October 6th Assignment: Outline & bonus.

Tuesday, Oct. 06
*Bullet* Required: Outline Revision #1 ▼

Building on your Premise/Idea from Oct. 1, compose the first draft of your outline.
Options:

*Bullet* Using traditional outline format (Traditional Outline ): Define what happens at the beginning, climax, and the end.

1a. João wants to take off a year and travel but he loves his grandmother. She encourages him to go... to Portugal.
1b. João goes to Lisbon (meets Thoom... on vacation? or does he meet Thoom in prologue),
1c. north to the beach at Nazaré,
1d. to party and listen to fado (important) in Coimbra,
1e. follows his nose for wine to Porto (and gets lost nos azulejos de São Bento),
1f. tries to connect spiritually in Braga... doesn't.
1g. go off on a pilgrimage and stops in Tui. Gets spooked by the age of the place.
1h. visits Santiago de Compostela... sees both the intense emotion of the pilgrims and the material crassness.
1i. goes on a lark to A Coruña... but why?

1j. How to get to the south or should it be to Évora? Flights from A Coruña or Santiago de Compostela to Faro go through Madrid and or London! Maybe all day on bus or train? Or should he stop in Lisbon (museums, Sintra) or Alcobaça (very old monastery) looking for something? But what? An object? Knowledge? Nothing he knows at the moment... one of those urges... suggested by someone?

1k. Tavira... a beach break... or so he thinks...
1l. Lagos. He meets Filipa, fangless goddess of the hostel world.
1m. Cabo Sagres ties history together. Henrique, Filipa... him... hmmm.
1n. He heads off to Évora and the megaliths... as old as... vampires.
1o. Nelson at the hostel introduces João to a vampire...
1p. We all learn why vampires don't live in Évora...
(1q. Miranda de l Douro)

Does Part 1 end here?

2a. João has gone home to see his grandmother Rosa. She's ill and he either hasn't gone to Mirande de l Douro or he has and learned nothing. He demures.
2b. A friend urges him to go around the world to escape his troubles (what I'm not sure, but his grandmother and family is part of this... I don't want to knock Rosa off). He remembers Thoom... who is a healer... but she's disappeared... gone on vacation.
2c. Quest to see the "world" Discussion of where to go when... Europe, Asia... this has implications. (A bridge chapter)
If Europe:
2d. Paris. Charmed.
2e. Luxembourg. Rude people but lots of Portuguese!
2f. Brugge. Faux medieval... are vampires faux? João has met one... is he so sure?
2g. Delft and the secrets of the Dutch.
2h. Amsterdam... because he is young and foolish...
2i. Bremen.
2j. Copenhagen.
2k. Christiania... for the pain (what pain?)
2l. Goteborg.
2m. Oslo. Akerselva... and the darkness of Jo Nesbø.
2n. Vestland... land of trolls, giants, hulda... myths as thick as blood and vampires.
2o. ?

Have no idea how Part 2 ends yet, but it has to be something that impels him to go back to Portugal... or home.

3a. Kansas City and Thoom...
3b. Off to Portugal and Lisbon.
3c. A side trip to Lagos and Filipa.
(3d. A side trip to Évora and Nelson... can't find the vampire...)
3c. Tomar... old castle and church. What's hidden there...
3d. Tomar to Bragança. An inward searching...
3e. Miranda de l Douro. Various chapters as João mines their secrets, his secrets.
3f.
3g.
3h.
3i.
3j.
3k.
3l.
3m. Back to Évora.
3n. Meeting with a vampire.
3o. Final decision.

4. epilogue... poem (partially written... the "Angel of Évora" except that word is never used and it's the Angel of Death...


*Bullet* Using Index Cards (Paper or Electronic): Define your beginning, climax, and end. As you build your outline throughout October, you
can easily shuffle around plot elements.

         No idea what this means.

*Bullet* The Snowflake Method : Write a provocative one-sentence description of your story. Example from Randy Ingermanson's Transgression : "A rogue physicist travels back in time to kill the apostle Paul."

