Writing a Book: Plotting

Camp NaNoWriMo has been happening for a week already - with me completely behind - so here's me getting even more behind with talking about plotting. Plotting is one of those things that you can either not do, which is called pantsing; do so well a job that it's like you're writing another book; or in a way that gives you the skeleton of the book while leaving you a lot of space to move and grow. While there is no right way to do this, I like to do where I give myself a skeleton and then move and grow while writing the book. There are parts that are somewhat set in stone and there are other parts that can be changed at any given moment.

The thing that you want to do first is have some idea of the story you're going to write. Even if it's a long rambling summary, that's part of the plotting idea. In fact, there's a lot of writers who just go with the rambling plot outline for writing their first draft and then tighten it up in other drafts. For me, I usually write around three to five sentences and leave the plot rambling to another document all together. Also, this can be done on the computer or on paper. There's a few plot bunnies that I've got written down to help with the process and others that work better when typing it out in a Google Document or your program of choice. A lot of my planning goes into Google Docs because I can and will access it from anywhere. That includes my phone, since I have one big enough for typing with both thumbs. Just use what is best for you when giving shape to plot bunnies.

Now, for the next part, there's no right or wrong to what you do first. Some do characters first and some create the world first. I am known to create characters first and world second, because I'm more about a character driven plot. That means that I like the characters to steer the ship. Sometimes this is literally as in the case of Kris in Of the Sky that I'm working on a first draft of but it's more to tell their story in a way that connects everything. The entire book or series will center around them and the connections to others that they make, for good or bad, and then the plot goes from there. That also goes for creating the world. For me, I work on the world where the main character lives first and then do the rest of the world building after I have a good idea of the home country.

For novels set in the real world, as in the case of Mystery of the Dark, I really try to go off of the cities I know or I can go visit to get a lay of the land. It's why, in the first book, you see a lot of St Louis and Asheville. My great-uncle lived in St Louis, along with his home being the basis for Mark's home, and Asheville is where a good friend / family in all but blood lives. Strong connections to each help with making the writing flow easier. Knowing this is probably why I'm having such a hard time with the sequel. They had to move from St Louis due to the plot of the first book and there's no good central ground that I want to set them in. I'm really tempted to let it take on a nomad type vibe with Kate never settling down and trusting the space. But, I'm getting off the topic. For real world settings, it is best to go with what you know. It's why everyone gives that advice - it works.

Ok - you've got your idea down, you have your characters and your world. The next question goes into how much you want to put your plot down on paper or not. You could have all of what you need written down and then decide to pants the rest. You just go where the novel takes you and you'll end up at your destination eventually. What I do is take on a process that I was first taught about by erin is to number a document 1 to 30 and write out 30 scenes with the midpoint being 15-17 and your secondary plot point being 25-27. Every number is a scene or a chapter that you're writing. You could take the same idea but have the number be whatever you like between 1 and infinity as long as you get to an ending. I like doing it in terms of chapters and then shorten / make it longer as needed. For example, Mystery of the Dark is only 28 chapters while Of the Sky will probably be 30 or more. So it's a nice little system.

After that, the best thing to do is sit in the chair and write. It's the only thing that can be done, in the end, if you want to get your book out of your head and onto paper. The plotting helps to bring some order to the chaos but there's nothing stopping you from just writing. So, until next time, keep on putting that butt in the chair and write.