Writing « novel takes a long time: for me, anywhere for 1,500 to 2.000 hour, the equivalent of a your's ful work, ‘Rratched over two oF three cal Worth of evenings and weekends. Novels, ike other large works of art such ee paintings, cathedrals, sculptures, plays, of movies, are created in stages, Their fitats employ temporary supports such 9 Blueprints, scaffolding, and rehearsals to shape and refine the work. When t has boon polished, these crutch emoved and the piece can be judged on is ‘aio mers, Crattemanship is the devalopment of structures and habits to manage the artistic process better. Personal, | work top down, ing with the Cambridge Science Fiction Workshop, Wwe have atleast five successful paradigms, ‘each customized for each author's needs fand abilities, What works for me may not ‘But some of K may help. ‘nriting the novel into ton dis ‘Step 1: Dovelop the idea. Somewhere inhisexsays Robert A. Heinlein wrote What | Call Heinlein's dictum of wrting SF: Change only one thing and then explore all the , consequences of tat change. ‘iy novels start with @ technological premise and use it fo develop a partcul home. For instanc Pohl's Years of the City. Neither of those books, commendable though they are, had ug into the physical guts of city. Both Used ft more as a stage than as an organic ‘When setting out to write In the Basement, my fourth novel (ust sold to Tor), wanted to explore how a city that was a single giant bulging would function. A city that wes a single large inteconnacted build ing would be essentially & macro-orgenism, wth analogs of all bodily functions. The ‘Cube must breathe (t has ton milion people inside it, and they breathe). it must eat. It must excrete, How wil tht all work? ‘When in doubt, anslogize. ‘The human body is an assemblage of subsystems at both the organic and celular level The body has evolved mech gaint injury, cis Gent The Cube would have similar systems. But this would be @ novel, not an essay. I began to ask mysait series of quostions Fie a extachism What story wile us explore this ty? Send a detective searching trough ‘Whats the dotective looking for? ‘Why isthe person missing? The Cube is small (a. kilometer on a side) and well montored, ‘She either ran away or was kidnapped. How cen anyone find her among so many milions? ‘that's @ pul. “The seeds of «plot bogan to germinate ‘Step 2 Research. In a science fictional context, research means ether extrapolating Tm fascinated by eties |< AlexaRayl ‘smith from realty, of imagining something from whole cloth end then making it tangible {what Lowis Shiner calls the edges of dees) For in the Basement, I needed a cy. | ‘work in Boston, a ety with an enormously Fic history of change. So | explored present land past Boston. | wont to ts histori places {they would be preserved inside the future Cubic elty—how?).. I wheedied my way backstage at power stations and lage office buildings. |foured abandoned bulldings bing gutied before demolition or rehab. | crawled through submarines, ocean liners, land French chateaux to discover how they Wwove invisible servant passeges around the public spaces. Imaginative research takes time and cexganization. | kept notebooks. For In the Basement, for example, bul Biographies and physic ofeach focus character Listings of historic places and things found in abandoned buildings; ological and economic descrip- descriptions Locations where New technology and ite rules of en- ‘gagement; ‘Ama of the chatacters’ emotional involvements; Rules of engagement for Boston's QUANTUM 42 / SUMMER/FALL 1992, lions; ’ future vocabulary. ‘Much ofthis detail never gets into the prose, but ereating it brings the world alive fn the author's mind, 20 comes alive on th page Everyone moves on foot via elevator, esce- Iatore, of moving sidewalks. In the Cube, these must connect togather, eo Invented the overall term movere and defined them through their use. Engineers start from, What can | achiove?® Setence fiction wrters art om, "What do want" So movers did help. My future Boston would be more ‘complex # more than one person contibuted to imagining i, 201 conceived the idea of je novela shared world you will—set in Future Boston. The workshop —husiasticaly accepted my proposal. During the entir time | was writing the novel, Alexander Jablokev, Geottray A. Landis, Sarah Smith, fang Stoven Popkos (among others) were Inventing alien, places, and future history. Future Boston took on alfe of is own and became, in Re own right, «fascinating and success anthology ‘Step 2: Outine the Story. The thematic development crestes a general plot Charac- tere take rough shapes. Now they must ‘move onstage according to their wn iter- fal imperatives, The plot must be outlined Britly. my stops: ‘3A. Design the Action. Where does the action open? Where does ft close? What happens in between? This e a combination ‘olfiow chart and state diagram: atthe nov- fs opening, whore are the cheracters, and Where are they when the novel closes? How So they get rom here te there? Inthe best fiction, the outer journey is matched by an innet journey. 