I'm going to have each book have three acts, with Fall, Winter, and Spring being the main focuses. Summer will happen off-page, so it can be referred to, but not focused on. (We can change this later if we need to but I can't think of any summer-specific plot points that I want to have happen right now.)
- Book 1
- Fall
- Flashback -- Egypt
- Nakia's murder.
- Nakia's first game with The King.
- Flashback -- Afterlife
- Waking up in the Afterlife.
- Friendship
- "Sunny" meets Thai, Candy, and China.
- They invite her to lunch. Nobody eats.
- Prince Machiavelli takes to Nakia (probably because she's made of bones).
- Halloween party at Nakia's house (Thai's idea.)
- Candy gives Nakia a makeover.
- Kim & Jacki
- Nakia assigns Kim to investigate Jacki to get dirt on her.
- Jacki does break rules, but only to help kids. Synopsis of Jacki's personal and professional life.
- Dating prospects.
- Jacki's interim foster kid.
- Constant parade of rescue animals handed off at cookouts.
- Jacki's Pinto.
- One of Jackie's kids needs a fridge and Nakia tells Kim to buy the kid a fridge.
- School
- Nakia lectures a teacher.
- Beach bonfire (a bit triggering).
- Staff
- Bedroom is for a child. Personal interior decorator is embarrassed.
- Car breaks down.
- Cook is offended.
- Winter
- Flashback -- Egypt
- Ahmose's discovers Nakia's midnight senet game with The King.
- Friendship
- Nakia discovers each girls' secret:
- Thai's aunt's Samoyed business.
- Candy's boyfriend.
- China's soup kitchen.
- Skiing at Big Bear.
- Kim & Jacki
- Kim bought the kid a fridge but the kid was accused of stealing. Jacki handled it.
- Interim kid is gone, Jacki has a new pet.
- School
- Nakia excells at math and science. Tests into Calculus and Physics.
- Gets into heated debate with History teacher.
- Winter Formal Dance -- Nakia's first date.
- Staff
- Iz is also insomniac.
- Aryn is golf fanatic, "Sunny" has a great arm (or whatever).
- Boris has a pacemaker.
- Spring
- Flashbacks Egypt
- Nakia realizes that Ahmose isn't her sister.
- Friendships
- Discovering Ophelia!
- Twins' birthday party. (Jan 8th)
- Kim & Jacki
- Jackie and Sunny finally meet.
- School
- Gives class presentation in History class.
- School play (Meda's Lark).
- Staff
- Katie and Walter are dating.
- Ronan finds a bracelet lost during the Halloween party by a guest. Turns it into Kim.
- Sadie takes pH VERY seriously.
- Book 2
- Fall
- Flashback -- Egypt
- Summer nights on village roofs.
- Flashback -- Afterlife
- The King starts going off on his own.
- Flashback -- Atlantis
- Nakia follows The King to Atlantis but just misses him.
- Foreshadowing of eruption.
- Nakia makes a friend.
- Friendship
- Nakia gets to know Ophelia and the three girls start visiting together once a week to play senet (Nakia's version).
- Joins Track team with Candy.
- Wins a race easily.
- Candy is jealous.
- Prince Machiavelli hides from Thai when it's time to leave Nakia's house.
- Kim & Jacki
- Jacki has a case that involves a classmate of the girls.
- Her name is Blythe Holloway.
- She's on the track team.
- Her parents leave her alone for weeks and months and forget to pay the utilities and stock the fridge before they go.
- Her old boyfriend is trying to pull her into a life of crime.
- The Pinto is acting up.
- School
- Nakia resolves not to get into arguments with her history teachers -- immediately breaks that resolution.
- Quits Track team.
- Candy is angry because it lets the team down.
- This causes Nakia to spiral because she could never do anything right with Ahmose either.
- Staff
- Victor is self-conscious about baby weight (trans).
- City doesn't like dogs.
- Iz gets food poisoning.
- Winter
- Flashback -- Egypt
- Ahmose brings Nakia to the palace.
- Showers her with gifts.
- Nakia is homesick, which makes Ahmose angry.
- Ahmose withholds affection.
- Flashback -- Afterlife
- The King disappears for real.
- Nakia is pulled back into the tomb (body horror).
- Flashback -- Atlantis
- Nakia loves Atlantis.
- Has a friend.
- Is learning about Geology and Astrology and clockwork and steam.
- Thinks about staying.
- More rumblings.
- Nakia confides in her friend about being a mummy.
- Friend asks priest to help Nakia.
- Friendship
- Prince Machiavelli adopts Nakia officially.
- Thai says she's not jealous but Nakia doesn't trust it.
- Excuses herself from senet for a couple of weeks.
- Kim & Jacki
- Nakia excuses herself from weekly Jacki and staff reports.
- School
- Nakia stops participating in class and extracurricular social events.
- Staff
- Nakia avoids her staff.
- Spring
- Flashback -- Egypt
- Ahmose whips Nakia.
- Flashback -- Afterlife
- "Risk" with The King.
- Flashback -- Atlantis
- Priest suggests Nakia as sacrifice.
- Nakia is tossed into volcano. It erupts anyway (if you can believe it).
- After the eruption, Nakia sulks in the ocean.
- Reflects on how disappointing humanity is.
- Realizes that The King has been avoiding her on purpose.
- Rises from the ruins to find her bones have been opalized.
- Renews her determination to find The King.
