For my inaugural guest post, I thought I’d give you some insight into my novel planning process. I started my authorial journey wide-eyed and wet behind the ears, determined to write an epic fantasy. Fortunately, I belong to an active critique group, and we had a mentor in our resident writer. From our mentor, we learned a robust plan is essential to crafting a novel. My personal process is based on what I learned in those formative years. It works great, at least for me, and has allowed me to finish a rough draft of my current WIP in less than six months. That’s from no plan or written scene to a rough draft. I think that’s pretty good for a bloke who still slaves away at the 9 to 5 and has a family.
Below you’ll see a
breakdown of my planning process. I’ll illuminate each facet of the plan.
Concept: a high-level
overview of the entire story that focuses on the conflict.
Scene outline: lists
out each scene with a focus on the conflict.
Scene summary: add
details to the scenes–characters involved, setting, time of day, breakdown of
the action.
Chapter outline:
step-by-step outline of what happens in a chapter (I write this for a chapter
just before drafting it).
First, let’s dive into
the concept. The goal is to boil the entire novel down to a one-page document
that focuses on the protagonist, antagonist, and conflict. I often can’t do
this right away. Instead, I create an outline that might span twenty pages or
more. While I’m doing this, I’ll start creating the character list and
character sketches, think bios. Once I have a solid idea of how the story will
unfold, I’ll take the outline and condense it into a one-page concept. I think
it’s worthwhile to always create a one-page concept because it forces the writer
to focus on the essential characters and critical plot points.
The scene outline is
derived from the concept, an expansion of it, so to speak. I literally number
each scene. While creating the outline, I concentrate on capturing the primary
conflict for each scene and which character will serve as the narrative voice.
While working on my forthcoming novel Solarflame, I found it useful to
do separate scene outlines for each of my major characters. Then I wove the
outlines together to make a coherent whole. Again, at this point, I’m still
working on the character list and character sketches. You can think of the
process as iterative – new character sketches are created while existing
sketches are refined.
With the first cut of
the scene outline complete, I’ll typically begin fine tuning it by adding and
removing scenes. Also, I’ll make a record of any ideas I have for scenes.
Sometimes this includes creating scene specific outlines. Basically, I’m trying
to note all the great ideas I have while weeding out the chaff.
Once I’m happy with the
scene outline, I start working on the scene summary. You can think of it as the
frosting on the cake. I’ll take into account details like time of day, weather,
all the characters involved, and anything else I can think of that is pertinent
to the scene. After this document is completed, all the scenes are pretty well
fleshed out, as are the character list and character sketches.
Now, I’m finally ready
to work on the rough draft. I expand the scene summary, or in some cases,
multiple scene summaries into a chapter outline for each chapter as I go. Once
a chapter outline is complete, writing the actual chapter goes quickly. In
short order, I have a completed rough draft.
The nice part about this technique is that it
gives your story a scaffolding to hang on right out the chute. If done
conscientiously, you’ll find your rough draft has very few, if any, plot holes
to plug. For me, this allows for concentrating on wordsmithing and
characterization during the editing process. I know this much planning isn’t
for everyone, some people like writing to be more freeform. But if you’re
having trouble knocking out a coherent novel, try this process or something
similar. You might be happy that you did.
Author Bio:
While not entertaining a pair of young lads or pulling the 9 to
5, Dan writes fiction, mostly speculative. His debut fantasy novel Solarflame
will be released in 2021. To read his thoughts on writing and view his complete
bibliography, please visit https://danscifi.com.
Howdy,
For my inaugural guest post, I thought I’d give you some insight into my novel planning process. I started my authorial journey wide-eyed and wet behind the ears, determined to write an epic fantasy. Fortunately, I belong to an active critique group, and we had a mentor in our resident writer. From our mentor, we learned a robust plan is essential to crafting a novel. My personal process is based on what I learned in those formative years. It works great, at least for me, and has allowed me to finish a rough draft of my current WIP in less than six months. That’s from no plan or written scene to a rough draft. I think that’s pretty good for a bloke who still slaves away at the 9 to 5 and has a family.
Below you’ll see a
breakdown of my planning process. I’ll illuminate each facet of the plan.
Concept: a high-level
overview of the entire story that focuses on the conflict.
Scene outline: lists
out each scene with a focus on the conflict.
Scene summary: add
details to the scenes–characters involved, setting, time of day, breakdown of
the action.
Chapter outline:
step-by-step outline of what happens in a chapter (I write this for a chapter
just before drafting it).
First, let’s dive into
the concept. The goal is to boil the entire novel down to a one-page document
that focuses on the protagonist, antagonist, and conflict. I often can’t do
this right away. Instead, I create an outline that might span twenty pages or
more. While I’m doing this, I’ll start creating the character list and
character sketches, think bios. Once I have a solid idea of how the story will
unfold, I’ll take the outline and condense it into a one-page concept. I think
it’s worthwhile to always create a one-page concept because it forces the writer
to focus on the essential characters and critical plot points.
The scene outline is
derived from the concept, an expansion of it, so to speak. I literally number
each scene. While creating the outline, I concentrate on capturing the primary
conflict for each scene and which character will serve as the narrative voice.
