06/01/17

I'm writing a novel, the first draft of which can be found elsewhere on the site. Over here you'll find my thoughts about writing.

Analysis and design

Right, I promised myself I'd get started on this.

I've sort of lost momentum on writing the first draft. So far, I've written over 68,500 words, which isn't bad. In all probability they're not the Goddess's gift to world literature, but at least I've sat down and persevered. The bad news is, that apart from losing momentum, I'm also starting to lose track of who my characters are, what they do and when they do it, and why. Part of this has to do with the loss of momentum - if I were writing daily, I'd be able to keep track of more of this stuff - but I believe that to a certain extent this is inevitable, especially when you're writing a long work with events that take place over a long period of time and lots of different characters and locations.

I'm not a writer by trade (as if anyone would have any doubts about that). I started working as a computer programmer in the early 1980's. In those days it wasn't yet taken for granted that, prior to starting to write code, you should put some time into analysis (trying to figure out what the problem was that your computer program was supposed to solve) or design (trying to figure out how, exactly, you were going to solve said problem).

Trying to think of possible reasons to do analysis and design, and to document, I came up with the following:

The problem that you're trying to solve is so complex that you can't solve it just in your head. It's just like doing math: unless you're a math genius you'll probably find it easier to solve the more complex equations and calculations if you're able to work things out on paper, than if you're not. Writing stuff down can help you think.
You're going to have to come back in, let's say, one year's or two year's time and understand why you've solved a certain problem in a certain way. Anything that seems obvious to you now, may not be obvious then.
Other people are going to have to understand, and possibly update, your code. Whatever may seem obvious to you may not be obvious to them.

I believe that the reasoning translates to writing fiction. The first two possible reasons mentioned above apply to where I stand now with regard to the novel. The third obviously doesn't, but I've read somewhere that long-running TV series, which might have many writers working on them, have extensive "bibles" that contain character biographies, timelines, and everything else that the writers need to know.

What I intend to do is just that. In many ways I'll be building on some ideas way back from 2004. (Time flies.)
04/01/17 Transition

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This article was written after writing episode 102 of the first draft of my novel After the War.
After the War (102)

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