My plotting process

Today I thought I would share with you my process to writing a book.  This came about thanks to my last blog post, when I talked about how I'm an extensive planner.  It also came about because the only other thing I want to remotely talk about is basically me complaining, and I figure you all have heard enough of that.  So, planning it is.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm sure.  I actually spend longer planning a novel than I do on the writing.    During nano especially.  I will plan a novel for an entire month, then write it in ten days.

My planning process is when I get to know my characters.  When I figure out the story.  When I discover all of those things that some authors don't discover until they're well into their novel.

First I start with some brainstorming.  This may seem like an obvious step to you, but it's really not.  In fact, when I was in high school I can actually remember losing marks because I refused to do any of the brainstorming.  I thought it was dumb.  My ideas just came to me as a wrote, and there was nothing wrong with that.  Now I love brainstorming.  I find out so much stuff just by writing down whatever I might be currently thinking about in regards to that novel.  Thoughts occur to me just as I'm writing random things down.  I brainstorm a good 40% of the month that I tend to spend on planning.  That's because brainstorming is a great time to get to know the characters a little better, find out some back story.  It's also a great time to rough out a quick sketch of what the plot might actually look like.  For anyone who hasn't planned before but wants to start, if you do nothing else, brainstorm.  It will get you so much further than you thought possible.

Also during the brainstorming process is when I do any research that needs to be done.  On the novel I'm currently working on, that took me to all sorts of places.  Curling and how to play it (which came about largely to me being distracted by a curling game, even though I've never cared about it before.  Then a tiny voice in the back of my head piped in that she loved it...thanks Jayne...) Also I did some research on werewolf lore.  Not that I really stuck to any of it.  When it comes to supernatural elements, I tend to take some creative liberties.  I picked the things I liked from everything I read and stuck it in.  I may have also done research on other kinds of supernatural beings, even though none of that comes into play in the first book.

Sometime near the end of the brainstorming (usually when I've come to a point where I'm starting to feel like I need to name some of these characters that are starting to pile up, or even just keep track of them a little bit) I start a cast list.  This doesn't necessarily mean these are my 'main characters'.  In fact, I generally have far more background characters than anything else.  On my current cast list, in fact, more than half are characters that are: 1) Already dead, but I needed to know their names.  2) Don't appear until book 2 or 3. 3) Were in somebody's past and may eventually resurface, but for now all that matters is the role they played before.  I pretty much write down every character who has the potential of even being mentioned in the book.  I find it easier to keep track of them that way.

Next come the character bibles.  Although I do love the character bibles because of the insight they bring me into the character, sometimes I find it hard to get through this step.  I find reasons to not do some, and I end up doing far less than I probably should.  Character bibles, though, are very helpful in things like giving my characters an appearance, and keeping it consistent throughout the entire novel.  Also it helps to clearly plan out the motivations of my characters, so that when I get to creating an actual plot, they're not acting completely different than they should be.  I usually print these off and keep them in a folder with any maps or floor plans I've created (with help from the amazingly talented Eric Satchwill).  I generally end up referring back to this folder many times in the writing process, so once I actually get through them, I never regret it.

Finally come the time for me to write my plot.  I use the writing software Scrivener, and I adore it.  Using that program I'm able to set up a different folder for each chapter, and even add multiple scenes to each folder.  (When I'm done writing I can then compile the project, and it all shows up within one document...it's pretty fantastic).  While Scrivener can also help you with all of you planning, including the brainstorming, I've only ever used it for the plot portion.  Still, I love that I can go into the each chapter and write what each scene is about.  I never write huge amounts because, let's face it, the story is probably going to change somewhat before I get there.  But I do write something in every single scene before I start the novel itself.

Well, there you have it.  After all of that a month has generally gone by, and I'm getting ready to actually write the novel.  I have a good idea of what's going on, and I'm not worried that I'm going to get halfway through and have to make some story changing decision that isn't going to go over well.  (I may also be massively indecisive...)

