Plotting (Part 2): Developing an Outline and Synopsis

After I've spent some time collecting ideas for a novel, my next big step is to organize them into an outline. The more novels I write, the more I learn about my writing process. I've learned that I need an outline to keep me on track. The more thinking I can do up front, the better the novel flows when I'm writing. And the easier it is to revise the novel later.

How do I make my outline? I've tried various methods, including The Snowflake method and the Nine-Step method. For my newest project, I'm following the structure I've read about in Blake Snyder's Save the Cat. Here's what I've created:

Visual Storyboard. Using a piece of cardboard and my ideas on sticky notes (or pieces of paper with sticky tack), I can see the general structure for my novel.

Summary of Plot Elements. I made a simple 3-column table in a word document with the headings: Plot Element, Example, My Story.

Plot elements are things like: Opening Image, Thematic Statement, Set Up, Catalyst, Debate, Break into Act II, etc. They're all listed on Blake Synder's beat sheet.

Example helps me remember what I'm trying to do with each plot element. The examples came from Laura Pauling's excellent plot analysis of the movie How to Train Your Dragon. If you want to learn more about plot structure, I highly recommend you read Laura's plotting posts.

My Story is for the events and ideas I'm developing. As I try to figure out how my ideas related to each plot element, I discover how I want to start and end the story, where I have missing pieces, and roughly where key events will go. I don't spell everything out. For example, I have vague sentences like: They do some wilderness stuff, finding water, building a fire, etc. This leaves me with room to discover while I'm writing. At the same time, I have enough direction so that I'll have a coherent story.

Having used several different methods for outlining, I like the "Save the Cat" method the best. Once I figured out all the plot elements, I had everything I needed to write a story synopsis.

Synopsis. This is a key part of my planning process. It gives me a sense of the whole story and motivates me to get writing! I also use it to create my one-sentence pitch and, later, my query letter. When I copy the My Story column from my table as text only, I have the bare bones of the synopsis already done. I just have to make it sound a little better.

Plotting (Part 1): The Early Stages

A while ago, one of my blog followers, Susanna Leonard Hill, asked about how I plot my novels. That’s an interesting question, because I feel like I still have a lot to learn about plotting. It’s definitely not my strength. Sometimes, I think my writing is so much better than any of my plots (except maybe for my most recent story). But I’ll share some of my thoughts on what I've learned so far.

In the early stages, once my mind has been consumed by an exciting idea, there I are few things I do to work on developing a plot:

List possible situations or events. Basically, I just brainstorm different things that could happen in the story and record them in random order. 

Write a one-sentence summary.  I find this really helps to focus my thinking on what the main problem will be in the story. I don't always stick to this summary, and often find I need to re-write after the first draft, but at least it gives me a starting point. As well as some confidence, if I think it sounds good.

Describe the characters. I don't usually do a lot of in depth thinking about my characters. I like to find out more about them as they react to things that happen in the story. But I do like to have an idea of what their role will be in the story, their strengths and weaknesses, and their relationships to other people in the story. I also really need to know their names. For some reason, that tells me something about their personalities.

Focus on the main character. I spend more time thinking about the main character than any of the others. After reading about plot from The Plot Whisperer and Save the Cat by Blake Snyder, I see how essential it is to make the main character's goal something really important to them. This needs to come through in the writing early in the story. So, I spend a lot of time thinking about what my main character wants and how to bring that out in the story.

Talk to my kids about my ideas. Since I'm always trying to write stories that my kids will want to read, I find it helpful to get their take on my great idea. Hopefully they don't say, "That's lame." If they do, they often make suggestions that turn out to be helpful in shaping the direction of the story.

What things do you do in the process of developing a plot?

Can Five Minutes a Day Lead to a Better Novel?

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to tone up my writing muscles by trying out some writing exercises. I'm sticking to my goal of making time for 5 or 10 minutes of free writing every morning.

I also decided to stop listening to the inane babble of  morning radio announcers on the drive home from taking the kids to school, which I do right before my writing time begins. I wanted to let my own thoughts fill up my mind instead. Sometimes, I even stop outside and just breathe in the fresh air, listening to the sounds around me.

I feel like these simple strategies have really helped to boost my creativity. Now when I'm free writing, I don't want to stop with the timer's bell. Even though what I've written has little to do with my current project, it seems to have helped me generate ideas. I've already come up with a couple of new scenes to stick on my storyboard.

Another exercise I'm trying is to pretend I'm one of my story characters and then just write their thoughts. I've never done this before (except in the context of writing the novel). But just playing around has already helped me to strengthen my character motivations.

If nothing else, these few minutes of thinking each day are building up my enthusiasm for writing/rewriting my story. Now, if only I could make some time and mental space to get started!

Pre-Writing Prep: How Characters Change

For the past few days, I've been getting ready to begin reworking one of my novels. A better structure for the story came to me all at once one day, and since then, it's been swirling in the back of my mind. I decided to put some of what I was thinking about on paper.

In the past, I've always felt that my characters emerge as they react to story events. But this time, I'm thinking more about what my characters want and what will make it hard for them to get it before I start writing. (I'm taking some advice from the Plot Whisperer on her YouTube plot series.) I'm also thinking about how my characters will change and what traits will help them or block them from making that change. Even though I know I'll probably be surprised by the way events in the story emerge and affect my characters, at least I'll have a starting point to guide my rewrites.

This made me think about how well I've shown my main character's wants and obstacles in my other novels. I think I'm much better at creating a strong best friend or sidekick. Maybe that's easier! This time, I'm going to focus more on the main character.

What do you need to know about your characters before you begin writing?

P.S. To go along with my new project, I decided to change the look of my blog to create some positive energy for my writing mind space.