While working on my forthcoming novel Solarflame, I found it useful to
do separate scene outlines for each of my major characters. Then I wove the
outlines together to make a coherent whole. Again, at this point, I’m still
working on the character list and character sketches. You can think of the
process as iterative – new character sketches are created while existing
sketches are refined.
With the first cut of
the scene outline complete, I’ll typically begin fine tuning it by adding and
removing scenes. Also, I’ll make a record of any ideas I have for scenes.
Sometimes this includes creating scene specific outlines. Basically, I’m trying
to note all the great ideas I have while weeding out the chaff.
Once I’m happy with the
scene outline, I start working on the scene summary. You can think of it as the
frosting on the cake. I’ll take into account details like time of day, weather,
all the characters involved, and anything else I can think of that is pertinent
to the scene. After this document is completed, all the scenes are pretty well
fleshed out, as are the character list and character sketches.
Now, I’m finally ready
to work on the rough draft. I expand the scene summary, or in some cases,
multiple scene summaries into a chapter outline for each chapter as I go. Once
a chapter outline is complete, writing the actual chapter goes quickly. In
short order, I have a completed rough draft.
The nice part about this technique is that it
gives your story a scaffolding to hang on right out the chute. If done
conscientiously, you’ll find your rough draft has very few, if any, plot holes
to plug. For me, this allows for concentrating on wordsmithing and
characterization during the editing process. I know this much planning isn’t
for everyone, some people like writing to be more freeform. But if you’re
having trouble knocking out a coherent novel, try this process or something
similar. You might be happy that you did.
Author Bio:
While not entertaining a pair of young lads or pulling the 9 to
5, Dan writes fiction, mostly speculative. His debut fantasy novel Solarflame
will be released in 2021. To read his thoughts on writing and view his complete
bibliography, please visit https://danscifi.com.
For my inaugural guest post, I thought I’d give you some insight into my novel planning process. I started my authorial journey wide-eyed and wet behind the ears, determined to write an epic fantasy. Fortunately, I belong to an active critique group, and we had a mentor in our resident writer. From our mentor, we learned a robust plan is essential to crafting a novel. My personal process is based on what I learned in those formative years. It works great, at least for me, and has allowed me to finish a rough draft of my current WIP in less than six months. That’s from no plan or written scene to a rough draft. I think that’s pretty good for a bloke who still slaves away at the 9 to 5 and has a family.
Below you’ll see a
breakdown of my planning process. I’ll illuminate each facet of the plan.
Concept: a high-level
overview of the entire story that focuses on the conflict.
Scene outline: lists
out each scene with a focus on the conflict.
Scene summary: add
details to the scenes–characters involved, setting, time of day, breakdown of
the action.
Chapter outline:
step-by-step outline of what happens in a chapter (I write this for a chapter
just before drafting it).
First, let’s dive into
the concept. The goal is to boil the entire novel down to a one-page document
that focuses on the protagonist, antagonist, and conflict. I often can’t do
this right away. Instead, I create an outline that might span twenty pages or
more. While I’m doing this, I’ll start creating the character list and
character sketches, think bios. Once I have a solid idea of how the story will
unfold, I’ll take the outline and condense it into a one-page concept. I think
it’s worthwhile to always create a one-page concept because it forces the writer
to focus on the essential characters and critical plot points.
The scene outline is
derived from the concept, an expansion of it, so to speak. I literally number
each scene. While creating the outline, I concentrate on capturing the primary
conflict for each scene and which character will serve as the narrative voice.
While working on my forthcoming novel Solarflame, I found it useful to
do separate scene outlines for each of my major characters. Then I wove the
outlines together to make a coherent whole. Again, at this point, I’m still
working on the character list and character sketches. You can think of the
process as iterative – new character sketches are created while existing
sketches are refined.
With the first cut of
the scene outline complete, I’ll typically begin fine tuning it by adding and
removing scenes. Also, I’ll make a record of any ideas I have for scenes.
Sometimes this includes creating scene specific outlines. Basically, I’m trying
to note all the great ideas I have while weeding out the chaff.
Once I’m happy with the
scene outline, I start working on the scene summary. You can think of it as the
frosting on the cake. I’ll take into account details like time of day, weather,
all the characters involved, and anything else I can think of that is pertinent
to the scene. After this document is completed, all the scenes are pretty well
fleshed out, as are the character list and character sketches.
Now, I’m finally ready
to work on the rough draft. I expand the scene summary, or in some cases,
multiple scene summaries into a chapter outline for each chapter as I go. Once
a chapter outline is complete, writing the actual chapter goes quickly. In
short order, I have a completed rough draft.
The nice part about this technique is that it
gives your story a scaffolding to hang on right out the chute. If done
conscientiously, you’ll find your rough draft has very few, if any, plot holes
to plug. For me, this allows for concentrating on wordsmithing and
characterization during the editing process. I know this much planning isn’t
for everyone, some people like writing to be more freeform. But if you’re
having trouble knocking out a coherent novel, try this process or something
similar. You might be happy that you did.
Author Bio:
While not entertaining a pair of young lads or pulling the 9 to
5, Dan writes fiction, mostly speculative. His debut fantasy novel Solarflame
will be released in 2021. To read his thoughts on writing and view his complete
bibliography, please visit https://danscifi.com.