50 who are the characters at novel's open? How are they changed by what they experience? Who are thoy when the book is done? ment opens with a gir! tive hired to find her (O'Meare’s search to find Diana Sherwood is 3d by her search to understand Diana, and also to understand herset "2.8. Trim the Fat. Once the story lines have been designed, tighten them up. Link haracters together so t Characters which serve no thematic purpose "2.0. Do a Scene-By-Scane Schematic Some events in a story aro better It held ofstage (Hamit’s father is murdered betore the play begins). So go through the story land construct an outline, scene by scene, of what the reader wil’se Crtiquing # scene outine is helpful and interesting for both author and erties. The Cambridge SF Workshop has substantially Improved several novels before they were ‘ever wition, This structural maseaging isthe part of ertical work which | enjoy the most. ‘2.D. Replot the Story. Anovel, like tree, becomes more complex Repeat the fret three stepe, Various strands can be brought back together, a scene late inthe novel'can be made to fesonate with 15one outer. ‘Stop 4: Weite the First Draft. Every tuthor's mind contains both a creator and an faltor Av the ereator taps out each clunky Sentence into glowing words on the comput: sracraen, the editor cinges and gags, The ‘Suior must be anesthotized long enough for the evontor fo produce an entire dramatic Unt and then let the editor have at Nobody | know produces perlect prose the fret erack, Drafting i done in layers, Tike a painter who bullds up a scene from fartoon,aketch, study, and eventually. Write fad throw out; wite and throw out “4A. Design tho Scone. | sat by review: ing my 100-word chapter summary so that | Know it thematic and dramatic objectives, point of view? Who else is in the sce big moments (key mente, emotions, pieces of information)? How does the focal charactor teactto each one? In contest for my three previous novels, which hopped around among di points of view, In the Basement is person continuous narrative tld by ts detec Eve, Beverly OMeara. Locking myself in to & single point of view created its own prob Tema, What most the render learn? What can ‘Bev see? How can we show the rest? "To solve these problems, most detec tives have Watsons. created Aki, a Pha tien with unusual abilties, and the Ite guy Vinually took over the story. The Ship between Akktri and Bey became a Growing strand that eventually was drawn, Beck into the theme. "4B. Sketch the Scone. Next comes & sketch or storyboard of the cislog: who says ‘inet, how the others react | spend no etfon ‘on word choice: Bob and Jow are talk ‘evan if Bob is. « computer and Joe tion. (Stylizing comes later.) The end product is a23 page storyboard ‘Because the sketch is shor, i's relative: ly oaay to figure out what's missing and where t goes. I the dialog has wandered, that ean be clipped. The whole point is to get the ide visualizing the ‘and making It ing true rather than ‘aking ft read lke anything. in the same way that a figure draftsman first blocks out the body's large shapes before adding deta 14.6. Write the zero draft. | calli this because it ie the thing which my creator produces and which my editor edits into a fiat dat. Totten write zero datts late at night, sitar my edtorls asleep but when my crestor is all ewake, Playing jazz or New Age helps iny concentration as fong as the music ie Comething | know well and hes no Hrics. The ‘word-making brain is totaly disrupted by hearing dlalog trom another soure ‘Unually the story develops fs own tite at this stage. Characters stubbornly refuse to behave the way they are supposed to; new Unexpected events occur. Sometimes ‘al my careful structuring. I thie Tiknow it's cooking. P Child who felt ambivalent about her (now eed) father, Bev didnt know how Net father tied. Inert her on an expedition to find out ‘As | worked with it, n the became all about manipulation. Bev uses ‘Asi without realizing #. Sho tries to manip- late informants to discover what they know. te manipulate Bev's ins's kidnapper is trying to franipulate Iris, And vo on. Manipulation Became the uniying mot of the nov the elty-as-organism became its unifying metaphor. ‘Stop 5: Micro-edit. In contrast to first drat, micro-editing fe easy: my edior-brain is nits glory Decisions are made atthe level of sentences and below: word choices and fearranging phrases, These can usually be {esolved independent of the overall canvas, My