Now, I'm not saying that everyone should plan the exact same way as me.  Everyone plans differently, I totally get that.  I'm not even saying that everyone should plan their novel.  I totally get that everyone approaches their books differently.  This is just what I need to do in order to feel comfortable and familiar enough with the story and characters in order to write the novel.  Like I said before, if you take anything from this, I'm hoping it's the brainstorming section.  I sincerely believe that brainstorming can improve your story more than you would think possible.

Lucky 7

Breanna Puttroff Was kind enough to tag me in an interesting game entitled 'Lucky 7'.  I'm entirely willing to play this game as it gives me a semi valid reason to procrastinate.  (This is networking, right?? ^.~)

Anyway, here are the rules:

1. Go to page 7 or 77 in your current manuscript
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next seven lines (sentences??) as they are – no cheating
4. Tag 7 other authors

My current manuscript is a YA dystopian entitled The Commons.  (I'm also currently writing a novel, but I really don't trust what I wrote over the weekend to post it here.)

Anyway, this novel revolves around a world that lost more than 3/4 of the world's population in a devastating war.  Those that were left separated into two societies.  The Commons, a technologically regressed society who views anyone who uses technology as a 'witch' who deserves to be burned at the stake, and The Techs, a peaceful society who swore off violence in general while still doing their best to advance technology.

Of course these two societies don't get along.  For years the Commons have hunted the Techs, who refuse to fight back.  But now a Tech, Arisa, has been caught, and Loroen, a young Common just placed in the career path that has been chosen for her, must decide her fate.

Here are the 7 lines:

The other neighbourhoods did not all look the same. Each of them had been designed with a specific colour in mind. Mykle lived only a few streets away in the neighbourhood reserved for Guardians.

“I’m quite sure about this. Loroen, two years ago they asked you to stand up and give a speech, to inspire others to keep their record as clean as yours. You stuttered through the entire thing, and had to stop halfway through to catch your breath because you tried to say it all in one.”

Again she felt her cheeks heating as she remembered that day.

 So, there you have it.  Out of context, it makes absolutely no sense, but one day the book is going to be published, and all of you who read this are going to suddenly have that 'aha' moment, when you figure out what they were talking about.

Thanks Breanna for giving me a way to avoid writing, even if it was only for a half an hour.  Hoping to see some of the authors I tag joining in the fun!

1) Eric Satchwill
2) L.S. Taylor
3) B.A. Matthews
4) S.E.
5) Monica-Marie
6) Digitalinkwell
7) Kai Kiriyama

A Fresh Start

Well, the race is on.  Again.  It's time for me to start writing a novel.  One that I've told myself I'll try and get out in the same amount of time it took me to write a novel during November.  In case you're wondering, that means that I need to write this novel in only ten days.  I'm not entirely sure I can actually do it, but that's got more to do with the fact that I'm not putting my life on hold for this book like I do in November.  I have plans with friends, I haven't stopped going to critique group, and I don't know if I'll even have time to write ten thousand words a day.

But now that I've decided to do it, and even promised the character that it would be done by April, I can't back out.  First of all, if I did, I would end up with a character yelling at me and not giving me any rest until  I actually wrote it.  Second, I would be disappointed because I wouldn't have that novel I need to submit to my critique group so I can get my current novel ready for beta readers then for submission.

The worst part is that I have everything planned out.  And when I say everything, trust me, I mean EVERYTHING.  I have character bibles for each of my main to more important background characters.  Each bible consists not only of what they look like, but also their personality, their goals in the book, the motivations, what makes obtaining their goals difficult, any growth they have in the book, what their role is and any back history I've come up with for them.  (In case you're wondering, these characters have some of the strongest and most details character histories that I've ever written...)  I have pages and pages of brainstorming, as well as two pages devoted entirely to a cast list, naming every character that could possibly come up in the book.  And, finally, I have an entire plot written out (not too detailed, because I'd spend the entire time writing frustrated.  My characters don't really like to stick to the plan...) in my scrivener file.