- Friendship
- Candy apologizes.
- Thai reiterates that she's not mad about Prince Machiavelli and that she doesn't intend to adopt any more Samoyeds.
- Ophelia comes up with her own version of Semet.
- Kim & Jacki
- Nakia tells Kim to back off on surveillance of Jacki.
- But gets the update, first.
- Blythe ran away with her older boyfriend.
- School
- Starts participating again, just a tiny argument with History teacher.
- Goes to support Candy's track meet.
- Blythe faints while running, dehydrated.
- Is supported by her friends.
- Staff
- Peggy is done decorating the house.
- Katie & Walter break up. Walter quits.
- Victor's dysphoria is better.
- Reckoning With The King
- The King reveals why he's been avoiding Nakia.
- Tells Nakia about lush.
- Shoos her off to live her life.
- Nakia can practice shaping her lush body over the summer.
- Book 3:
- Fall
- Flashback -- Egypt
- Ahmose forces Nakia to write a letter to her parents saying that she doesn't love them and never wants to see them again because she's so happy at the palace.
- The King gives Nakia a solid gold senet piece that he turned into a pendant.
- Flashback -- Afterlife
- More "Risk" with The King.
- Flashback -- Havenford
- Nakia tracks The King to Havenford, but the trail is cold.
- She saves a local girl's life.
- New mayor in town weaponizing superstition.
- Friendship
- Ophelia designs a beautiful 3D printed Senet board, asks Nakia if it would be okay to sell the designs.
- Candy talks China into going to UCLA instead of FIDM.
- Thai is vigorously planning her wedding (June 24th).
- Kim & Jacki
- Kim is retired from running Nakia's aliases.
- She is also not really needed for staff stuff either.
- She's able to fly home in between visits from Jacki.
- She isn't technically still supposed to be tracking Jacki, but she does update Nakia on Blythe.
- Jacki found her and brought her back.
- School
- School counselor talks to "Sunny" about college.
- Nakia's new History teacher is not as patient as her last two.
- Staff
- City quits, is not replaced.
- Ronan and Sadie get married.
- Iz is diagnosed with diabetes.
- Winter
- Flashback -- Egypt
- The King Dies
- Nakia is devastated, Ahmose is pissed.
- Flashback -- Afterlife
- More "Risk" with The King.
- Flashback -- Havenford
- Escalation of superstition, shunning.
- Nakia's friend group tries to sabotage the mayor.
- Friendship
- China's boyfriend comes out as gay.
- She liked being his beard.
- Candy looks for a condo building for the girls to all live in (all their own condos, of course).
- Ophelia is mentally preparing to be left behind.
- Thai calls off her wedding but remains engaged.
- Kim & Jacki
- Kim makes a cameo for visit with Jacki.
- School
- Nakia finds out that The King's tomb was discovered, along with several of his dynasty in History class. Refrains from getting into argument with teacher.
- Attends another of Blythe's art exhibits with China.
- China falls in love with Blythe's painting. (It's a still life of a cracked china cup with blood leaking out of it.) The tiered tray of tiny cakes is exquisite.
- Offers to buy it.
- Staff
- Iz is pregnant and everything tastes like pickles to her, so nothing she cooks comes out right.
- Now that Nakia eats, this is a problem. Iz starts to teach Nakia how to cook.
- Boris has to go in for a pacemaker check-up.
- Nathan gets stung by a bee.
- Spring
- Flashback -- Egypt
- Tomb discovered. The only remnant of her legacy is a pendant that The King gave to Nakia.
- Nakia thinks of stealing the pendant back, but doesn't want it.
- (The King will give it to Aura to return to Nakia in Beware the False Moon.)
- Flashback -- Afterlife
- One last game of Senet.
- Flashback -- Havenford
- Burned at the stake.
- Friendship
- Thai gets really close to her wedding date but calls it off.
- Kim & Jacki
- Blythe turns 18 but Jacki is still helping her.
- She asks Nakia to hire Blythe as a maid.
- Nakia would, but Prince Machiavelli takes to Blythe, so Nakia hires Blythe as her dog sitter.
- School
- Grad Night
- Graduation
- Staff
- Iz goes on pregnancy leave and everyone takes turns making their best dishes so that Iz doesn't need to be replaced.
- Nakia tries cheesecake for the first time (the name had put her off).
- Vows to wife it up.
OMG!!! I did it!!! I've never actually written an outline for a book that I was actually happy with. I usually give up halfway through (if I'm feeling super persistent). I almost gave up on this one so many times, but I really need an idea of the events of the story so that I can write with purpose. I was watching a thing with Dean Koontz this morning and he said he stopped writing an outline because his publisher would get mad when he didn't stick to it. I can't really take that as advice because by the time he stopped writing an outline, he probably had a pretty good sense of structure. I'm still figuring it out.
Now, all I have to do is write the chapter-by-chapter version. I think if I do that for Fall of Sophomore year, then I'll be able to figure out if I want to expand the trilogy to make each book one season instead of one year. There are just so many things that I want to include that I didn't even capture in the outline because I was trying to stick with big picture stuff, but if I write it densely enough, I might be able to fit it all in one book. We'll see.
Anyway, I'm just going to sit here and be pleased with myself for a minute, and then I'm going to bed. I think tomorrow I'm going to work on a chapter-by-chapter outline for the first book. I know this blog is more for planning but I did accidentally write a scene about a week ago and that felt amazing.
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