonize?

4. Old King Frederick, ceremonial leader of the Hansa, in the Whisper Palace on Earth. A big crowd watching, anticipating, waiting word from the distant solar system, sends an instantaneous message through the green priest and her tree.

5. Green Priest Beneto, formal representative from Theroc, is on the station with Basil, the Colicoses, and others, watching the experiment preparations. Through his counterpart tree, he received the go-ahead from King Frederick on Earth.

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Once I have the Skeleton as my blueprint, I then expand each one of those brief snippets into a much more detailed description of what happens in each chapter and how the scenes are structured. If the Skeleton is the blueprint, the detailed chapter outline is like the foundation and frame of a building. I spend weeks expanding the Skeleton into the chapter outline, which might end up being 70-100 pages long. Here's the detailed description of Chapter 1, from the Skeleton above.

CHAPTER OUTLINE 1. MARGARET COLICOS For the opening, a large scientific and industrial crew has arrived at the gas supergiant planet of Oncier in preparation for a magnificent experiment. Oncier is surrounded by four large moons, all of which could possibly support human colonies, if there were sufficient sunlight. For the first time, humans are about to use an incredible alien technology to create a brand new star. Viewpoint is from MARGARET COLICOS, a dedicated human xeno-archaeologist who, along with her husband LOUIS (also present) discovered and deciphered the planet-igniting technology -- called the "Klikiss Torch" -- in the ruins of an alien civilization. Margaret and Louis Colicos have been married for three decades. With plenty of dirt under their fingernails and ground-breaking discoveries on their resumés, they have sifted through numerous abandoned Klikiss worlds, searching for any clues as to what has happened to the lost ancient race. On the planet Corribus, they have found something important enough to make them celebrities. Margaret and Louis are on board the scientific observation station for the test, along with the powerful head of the Terran Hanseatic League, BASIL WENCESLAS, the project's chief scientist, DR. SERIZAWA, and a green priest for communication. Nearby in space is a ceremonial fleet, seven ships from the Ildiran Solar Navy, the benevolent humanoid alien race that helped humanity spread across the stars. Everyone is watching this test, some uneasy, some anxious. While waiting, Basil Wenceslas congratulates Margaret and Louis. "You two are an investment that has certainly paid off for the Terran Hanseatic League." The archaeologists were sponsored by the Hansa, a minor grant (relatively speaking), but the star-igniting technology they discovered will be worth more than all the archaeology budgets combined. Margaret asks Basil if this means he will increase their funding. Basil says, "You may choose any site you wish, and I will see that you have all the funding you require." He knows that the Colicos prefer to work alone, and they have modest needs. Previously, in the Klikiss ruins on Corribus -- seemingly the site of a great battle eons ago -- Margaret was able to match up the precise coordinates of neutron stars and pulsars scattered around the galaxy with maps and mathematics. This one realization caused an avalanche of breakthroughs; by plotting the coordinates of the neutron stars from the Klikiss maps and comparing them with stellar drift, they could back-calculate how old the maps were‹the insectoid Klikiss race disappeared five thousand years previous. Also, the coordinates and diagrams gave a first step to deciphering Klikiss mathematical notation, which Louis easily unraveled, and was then able to figure out the basic function of the Klikiss Torch. . . . They are an older couple, perfect soul-mates, who live for unraveling historical secrets. They have been brought to Oncier as an honor, to watch the experiment, though they can hardly wait to get back to work on a new dig. As a reward for their important discovery, the Colicos have counted on receiving financing to start a new archaeology expedition on a completely untouched Klikiss ghost world, RHEINDIC CO. They can hardly wait to go there. To them, this is more exciting than setting planets on fire.

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That's actually a little more extensive than the descriptions usually are, but this was the opening chapter and I had to make sure I got everything right. Then, I take these chapter descriptions with me, tape recorder in hand, and go out for a long walk, dictating and expanding the few paragraphs of notes into a full-fledged chapter. I usually do two chapters per day, and the final book manuscript runs about 700 pages. (METAL SWARM will have 134 chapters, which means I should be able to dictate the first draft of the novel in about two months, and then spend much more time editing and polishing the drafts.)

So you can see how it turned out, you can click here for a PDF of the completed first chapter.

There's no "correct" or standard way for a writer to create a novel. I hope you've enjoyed the insight into the way a "Dune" or "Seven Suns" book is written.

--KJA