Author:
Wes
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Date Posted: 21:27:22 11/20/14 Thu
>Do you have multiple stories plotted out in advance,
>or when you start a second story that overlaps, do you
>just make sure you can integrate it? Sometimes, from
>the outside, it seems like you've at least
>detail-outlined several different stories all in
>advance so that you can have the same scenes being
>presented from three or four different perspectives,
>with different lead-ups (depending on the viewpoint,)
>and such.
Usually the stories come up one at a time, but I refer to ones already written when a crossover comes. Since I work so far ahead of publication, it's sometimes no trick to go back and massage an earlier version when needed to make the fit better. Sometimes it takes a bit of massaging. In my mind Bird in the Hand was set in 2007 when it was first written, but I decided it fit better in 2010 when considering other stories, including some upcoming.
Sometimes I do plan, at least a little. In the case of Bird in the Hand, by the time I was done writing it I visualized three books. Three became six, and the envisioned third one never worked out, although a few scenes made it into the other ones.
Sometimes a scene just has to be told again. Think about Jennlynn landing the airliner in Magic Carpet. Finding out about it turned out to be pivotal in Growing Together -- and then again in Picking Up the Pieces. It will be mentioned again, although not detailed, in a future book. A deal like that is going to affect different people in different ways, so it's fun to explore them.
I can't exactly tell you how I make it work, other than I usually manage to do it somehow.
-- Wes
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