Today is my stop on the blog tour for Gustavo Florentin's novel
The Schwarzschild Radius.
Please enjoy the Guest Post he has graciously provided and enter the
giveaway to win a copy of the book!
By: Gustavo Florentin
About the Book:
Rachel, an 18-year-old Columbia University student descends into the netherworld of runaways and predators to find her sister, Olivia, who has suddenly disappeared. After getting a job in a strip joint where Olivia worked, then doing private shows in the homes of rich clients, Rachel discovers that Olivia has been abducted by a killer who auctions the deaths of young girls in an eBay of agony. As she closes in on the killer who has taken Olivia, Rachel becomes his next target.
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To Outline or Not to
Outline
Gustavo Florentin
I attend writer’s conferences and
this is one of the most common questions put to best-selling
authors—and the answers may surprise you. I am an electrical
engineer by training. It would never occur to me to build a circuit
or a device without a circuit diagram and blue prints. So when I
started writing my first novel, it was natural for me to outline. The
outline is the architectural plan of the book. When completed, it
reveals flaws, holes in the plot, and allows correction at an early
stage of the writing process before hundreds of pages and hours have
been committed.
When asked this question, some writers
say they use a five-page outline, others develop a 150-page
proto-book detailing every scene. But some will tell you that they
don’t outline at all. That they want to be as surprised as the
audience when they get to a plot twist. They would be bored writing
off of a template where they already know what is going to happen
next. God bless them, but I don’t advise it. Also, I can tell when
an author is pretty much winging it. Coincidence crops up,
implausibility abounds—all hallmarks of a writer who has not given
long and careful thought to his story.
Surprising yourself does not imply
surprising the reader any more than crying while singing a love song
elicits emotion in the listener. Surprise in drama is very deliberate
and premeditative and rarely the result of spontaneity. So unless you
are a literary Mozart and can improvise brilliantly, I would suggest
using an outline. Start with the pitch, the essence of the story,
then write a one-page synopsis. Then an outline which may simply
consist of a list of scenes without development. Keep in mind that
for today’s thrillers, the chapters are much shorter than they were
when The Godfather was written. Now you need six to ten-page chapters
and the outline can assist greatly in establishing that rhythm. You
can see how evenly distributed your plot twists and cliff hangers are
and make adjustments so that all the tension is not concentrated in
one section of the book while the rest of the manuscript is a snooze.
Did Michelangelo paint the Sistine
Ceiling without drawings? Did Da Vinci paint the Madonna without
sketching Her first? If an outline was good enough for those guys,
it’s good enough for you.
About the Author
Gustavo Florentin was born in Queens, New York and received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the Polytechnic University of New York. He spent a decade in the defense industry working on the F-14 fighter jet and classified electronics projects. After the fall of the Soviet Union, many thought America wouldn't need weapons anymore, so while others waited for the peace dividend, he moved on to the financial sector in New York where he is currently a network engineer. His passions include violin, travel to exotic places and exploring worldwide conspiracies. He lives in New Jersey where he is working on his third novel. His thriller, In the Talons of the Condor, won the following awards: WUACADEMIA--Prix d'Or Best Novel
The Verb First Chapter Contest--First Prize
Mount Arrowsmith Best Novel 4th place
The Writing Show--Second Prize best first chapter of a novel.
Second Prize--16th Annual International Latino Book Awards
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