Writing on 3 Novels Each Week: Dead Man’s Party Playlist

By Holly Lisle

My new Write On Three Novels Each Week process is working out well, though it doesn’t leave me a lot of time for reporting in here.

I’ve passed the midpoint in the first draft of writing Dead Man’s Party (my How to Write a Novel class demo novel).

Finishing my hour of writing this morning, I’ve hit the two-thirds mark on building the line-for-scene outline of Moon & Sun 3: The Emerald Sun.

And I’ve written up through the second scene of Cadence Drake: The Wishbone Conspiracy, with scene three lined up for tomorrow, and scene four for Friday.

Scene progress is subject to change — some scenes take longer to write than others.

But writing and developing three novels a week has actually made it EASIER to head in to work each morning. Each book gets a rest period during which my Muse gets some necessary distance on what I wrote, and can come up with some interesting (and occasionally evil) twists.

I start in fresh on each project when its day (or days) come, excited to get back to it.

And… YEAH. I’m writing three novels, and THEN writing a writing class in which I’m using one of the three as a demo, and in which the other two are still floating in the back of my head, so that as I demonstrate how to fix problems in the lessons, I’m figuring out cool (or evil) things I can do to my characters when I get back to them.

This is a weirdly and unexpectedly synergistic process, and viewed from that little space just to the left of the corner of my brain where my Muse resides, is a bit like watching Wild Kingdom back in the day and wondering how the lions picked the zebra who was going to be lunch that day.

With Marlon Perkins narrating the process from the helicopter above.

Anyway, just for fun, I’m posting my playlist for the writing of all three of these novels. Subject to change, of course, but what I’m using now. I have it on Random right now, so I get a nice mix of groups and tones.

Playlist, three novels

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