         1. A young man travels to Portugal looking for beaches and vampires.

         2. After meeting his first vampire, a young man travels around the world constantly running into more... not be choice.

         3. No longer innocent nor naïve, a young man returns to his ancestral village to mine secrets it does not wish to divulge.


*** SEE ALSO: Outlining Tools in the Writing Tools section at the bottom of this calendar. *Down*

*Bullet* Bonus: Literary Devices ▼

Select three literary devices from the list provided and work them into your outline.
OPTIONS:

*Bullet*Foreshadowing: Hints of something to come.

João's anemia, his dislike of heat and sun... cliché... but he is clueless. His meeting a vampire at the end of part 1 foreshadows his return at the end of part 3.

*Bullet*Chekhov's Gun: The gun on the wall in Scene 1 is eventually fired.

Many of the characters he meets in part 1 are vampires, but João doesn't have a clue and the reader might guess... but it's never stated.

*Bullet*Repetitive Designation: An object or fact appears over and over.

"Vampires don't live in Évora" is repeated enough in part 1 that João is impelled to go there (in spite of not it having a beach...).

*Bullet*Symbolism: Small facts, objects, or characterizations represent something bigger.

would like to use this...

*Bullet*Self-fulfilling prophecy: Protagonist attempts to thwart prophecy but in attempting, fulfills it.

probably not

*Bullet*Poetic Justice: Good guys are rewarded and bad guys are punished.

probably not, this isn't a story about good versus evil.

*Bullet*Plot Twist: Surprises the reader with something unexpected.

would like to use this... João's compassion wins in the end... but that's at the end... how to effectively use along the way...

*Bullet*False Protagonist: The protagonist dies or turns out to be something other than the protagonist.

not.

*Bullet*Red Herring: A false trail diverts the reader's attention from what really happened.

would like to know how to use this...

*Bullet*Unreliable Narrator: The narrator has been misleading the reader all along.

could I use this?

*Bullet*Irony: The exact opposite of what the reader expects happens.

Perhaps at the end of part 3. Unless the reader is meant to believe João will return home from a beach holiday and then goes running off around the world? End of part 1. Or... that having a fill of vampires and running around that he'll purposely go to Miranda de l Douro part 2/3 or that he'll return to Évora... end of part 3.

*Bullet*Reveal: A hidden connection between characters or facts is revealed in time.

Many characters at the beginning are vampires, and João only learns later... bit by bit. It's a small connected community held together by a common blood condition and the need for secrecy. Some know each other... quite well. Is one connected to him? Who? (Haven't thought about this twist...) Miranda de l Douro, his grandmother's ancestral home, is more important than anyone, João/reader/other-characters, realizes in part 1 or even 2.

*Bullet*Plot Device: Advances the plot forward, often pushing the main character past a hurdle.

need to learn what this means

*Bullet*Object of Power: Either the protagonist wants it, or the object drives the plot of its own accord.

not used

*Bullet*MacGuffin: Something the protagonist wants for unknown and unimportant reasons.

Could use this... maybe João has problems like staying up at night or sleeping the summer away... that he doesn't consider a problem and therefore doesn't see the connection. The anemia and heat-phobia are too transparent. Would there be something else... less obvious but even more important?

*Bullet*Quibble: Following the letter of the law, contract, or agreement instead of its intent, changing the outcome.

At the end of part three he breaks the 'contract'! Reader shouldn't see this coming.

*Bullet*Narrative Hook: Story opening that grab's the reader's attention.

YES! ... but what? Maybe two vampires talking... about something that occurs much later. Important for part 1. Like two vamps meeting in Évora ... one to kill the other? (Make it sound sinister... when in fact it's not...) Could part 2 and 3 use this device???

*Bullet*Cliffhanger: Ending a scene, chapter or story in the middle of action, hooking the reader.

may use or not... these are set up as short stories.

*Bullet*Ticking Clock Scenario: The threat of impending doom if the protagonist's objective is not met.

not, vampires have all the time in the world... and then some...

*Bullet*Breaking the Fourth Wall: A character speaks directly to the reader.

will think about this.

*Bullet*Or anything from this list: http://literary-devices.com/