Planning a Novel: A Guide
Alright–partially by popular demand, partially for the sake of resource, I’ve decided to do a guide on how I’ve recently been planning my projects. Keep in mind, I’ve only been writing seriously for about four years, so this method may not be as organized or streamlined as a professional. Professional is what I aim to be eventually, and my goal has always been to create a timely and efficient work ethic. To be honest, I’ve changed my approach to books millions of times over the past few years. What you see here is the product of that time spent. Hopefully it will help you. Every writer has their own methods. Maybe you’ll only find bits of this helpful. That’s perfectly fine. After all, your work is ultimately your own.
Step One: Inspiration. Obviously, the most important part of any book is having some kind of inspiration. Over the years, I’ve always thought it was more prudent to get the idea, then outline like mad, then write. It honestly works for some writers, but in so far, it’s pretty much lead to a vicious cycle of over-planning, over-analysis, and so on. Sometimes, you might get to writing and discover the idea is like one of those jokes that just “sounded better in your head.” If you get that after three, four months planning, chances are you’ll feel really discouraged (I know I have, when I’ve done it.)
So you get the idea–probably in some random place. Hopefully, you’ll be smart and have a pen of some kind on you, or at least a really good memory so you can write it down. The way it usually works with me is some sort of question or image that enters my head. With Train 67, for example, I was literally on the real Amtrak train 67 on the night before Christmas Eve coming back from an emotionally charged experience in Rhode Island. The pure silence of the train was such a stark contrast to what I had dealt with over the past few days, I began to think, “Well, wouldn’t this be an amazing setting to just sit and contemplate?” And it basically went from there. Ultimately, Train 67 told the story of Dario and how the long ride home on the train gets him to change his mind about running away from his past. Sometimes, the inspiration will hit you harder–maybe an opening line, or an image. Whatever it is, it’ll make you interested and that’s the point. At the beginning, you are the only person you have to interest, because until your selling your work, no one is going to care what the hell you write.
If your inspiration was an opening line, your in luck and you can skip the next part of this blathering. If not, I suggest you sit down and develop the idea. Usually opening line inspirations are telling of tense, point of view (POV) and the character. If not, those are some things to figure out. So, sit down, think about it, or maybe free write (journal style or bullets–I do both). Develop whatever feels appropriate about the idea. Don’t dwell too much on this. You really just want to get to a point where you can pen an opening sentence. Once you have that, you’re set.
Step Two: Writing. Once you have that opening sentence, set aside some time, usually an hour to an hour and a half (I usually need a clear day when I try this, but I’m also obsessed and crazy and ideas tend to make me sick) to write. Take that opening sentence and go wherever your inspiration takes you. Sometimes, it will take you in a completely different direction than what you were anticipating. Sometimes, it may actually go as you planned. Either way, by the end of this session, you’ll probably know whether or not the story is worth continuing. Again–this depends on the person. Some people will spend an hour on one paragraph (I’ve been known to do this) and say, “oh, fuck this–this is horrible,” and give up. Some people will stick to it until they have a full chapter. Whatever you go through, your goal is to start and build momentum.
A first day of writing is much like telling a joke you invented yourself. If its a good joke, you might find yourself laughing at it. If it’s not, you’re more liable to feel, “well hey, that sounded a lot better in my head” in which case you can either consider reworking your idea, or ditching it. Be quick to identify modesty. I’ve had times where I’ve thought something absolutely sucked and wound up loving it weeks/months down the line.
So, go on, if it’s worth it.
Keep at it for a while, using this initial momentum to keep your project rolling. Sometimes, you’ll get a lot of inspiration for more during this time. This is the part where you go into MSWord, Notepad, or whatever from of writing you use and begin keeping notes. I usually do bullets per idea with no particular emphasis on structure. I name these “DUMP NOTES.” Keep these close.