The writing should be the easy part with all of that planning out of the way.  Especially since I don't have to make any actual decisions while I'm writing (which is good as I'm kind of indecisive...) I should be able to just sit down and write it, after all, my characters are even talking to me, and I can see some of the scenes in my head!  Scenes that I desperately want to write.

So what's holding me back?

Chapter one.  It's as simple as that.  When I wrote the plot I made it very vague, and I hadn't really decided on anything, up to and including what the guy did to deserve being killed.  I didn't even know what he looked like or did for a living.  I didn't have a single clue as to how my main character was going to approach him, never mind kill him.  Both of these things were very important as my character is actually an assassin and was being hired to kill the guy.

When I sat down to write, I found myself staring at a blank page certain I had a fantastic idea, but having no idea how I was going to start it.  Where this first chapter, that introduces the character, but not really the story, was going to go.  My mind blanked.  So I got desperate and wrote the first thing that came to mind.  In first person as I had planned.

Turns out the first thing I think of isn't always the right thing.  Or even good.  After 1200 words I was getting increasingly frustrated and realizing that if I continued to write like that the book that I've been looking forward to writing for so long was going to go the way of all the other books I've written so far: directly into that dusty old folder in the back of my computer.  That's the last thing I want.

So I did the only thing I could do.  The thing that nearly made me cry, as those were the only words written on the novel and I was supposed to write 10,000 words.  I deleted them and started over.

While it was a hard thing to do, it was the best thing.  I changed to third person, which I find much easier to write in. (Originally I thought I should do first because so many other books like the one I'm writing are written in first.  When I first started writing I actually wrote in first and never thought I'd be able to change to third.  I was wrong...)

Now I'm only 450 words into the first chapter (a far cry from my 10k goal...) but they're far better than the original 1200 I had been working with.  I'm looking forward to writing the scene, and I'm once again hopeful that I can write something other than crap.

Sometimes you really do have to give yourself a fresh start, whether you're at 1200 or 65,000 words.  Just make sure that you need to give up on it before you do.  You'll kick yourself if you start all over again just to realize that what you had already written had potential.

Well, time for me to get back to writing...hopefully I can hit that elusive 10k soon.  I've gotta get this book written!

Hello Procrastination...We Meet Again

I love planning new novels.  I think I might like the planning stages more than anything else.  I love figuring out the characters and their history.  How those histories will make them interact together.  Where the story is going.  Why things are going to happen the way they do.  And even how the hell I'm going to make the things that need to happen work when all of a sudden I realize that my character actually might not do that very important plot point.

Figuring out those characters and plots is something that I love to do.  I talk excitedly about it to anyone who will listen, even though half of them aren't writers, and therefore couldn't care less about what I'm saying.  In fact, I've had more than one person give me that look. The look that tells me they think I might actually be a little crazy.  (Other writers will know this look.  It seems to be a hazard of the job.)

Some parts of it, though, can be a little hard to get through.  For example, the character bibles.

Now these aren't something that every writer out there does.  In fact, most of the writers I know don't do them.  I find them really helpful when I'm writing, because I can glance at them quickly if I forget an important fact about one of my characters (like their hair or eye colour)

Honestly, I don't use much of the rest of the bible during the writing process, but I find the rest of it really helpful before I start writing.  The bibles help me to truly get a grasp of each of my characters.  I figure out their motivations.  Their goals.  Their quirks.  And, most importantly (at least to me) their history.

The only problem is that I figure out their story, and then I don't want to actually put it into words on the page.  (Yeah, I know, I'm a writer.  That's exactly what I want to do with my life.)  I think it's just that these are scenes and information about the character that I don't get to actually write.  They all happen before my story took place.  So while I have all these ideas about their history, and love the insights these histories give me into my characters, I find myself a little disconnected with them.  I didn't take part in any of the decisions they made.  It's frustrating.

So, instead of continuing with the bible and forcing myself to get through those histories that I love but don't want to write, I do other things to keep myself busy.  Things like watching television shows that I 'need' to get caught up on.  Or writing a blog post (even though I am, technically, supposed to post one today.  I told myself I would at least finish the bible I'm working on.  I didn't...)

