Your Novel....Any Ideas?

I have about 25 scenes in a rough outline. Each scene has a 1 sentence description. Before Nov 1, I am hoping to have 30 scenes and a paragraph long description of each scene. That way each day I can write one scene. I can get up in the morning, read my description and ponder it all day until I'm off work. Then I can crank out the words in the evening.

Tracy

Awesome.....I was sitting in jury duty Monday morning and put together a rough outline of how I want my novel to go. Last year, I had a nice outline, but my story suddenly took an interesting turn and ended very differently than what my outline said.

"Be the change you want to see in the world" - M. Gandhi

Tracy,

I like your idea of writing out one sentence descriptions for each scene. I've just signed up and I am trying to get a game plan. I am torn between trying to map things out a bit and just going freestyle.

What has everyone's experience been?

-Feral Boy

Tracy's idea is great. I plan to use it this year.

This is my second year to do Nano. Last year, I had a general idea of where my story was leading and I was surprised to find that the ideas just kept coming as I wrote. When my mind was focusing every day on my novel, I found characters and plot twists at Walmart, personal situations and the news.

I'm excited you are joinin us this year!! Good luck!

--Wendy

I think that Tracy's idea is great! I've made up a bullet-point list of about fifteen different scenes and decided on names/looks/personality profiles for all of my important characters, so we'll see how far I get with that.

THREE more days! WOOHOOOOOOOO

He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven by W.B. Yeats:

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under

Well, I have an idea that still need fleshing out, but I have some scenes planned and a general outline. I have never been much of a planner, but NaNoWriMo has me intimidated into planning as much as I possibly can. I'm not sure if it will work for me, because all I have ever heard is "I had an outline, and in the first sentence I went in a completely different direction".

Hooray for plot bunnies. I just hope I have enough to get to 50k, and that they are wild enough to make the end match the beginning.

I've been reading all your posts, wondering, "To plot, or not to plot?" For what it's worth, I've been writing professionally for 30 years. I've published fiction and nonfiction, for children, teens, and adults. I didn't start selling my novels until I did some serious plotting BEFORE writing Chapter One. Plot structure is what separates novels that sell from novels that don't sell.

Some suggestions for help with plotting:

FILL-IN-THE-BLANK PLOTTING by Linda George
Fill in the blanks of the Hero's Journey, move what you've written to the Three-Act Structure, fill in the rest of the chapters, and you have a working synopsis. Use the plotting boards described in this book and you'll be able to add or delete scenes by simply taking down or adding a 3x5 card.

THE WRITER'S JOURNEY by Christopher Vogler
Detailed description of the Hero's Journey and how it fits into the Three-Act Structure

MAKING A GOOD SCRIPT GREAT by Linda Seger
Written for screenplays, but just as valuable for novels. Indepth analysis of the Three-Act Structure

Amateur writers write whatever comes into their minds. Professional writers plan extensively before writing, then adjust as needed during the writing.

Plot Structure is the KEY to being published.

Linda

Linda,
it appears that it is your first year writing in NaNoWriMo, so I'm curious to know if you have done some extensive planning, or if you are just going to pull a plot out of your library of ideas and go for it. What is your plan come Sunday?

Hello! Yes, this is my first year to participate in NaNoWriMo. The novel I'll be writing is plotted down to the last chapter on my plotting boards. New ideas may occur to me during the writing. If so, I'll adjust the cards on my boards, moving scenes to previous or later chapters, inserting scenes between the scenes I already have on my boards under each chapter.

When I first started writing, I didn't think I needed to plan anything before writing. But I wasted a lot of time by taking detours that didn't contribute directly to the "throughline" of my story. The througline is simply a one-sentence summary of the story. "When given a basket of goodies to take to Grandma, Little Red Riding Hood must get past the wolf and keep herself and Grandma from being lunch!" If a scene doesn't contribute to the throughline, it doesn't belong in the story. Everything in the book MUST either help or hinder the main character from reaching his/her goal, that will be resolved at the end of the story.

My plot is waiting for the writing to begin on Sunday! I know I'll make changes during the writing, and I'll adjust the scenes/cards accordingly. When the book is finished, I'll have a synopsis I can use to pitch that book to an editor, along with the first three chapters. And, I'll be able to tell the editor, "The book is complete at 55,000 words. I'll be happy to send the entire manuscript for your consideration."

