Let me start this by saying, there is no one way to plan a novel, but I do get the question a fair bit. I'm not telling anybody they must do things this way - I'm just saying, this is my way of doing things. Some people don't feel the need to outline at all, finding that they work better without one. I'm not one of these people.
Feel free to try my ideas out, borrow bits and pieces, adapt them so they suit you ... regardless, if I help one person I thought it would be useful to explain my process. If you're anything like me and you're new to something, you like to read step by step instructions of exactly how to do something - still knowing that youwill change it, and no one person's word is gospel. This is how we grow as writers.
If you don't like my way, or you want more information beyond simply planning, perhaps you can check out some books on the subject - try out Stephen King's On Writing, or Writing Fiction for Dummies. If you don't want to buy books, a quick Google search can bring up almost anything.
Before anything else, I should say that I can't tell you where to get an idea. You either have them or you don't. There are exercises that can inspire you, of course - the best of us get writer's block - but if you've never written a word of a story in your life (or even worse, never even read a book), then maybe writing isn't for you. It might seem an obvious thing to say, but you'd be surprised how many people I have known personally who have said, Oh I'm going to write a novel! What have I read? Er nothing really. Most of these people are avid movie-watchers, but watching movies really doesn't help in writing a novel or a story.
1. Building on an idea
So you have an idea. The first thing I do is sit down, and write the whole story in a summary. I usually do this with a point system; I'll use a famous book as an example.
1. A young boy begins getting strange letters.
2. A man comes and tells him he is a wizard.
3. The boy goes to a school for witchcraft and wizadry.
And so on. Some of my 'points' are a few words, some are around a hundred, but I try and keep it concise (and regularly fail) and I keep going until I have finished telling the story. I hand-write my summaries, but you can do it on the computer if you're more comfortable with that.
I usually finish with around the number 80 (I don't know how this happens, it just usually does). This is where I don't worry about character names or backgrounds - I create them to fit into the story I have created. Some people like to do this the other way around, and this is fine too.
2. Giving order to your ideas
This is where I sort my ideas out. You can do this in a number of ways; for instance, you could dedicate a page to each chapter, detailing everything that happens to your protagonist/s and any other characters of importance. Me, I like to use a chart.
I used to make my charts in Excel, but now I draw them with pen and paper, because I prefer having the paper before me, and I have this curse where my printers like to get broken (or stolen - yep that happened, just the printer). I also feel that my ideas flow more freely when I write long-hand. All my planning is hand-written in folders, all my actual writing has to be on the computer. It works for me.
Here's an example of a novel-planning chart, how I do them - done in excel for convenience.
I made the story up off the top of the head, (a story totally worthy of the characters named Mary Sue and Gary Stu, in my opinion), but you get the general idea. If I want more detail on a chapter while using this method, I go back and read the notes that I wrote during the first step above. The best thing for me about the chart is that I can keep track of time, which is important if the story is set over a length of time, especially seeing as I like to get very adjective-y (Yay for making up words) about the seasons and such. The character headings are efficient in reminding me of what every important character is up to during each chapter, even if they don't actually appear in that chapter.
When it comes to knowing which points from my notes to put in which boxes on my chart - I use my intuition, and I change my mind very regularly during the actual writing.
3. Creating Characters
I debated over including this point on my list, seeing as it veers away from planning a novel, but I think it's too important to leave out, especially if you're a beginner reading this.
Feel free to try my ideas out, borrow bits and pieces, adapt them so they suit you ... regardless, if I help one person I thought it would be useful to explain my process. If you're anything like me and you're new to something, you like to read step by step instructions of exactly how to do something - still knowing that youwill change it, and no one person's word is gospel. This is how we grow as writers.
If you don't like my way, or you want more information beyond simply planning, perhaps you can check out some books on the subject - try out Stephen King's On Writing, or Writing Fiction for Dummies. If you don't want to buy books, a quick Google search can bring up almost anything.
Before anything else, I should say that I can't tell you where to get an idea. You either have them or you don't. There are exercises that can inspire you, of course - the best of us get writer's block - but if you've never written a word of a story in your life (or even worse, never even read a book), then maybe writing isn't for you. It might seem an obvious thing to say, but you'd be surprised how many people I have known personally who have said, Oh I'm going to write a novel! What have I read? Er nothing really. Most of these people are avid movie-watchers, but watching movies really doesn't help in writing a novel or a story.
1. Building on an idea
So you have an idea. The first thing I do is sit down, and write the whole story in a summary. I usually do this with a point system; I'll use a famous book as an example.
