THE HARP, THE PEN, THE SWORD

OUTLINES FOR “THE HARP”, “THE PEN”,  “THE SWORD”

(THE MORAN FAMILY LEGACY)

PRE-OUTLINE NOTES:

Ø  I will write this outline with the assumption that it will be a trilogy because of the time factor and the construction of the story.  I also have three different protagonists who will each die at the end of their story.  The books will be titled—“THE HARP”, “THE PEN”, “THE SWORD”  (THE MORAN FAMILY LEGACY)

Ø  It is my plan to write as complete an outline as possible between now and 01 October 2013 when we leave for New Zealand.

Step 1) Take an hour and write a one-sentence summary of your novel. Something like this: "A rogue physicist travels back in time to kill the apostle Paul." (This is the summary for my first novel, Transgression.) The sentence will serve you forever as a ten-second selling tool. This is the big picture, the analog of that big starting triangle in the snowflake picture.

When you later write your book proposal, this sentence should appear very early in the proposal. It's the hook that will sell your book to your editor, to your committee, to the sales force, to bookstore owners, and ultimately to readers. So make the best one you can!

Some hints on what makes a good sentence:

• Shorter is better. Try for fewer than 15 words.
• No character names, please! Better to say "a handicapped trapeze artist" than "Jane Doe".
• Tie together the big picture and the personal picture. Which character has the most to lose in this story? Now tell me what he or she wants to win.
• Read the one-line blurbs on the New York Times Bestseller list to learn how to do this. Writing a one-sentence description is an art form.

·         WHAT ARE THESE BOOKS ABOUT?

                How two generations of one family deal with life in Ireland between 1885 and 1922.  

                THE HARP---A young woman wants only to live her Wedding Day dream in Galway, Ireland, in the late 19^th century. 

THE PEN---A middle class young man in Ireland has made only one mistake in his life—he married the girl he has loved since childhood.

                THE SWORD---A child conceived in an act of rape and raised in exile, goes home to become a great patriot.

THE HARP

Step 2) Take another hour and expand that sentence to a full paragraph describing the story setup, major disasters, and ending of the novel. This is the analog of the second stage of the snowflake. I like to structure a story as "three disasters plus an ending". Each of the disasters takes a quarter of the book to develop and the ending takes the final quarter. I don't know if this is the ideal structure, it's just my personal taste.

If you believe in the Three-Act structure, then the first disaster corresponds to the end of Act 1. The second disaster is the mid-point of Act 2. The third disaster is the end of Act 2, and forces Act 3 which wraps things up. It is OK to have the first disaster be caused by external circumstances, but I think that the second and third disasters should be caused by the protagonist's attempts to "fix things". Things just get worse and worse.

You can also use this paragraph in your proposal. Ideally, your paragraph will have about five sentences. One sentence to give me the backdrop and story setup. Then one sentence each for your three disasters. Then one more sentence to tell the ending. If this sounds suspiciously like back-cover copy, it's because . . . that's what it is and that's where it's going to appear someday.

1.       THE HARP—

It is 1885 in Galway, Ireland.  The Moran family makes its money from the shipping business Mick and his best friend Sean Healy own.  Mick has one child, a beautiful redheaded daughter who is about to be married to the son of his best friend and partner.  He is a widow, his wife died in childbirth 20 years ago but he still misses her and thinks about her daily.  He has never   married again or even looked for another wife.  Mick is gone a lot on his ships but he is never gone for more than a few months at a time.  While Mick is gone, Cathleen lives with Sean and his wife Maire.  They live just a few doors down on the same street.  Sean rarely goes to sea he runs to administrative end of Moran Fahey Shipping.    Sean and Maire have a son, Ruairi who is one year older than Cathleen is.

(ACT ONE)--The story opens with Cathleen and Ruairi getting married at the family parish church.  There is a “gate crasher” at the reception.  He is am English nobleman named Raleigh Wainright.  He has wandered into the wrong room accidentally because he has been drinking.  Before the reception is over, he makes a pass at the bride.  Wainright decides he wants Cathleen for himself.  He could not care less that she is happily married.  He quietly pursues Cathleen until it becomes harassment.  Finally, she tells Mick about Wainright and Mick pays him a visit.   Wainright becomes angry and silently vows to not only get Cathleen but to also ruin Mick’s business. 

(ACT TWO)---Wainright sets-up Ruairi by starting a riot and making it look like Ruairi is the instigator of the riot.  Ruairi is found guilty of starting a riot and murder of a police officer during the riot.  He is sentenced to life at Portland Prison in England.  

(ACT THREE)---Mick and Sean begin to make plans to break Ruairi out of prison and send him to the US.  Wainright really starts pushing Cathleen hard.  She resists him but he visits her on three separate occasions while Mick is out on a voyage and rapes her.  He convinces her that he can ruin her father’s business and he will if she tells anyone. 

Wrap-up---Mick and Sean leave to rescue Ruairi.  They get him out of the prison but there is a terrible storm and the ship is wrecked on the way back to Ireland.  Mick and Sean drown but Ruairi lives and is taken in by a family near Cork.  Wainright get particularly drunk one night and again rapes Cathleen.  This time she gets pregnant.  Wainright has been called back to England by his father.  Cathleen tells her daughter Bridget and Maire.  When Wainright returns he discovers that Cathleen is pregnant.  Maire walks into the house and he shoots her.  Bridget hears screaming and comes down stairs.  She kills Wainright with the fire poker.  Cathleen and Bridget get rid of body then call the police and tell them that Maire has been shot.  Cathleen goes into labor.  She has a baby boy.  Hours after the baby is born she begins to hemorrhage.  Briget goes to get the doctor.  While she is gone Ruairi comes home.  The doctor tells them there is nothing he can do and Cathleen dies.  Briget gets her fiancé and tells him what happened.  They decide to get married right after Maire’s funeral and to baptize the baby at the same time.  There is a ship leaving for America and they will be on it.  The priest falsifies the ages and dates on the marriage certificate.  The baptismal certificate says that the baby’s parents are Briget and Brendan.  They leave on the ship for America never to return to Ireland.  Ruairi is also with them.  End of this book.

THE HARP

Step 3) The above gives you a high-level view of your novel. Now you need something similar for the storylines of each of your characters. Characters are the most important part of any novel, and the time you invest in designing them up front will pay off ten-fold when you start writing. For each of your major characters, take an hour and write a one-page summary sheet that tells:

• The character's name
• A one-sentence summary of the character's storyline
• The character's motivation (what does he/she want abstractly?)
• The character's goal (what does he/she want concretely?)
• The character's conflict (what prevents him/her from reaching this goal?)
• The character's epiphany (what will he/she learn, how will he/she change?
• A one-paragraph summary of the character's storyline

An important point: You may find that you need to go back and revise your one-sentence summary and/or your one-paragraph summary. Go ahead! This is good--it means your characters are teaching you things about your story. It's always okay at any stage of the design process to go back and revise earlier stages. In fact, it's not just okay--it's inevitable. And it's good. Any revisions you make now are revisions you won't need to make later on to a clunky 400 page manuscript.

Another important point: It doesn't have to be perfect. The purpose of each step in the design process is to advance you to the next step. Keep your forward momentum! You can always come back later and fix it when you understand the story better. You will do this too, unless you're a lot smarter than I am.