I hope that helps!

Linda

Hello! Yes, this is my first year to participate in NaNoWriMo. The novel I'll be writing is plotted down to the last chapter on my plotting boards. New ideas may occur to me during the writing. If so, I'll adjust the cards on my boards, moving scenes to previous or later chapters, inserting scenes between the scenes I already have on my boards under each chapter.

When I first started writing, I didn't think I needed to plan anything before writing. But I wasted a lot of time by taking detours that didn't contribute directly to the "throughline" of my story. The througline is simply a one-sentence summary of the story. "When given a basket of goodies to take to Grandma, Little Red Riding Hood must get past the wolf and keep herself and Grandma from being lunch!" If a scene doesn't contribute to the throughline, it doesn't belong in the story. Everything in the book MUST either help or hinder the main character from reaching his/her goal, that will be resolved at the end of the story.

My plot is waiting for the writing to begin on Sunday! I know I'll make changes during the writing, and I'll adjust the scenes/cards accordingly. When the book is finished, I'll have a synopsis I can use to pitch that book to an editor, along with the first three chapters. And, I'll be able to tell the editor, "The book is complete at 55,000 words. I'll be happy to send the entire manuscript for your consideration."

I hope that helps!

Linda

Hello! Yes, this is my first year to participate in NaNoWriMo. The novel I'll be writing is plotted down to the last chapter on my plotting boards. New ideas may occur to me during the writing. If so, I'll adjust the cards on my boards, moving scenes to previous or later chapters, inserting scenes between the scenes I already have on my boards under each chapter.

When I first started writing, I didn't think I needed to plan anything before writing. But I wasted a lot of time by taking detours that didn't contribute directly to the "throughline" of my story. The througline is simply a one-sentence summary of the story. "When given a basket of goodies to take to Grandma, Little Red Riding Hood must get past the wolf and keep herself and Grandma from being lunch!" If a scene doesn't contribute to the throughline, it doesn't belong in the story. Everything in the book MUST either help or hinder the main character from reaching his/her goal, that will be resolved at the end of the story.

My plot is waiting for the writing to begin on Sunday! I know I'll make changes during the writing, and I'll adjust the scenes/cards accordingly. When the book is finished, I'll have a synopsis I can use to pitch that book to an editor, along with the first three chapters. And, I'll be able to tell the editor, "The book is complete at 55,000 words. I'll be happy to send the entire manuscript for your consideration."

I hope that helps!

Linda

Apologies for the triple posting! My computer timed out twice, but I guess the message went through anyway!

Face red,
Linda

Thank you, that was extremely helpful. Sometimes I work things backwards and don't realize it. Just by following some of your advice I have a more structured plot. I still have to flesh it all out, but the backbone is there.

Makes me think I might have to buy your book...

I'm glad I could help. My book is available from Amazon. Remember to put in the hyphens. :-)

If you have questions, I'll be happy to answer them if I can.

Best always,
Linda

Hi, everyone.

I'm fairly new to Lubbock; I've been here since August - attending Texas Tech. I've participated and "won" NaNoWrimo the last four years and was going to NOT write this year because the Ph.D. program I'm in is brutally tough. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it to 50k, but I decided to do a "NaNo-Lite" and try for at least 30k.

Right now, don't have anything fully fleshed out. A new novel idea came to me last week, but I haven't had time to develop it. But it's an idea that wouldn't be too tough to write once I got into it.

Nervous. Haven't been created in about three months, which is very rare for me.

Shon

*****
PeAcE

Shon Bacon
author-educator-editor-everywoman
http://www.twitter.com/chicklitgurrl
http://shonbacon.com
http://clg-entertainment.com

Shon,

Welcome to the Lubbock group! I know you'll do well and have fun. I read the wristband essay on your website, and it was simply wonderful.

- V

He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven by W.B. Yeats:

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under

Thanks, V. I appreciate that.

I'm a bit excited about this. Love participating in NaNo, and finding the time to write this year is all the more special. Didn't think I was going to do it!

*****
PeAcE

Shon Bacon
author-educator-editor-everywoman
http://www.twitter.com/chicklitgurrl
http://shonbacon.com
http://clg-entertainment.com