manuscript pages become covered with 1 Dizard of red ink ‘ micro-edit in a convergent series of passes, like sanding with successively finer Dit unil the work's good enough to work- shop. ‘Sep 8: Workshop the Matera. | usually think mn fet drt are good (he). Polishing reinforces this illusion: f desensitizes me to or issues like whether characters work land whether scones are necessary, ‘tpptopriate, and quick enough Tiet the chaptore sit four to twelve wooks, 1 the point where I've forgotten the texact wording and then submit them tothe Workshop. Both steps are necessary. The piace must be workshopped to find flaws | Gignt seo. And t must age first so thet I can id accept the erticism. If the same suggestions had be ust ae I wrote AT'S have argued endlessly and unwisely rejected ther ‘Step 7: Fait Recipes. Workshop isa full body massage by a cisintorested robot: you ‘emerge invigorated but also pummeled and Sore, Most significantly, a workshop will Sverioad the author with ideas, some of which propriate given the story being told. ‘Good entice are a huge resource. Use them, Explot thom. Submit material any time youcan. {In this | am speaking only of citics who seek only to help the Improve the fiction, Family, frien {2duh education creative wring classes have other agondes, such ax being nice to the author, peychoanalyzing onesell, or ladvocating # poial agenda. These inter- {ere with eriquing the work as work. H you ‘want get published, avoid such erica) ‘A good erte’s comments almost aivays ‘tag rel problems, The comment feet may be misguided or the proposed solution infeasible, but @ wise author will not disre- (gerd any advice without having considered areal. Regarding workshop eriticiem, my motto is the more the better. don't like faving my work's flaws pointed up—who ddoos?but that’s short-term discomfort. The ‘work improves. That's what matters And the praise you earn (especially from experts) 1 source of lasting saistaction. ‘Air the workshop, | write a dstiltion, topic by topic, ofthe comments [found most felevart, annotated by source (dfferent ct. les have different perapectives), togethe with my fet recipes. By doing ths, line 16 QUANTUM 42/ SUMMERVFALL 1992 ‘gramming myset. ‘When a novel is being ertiqued chapter bby chapter, | also give my fait recipes tothe workshop members, Thie ratifies their [tuggestions end thus encourages them to make, i aleo keeps thom up to date as to the changing novel, so they need not cri- tique the same offense repectedly ‘Step 8: Revisit and Complicate The ‘Thome. Once the fret draft ie done, | look at the novel asa whole and ty to draw together fs deparate elements. For instance, regard ing the relationship between Diane and her mother, iis Sherwood, Diana proved to be & ty stag peared). Explor ing Bev'a feelings toward her offstage (Goad) father etme shedow-stage the IneDiana issues, That moant rodiecovering Bev's childhood, her adolescence, her fesvangement rom her father, and hs death ‘Discovering thet Bev was using Akkt without knowing It meant that she had to ‘ond and ask his ‘Step 9: Retrofit. Changes in the novel's overall structure forces mete change many scenes throughout the book. For Bev to gain Understanding of her manipulation of Akiti, fvent, she accidentally Killed a Phnar in a Basement shootout early in the book. This {id not bother the Phnetl, who are stoic ‘about death, but upset her ‘greatly. All her arly encounters had to be reinterpreted in light of these new events ‘By now the novel had plenty of action and a short tie frame (all the action covers nly forty-eight hours). That left no room for the fong, leisurely explorations of Boston's ‘workings that had been my origin anion. (ut they came. (The apocryphal story Is told of the mahatsja who Bult the Taj Mahal as a tom for his mother, When it was all done, th ‘casket on its pedestal in the cent Vast open domed space, he stood back, tering athe ereation trying to wont that matted lis perfection. Finally he pointed to the casket and said in iaguet, Take tht thing away) T started In the vent to be exploratorium and wrote a story to give a Feason to wander. But then the, slory crow’ fod out the tavologue—yet i lft behind & {ully realized, believable stage that fitthis parteulr story ‘Step 10: Rewrite. Rewriting is af forward replay of the first di chapter, dently le flaws. Reread the ft fecipes._ Delete large chunks as appropriate. ‘Sketch in the replacement sectione. Draft them. Polish them. Repeatedly pase through the materi, narrowing the focus each ime. Tm the Basement, my most dificult book, took three complete rats, | ty to make each book better than the ‘one before it Ws time to put whet | leerned ‘wring In the Basement to work creating my {th book, The Mandrake Project. in three yé k me how It came oun