Procrastination is an old friend of mine.  I perfected it in school, and we haven't grown apart at all since I graduated.  In fact, since deciding that I want to become a writer, we've become even closer than we've ever been.  We're like those annoying best friends you see on the street, giggling and laughing like the world is a joke.  The ones who buy the necklaces that break apart just so they can show the world how close they are.  How there's nothing in the world that can come between them.  Because their friendship is just that strong.

I think I proved my point.

Shiny New Ideas Take 2

Lately I've been getting a lot of Shiny New Ideas coming through.  Thankfully I've got a book specifically devoted to that very thing, but that's not the point. The point is, I don't have time to be working on shiny new ideas.

I'm currently in the middle of planning (soon to be writing) one book, editing another book, and even have a few collaborations in the mix.  Shiny new ideas aren't going to be worked on until, at the very earliest, during the June session of camp nano (something that I wasn't actually planning on doing, but may end up participating in.  Still thinking about it.  I'll need to get a little bit closer to the date before I really know if I can or not.)

So why are they coming to me now?  Why not when I'm in the middle of my editing and welcome the distraction?  (Yeah, yeah, I know.  I shouldn't be welcoming a distraction when I'm editing.  I'm working on it, I swear.  I just...don't like editing...)

An answer was suggested to me yesterday: The reason Shiny New Ideas present themselves when I'm planning or writing is because I'm being creative.  Those gears are already turning while I'm trying to figure out the novel or write the scene, so those new ideas occur to me because I'm open to them already.

Unfortunately this means that, even for that quick second, I'm distracted by this new idea instead of concentrating on the book I need to pay attention to.  Distraction tends to mean that I'm pulled out of the world, and I can sometimes have a hard time getting back into it.  Focusing on the characters that I need to focus on, rather than the tantalizing story that the new voices bring with it.  (Yes, I'm aware how crazy that makes me sound.  You don't need to tell me.  I've come to accept my craziness as a part of who I am.)

If only there was some way to ignore these thoughts while I'm brainstorming, but still be able to remember them when I'm not and have time to get them down.  I wish it worked like that, unfortunately muses and characters seem to work on the same idea: When we start talking, you had better jump, or we're going to shut up for a good long time and leave you annoyed and frustrated.

For now, though, I suppose I'll just have to grin and bear it.  After all, I've been museless before and it just isn't any fun. (is there such a thing as an editing muse?  If so, can someone tell mine that she's/he's been seriously slacking?  They've used all of their vacation time, and they need to get back so I can actually get past the first draft of a book!  Thanks.)  For years I thought that I didn't have a muse at all, so now that she's talking to me, I find myself unwilling to risk angering her enough that she goes on vacation again.

I suppose I should stop ranting now, though.  After all, Shiny New Ideas, even untimely ones, are better than having no ideas at all, which I know that some writers have a problem with.  I just have to learn how to keep my attention focused on one thing for long enough to actually finish it.  At this point I keep starting series, then scrapping it before I even get to the second book, which means that so far my characters haven't gotten an ending.  I'm hoping The Commons is the one that's going to keep my attention for longer.  Finger's crossed!

Writing Together

In my last post I told you all about wordmongering, a fantastic hashtag that created a writing community on twitter.  And that's what I want to talk about today again.  A writing community.

Most people think that writing is a solitary activity.  For the most part, they're right.  The actual act of sitting down and writing is something you have to do alone.  You can be in a group of people, which I actually find quite helpful, but the writing itself is a solitary thing.

I find, though, that at times the writing can be more of a group activity than most people would think.  Without the writing community (more like a friend, but one that I wouldn't have met without a writing community) Monday would have been a very frustrating night for me.

I am currently in the middle of planning a novel that I'm hoping to have finished the first draft of by the end of the month.  The book has one of the largest casts I've worked with, and one of the characters decided that Monday was the night he was finally going to start talking to me.  Unfortunately it was like he didn't realize just how loud it is in my head.  You may have noticed that I'm working on a few projects.  The characters from all of those books are always trying to get my attention.

