Mary has a distinctive outlining methodology, and this episode is all about it. She tells us about roadmaps, layers, thumbnails, under paintings, synopses, and more, in the order in which those elements usually appear.
The discussion of pacing vs. plot is particularly useful. Especially if you’re Howard.
Mary then takes us through the process of outlining a specific short story which, as of this cast, she had not yet written. Also, this episode is part of a sequence that was recorded in a different order than that in which it aired. Our bad! Here’s the one you probably wanted to listen to first.
The outline itself can be found here.
Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: The Dragon Factory, by Jonathan Mayberry, narrated by Ray Porter
Writing Prompt: Give us a magic system in which the thumbnail, the under painting, the other imagery are the basis for the magic.
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