1. A young boy begins getting strange letters.
2. A man comes and tells him he is a wizard.
3. The boy goes to a school for witchcraft and wizadry.
And so on. Some of my 'points' are a few words, some are around a hundred, but I try and keep it concise (and regularly fail) and I keep going until I have finished telling the story. I hand-write my summaries, but you can do it on the computer if you're more comfortable with that.
I usually finish with around the number 80 (I don't know how this happens, it just usually does). This is where I don't worry about character names or backgrounds - I create them to fit into the story I have created. Some people like to do this the other way around, and this is fine too.
2. Giving order to your ideas
This is where I sort my ideas out. You can do this in a number of ways; for instance, you could dedicate a page to each chapter, detailing everything that happens to your protagonist/s and any other characters of importance. Me, I like to use a chart.
I used to make my charts in Excel, but now I draw them with pen and paper, because I prefer having the paper before me, and I have this curse where my printers like to get broken (or stolen - yep that happened, just the printer). I also feel that my ideas flow more freely when I write long-hand. All my planning is hand-written in folders, all my actual writing has to be on the computer. It works for me.
Here's an example of a novel-planning chart, how I do them - done in excel for convenience.
I made the story up off the top of the head, (a story totally worthy of the characters named Mary Sue and Gary Stu, in my opinion), but you get the general idea. If I want more detail on a chapter while using this method, I go back and read the notes that I wrote during the first step above. The best thing for me about the chart is that I can keep track of time, which is important if the story is set over a length of time, especially seeing as I like to get very adjective-y (Yay for making up words) about the seasons and such. The character headings are efficient in reminding me of what every important character is up to during each chapter, even if they don't actually appear in that chapter.
When it comes to knowing which points from my notes to put in which boxes on my chart - I use my intuition, and I change my mind very regularly during the actual writing.
3. Creating Characters
I debated over including this point on my list, seeing as it veers away from planning a novel, but I think it's too important to leave out, especially if you're a beginner reading this.
Characters are hard to create. They need to be interesting, the reader needs to care about them. They can't be cliched (not too cliched) and they need to be three dimensional. There's nothing worse than a good idea ruined by bad characters; I regularly say that Twilight actually had some potential, and it's my opinion that the characters - among many other things - were a massive reason why the potential wasn't met.
(See here for the other reasons ;) Hilarious.)
You may want to move this point up the list, if you are one of the people I mentioned earlier, and like the story to fit your already created characters and not vice-verse. I like to start with how they look, and usually a personality will form along with it. You can tie in with this, goals and aspirations for the character. These will drive them as the story progresses.
I won't go into too much detail about this point, I'll leave it for another article. If you can't wait, this is an excellent recourse for help with creating realistic, fleshed-out characters.
4. Research/World Building.
This is largely dependent on the genre in which your story belongs. If it's 'real world' fiction, you may want to make up a fictional town. If you use a real town or city, or a country that you aren't too familiar with, you better get researching. Google maps Street View is a good way to do this, but I'd recommend exploring the area yourself, if possible. If your story is set in the past, research the time period, everything from language to clothing to etiquette.
If you're writing a fantasy it can be tricky, but you also have a lot more freedom. You'll need to create a world. This can take a while, and it should - you want it to be realistic. You don't need to be akin to Tolkien, but things should be believable. I like to start with maps. I'm no artist; my maps are mostly squiggly lines, circles and squares, but it helps. There are a lot of fun things to play with - I like naming currency and making up cool town and country names.
5. Write.
When you're comfortable that you have everything you need to begin your story, begin writing! Don't be scared to veer from the plan if it feels right. Make sure you have a sound knowledge of basic grammar and formatting, because this can be a bitch to fix later if your draft is absolutely riddled with errors. If that's something you have a problem with, I recommend writing a couple (of hundred) short stories before committing to anything big. Fan fiction can be good practice too - and it's also an opportunity to gratify your inner fanboy/girl
6. Bonus Writing Tip: Read, read, read
Reading is the best way to learn how to write. As I said earlier in this post, if you don't read, you lack to foundation needed to learn to write. It's never too late to start reading. As a child, you often learn by example, and it's rarely different even when we grow.
If you have a story idea, and it fits into a specific genre, start reading books of that genre. Finding the books is easy, it's nothing a quick Google search won't assist with - search something like, 'List of -Insert Genre'-Novels'.
Fantasy is really popular right now, and there are countless websites and forums dedicated to readers and writers of Fantasy. If you want to write Historical Fiction, read Historical Fiction. If you want to write Comedy (and I tip my cap to you if you do this successfully) read Comedy. It's that simple - and that complicated. But if you have passion and determination, there's no reason why you can't succeed.
Need motivation? Participate in National Novel Writing Month this November!
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