Well, he managed to get my attention with a single stray thought.  That single thought managed to get me thinking about the different possibilities that could happen with this character.  Was he going to betray the main character?  Because that was the stray thought that managed to grab my attention.

Except that betraying her wasn't really in his character.  He may be an assassin, but I really didn't see him killing the girl that he trained as, basically, his replacement.  No matter how much I thought about it, though, whatever he was trying to tell me just wasn't getting through.  It was like we were on a call and all I could hear was static with a few words breaking through.  Then it suddenly felt like I lost the call altogether.

So I decided that I had to get some perspective.  That's where a good writing community really starts to come in handy.  With the help of some of my friends, who are also writers, I managed to figure out that the thought he was giving me wasn't at all what I originally thought it was.  I'm not going to post the solution I came up with, because I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise.  After all, this book is going to end up getting published, and you're all going to buy and read it, right?

Through talking it out I managed to figure out a whole subplot, a twist, that I had no idea was there.  If they hadn't been there, I'm pretty sure I would have never figured it out.  Something would have always felt wrong, and most likely, my character would have stopped talking to me altogether.  Which is not something that I like to have happen.

Do you have a writing community that can help you work through the problems in your stories?  Or do you go it alone, a true lone wolf?

Anniversary of a Monger

As many of you know (and as I often preach) if you're looking for a writing community, you don't have to look any further than twitter.  If you know the right hashtags, you can find the greatest people willing to push you forward and not let you give up on whatever novel you're currently working on.  I find almost nothing as helpful as this community when I'm trying to get through my work.  Especially editing.  While I may not get it all done, I get far more done thanks to the support of those people.

Wordmongering is the first of these hashtags that I ever used.  Unlike the generic writing hashtag, this group has a specific goal.  You write from the top of the hour to the half hour then compare word counts.

Some of you may wonder what's so fantastic about that.  As someone who thrives on competition, I can tell you, it's amazing.  Through wordmongering I have managed to get my average words up to about 2000 in every half hour (during november I was actually beating that number, but I'm far more motivated during november than any other month of the year)

I've met amazing people there.  People who have offered to beta read for me, though that book was sadly shelved.  I've met people who have forced me to type faster and faster in the hopes of catching up to them.  (My nickname may be robot, but there are still others out there who can get more words crammed into that half hour span than me.)

This hashtag (along with its counter editmongering, which I really should be paying more attention to right now as I'm in the middle of editing a novel) was born just over a year ago.  It was started by one Moni-Marie Vincent.  Of all of the people in the hashtag, she's the most supportive.  More often than not you can see her in there writing furiously, (or editing, of course).  Even if she's not working on anything, she's in there cheering on everyone else.

Wordmongering is what kept me writing after my first nano.  It was a home I found that made sure I was writing everyday.  It kept me from giving up on the dream I've developed where I get published.  If there was one hashtag that I would want every writer who might have issues with motivation, or concentration, to have, it would be Wordmongering.

Editmongering, on the other hand, is held between the half hour mark and the hour mark.  Officially, anyway.  I've found that more often than not people just hang out there while they're editing.  It's a lot harder to log how much editing you've done, so this way you can still hang out with some fantastic writers while doing what you have to in order to get your novel in shape.

I should warn you, editmongering tends to have more people complaining, but I'm of the firm belief that editing requires complaining.  No one can cheerfully tear their own writing apart then put it back together, can they?  Well, I can't, anyway.  So maybe it's just me.

Anyway, while I don't have any amazing stories for editmonging, I'm actually pretty sure that has a lot to do with the fact that I don't use this hashtag nearly as much as I should.  Because I am really good at procrastinating on editing.  In fact, if I have any excuse to not edit, I will definitely use it.

I wanted to say happy anniversary to Wordmongering and Editmongering.  I can't tell you how much you have helped me to accomplish.  Thank you for everything you've done!