Write until you reach a point where you begin to feel stretched. Either you’ll begin to feel unsure about what you’ve written–like if you go on, it’ll require way too much editing to make the project worth it, or that you’re not sure where your going, or you don’t know your characters, or something. This is where you stop.
Step Three: Planning and Tedium. What comes next can easily be the hardest, most tedious part of the project. If you’ve been vigilant with your DUMP NOTES, you’ll probably have a lot of material. If you don’t, that’s okay.
So, what are DUMP NOTES? Dump notes is effectively a notebook tool. Random, unstructured jottings related to your project. Usually, I try to keep these separate from my other work, in a document dedicated to whatever I’m working on. This isn’t mandetory. Sometimes having multiple project’s notes jumbled can create new and fun ideas. But for one-project work, it’s usually best to try to keep it simple.
What makes this so hard is you might have inclinations to keep going. You may have reached this point hating what you’ve written, but somehow have ideas that you wish to work in. This will give you a chance to cultivate those ideas, and hopefully, work them into the project before you continue. Most writers will tell you to finish a draft before you edit. I find, especially being young, that such things really can erode on your moral, especially if you’ve never written a book before. So its good you reach this stopping point to take some time and give your baby some nutrition and strengthening.
As your DUMP NOTES begin to develop and you begin to see trends–like for instance, talking about Maria’s character traits, you can begin to copy and paste these into a new document called MASTER NOTES. So, say you have a lot of notes spread out in your DUMP NOTES about Maria’s character. Go into your MASTER NOTES, create a section called “Maria’s Story (date this, too)” and copy and paste all the things from your DUMP NOTES here. This way, you have everything together. It’s good to name these sections so you can make a table of contents at the top of the document. If you stay vigilant with this, you can keep your DUMP NOTES organized as you begin to see themes emerge rather than having to randomly edit as you go.
Another thing DUMP NOTES are good for are testing our rough step outlines. You can build these over time in your DUMP NOTES while simultaneously developing other concepts, characters and what not. You don’t necessarily have to put step outlines into your MASTER NOTES. In fact, I recommend you keep those separate.
I usually work with these plans for a while until I reach a point where I actually begin having ideas for scenes. Once again, you’re going to create another document and call it EXTENDED OUTLINE. Here, you begin filling in scenes for your story. It’s critical to add the ones you’ve written already first so you get a sense of flow. Then, you can begin going in and filling in other areas of the story. The great thing about this is you can fill this in as you go. Once you feel you have a solid enough plot, you can go ahead and write again.
If you complete this step, then the most tedious part of the book is over. The rest is up to adaptation and creativity.
Step Four: Finishing a Draft. Before you write, go back and make any changes to your draft that you made during your planning phase. After that, begin to move forward in your EXTENDED OUTLINE, being sure to keep your DUMPS and MASTER NOTES updated, and using what you can to fill in ideas for scenes to keep ahead of yourself. Sometimes, you may not even need to do this, and the momentum from the story will keep you going until the end. If you decide to do this, you get the chance to expand or change your outline before you reach that part in the book.
Adaptation is key for keeping an outline. There are times where writers will use an outline, swear by it, and never apply it. That’s fine. Not all writers need that kind of plan. The function of the outline is something for a writer to “go off of,” a flat surface to lay the bones of the work flat. Its good to at least experiment with it for efficiencies’ sake.
Keep this up until the end and you’ll effectively have yourself a book!
Step Five: Editing. I’m a firm believer in not showing anybody your work until you have something to show–and that would be a completed draft that you are satisfied with. Sometimes, you have a really close friend or fellow writer you share your stuff with. I do this all the time… in which case, it’s fine. But I’d avoid showing it to anyone important until you have your book to a point where you feel it’s the best it can be.
That concludes my guide. As I mentioned in the beginning, these are only my methods for writing. They don’t represent canon, or any sort of set method. I set this down in hopes this will help someone and if it does–great! Whatever happens, good luck, and keep writing!