Plotting a novel - It's a must for me

[VinceK]

I wrote my first novel riding a wave of unfounded optimism. It took three long years, during which time I thought, after umpteen rewrites, I'd learnt my lesson about plotting.

How wrong I was.

I had an idea for another novel, so I began the plot chart and filled out the majority of the important twists and turns. This took many months and around 20,000 words of plot notes. I hadn't quite finished, but my impatience got the better of me and so I began writing.

After writing 40,000 words of the novel, I hit a snag. The plot pathways through ACT II became tangled, characters were falling over each other, the twists and turns had become knotted. Why? Because once again I had not fully completed the plot chart, and those tiny little plot holes had grown into gaping chasms into which my story plummeted.

It took two weeks to go back and fully complete the plot chart. My novel word count has been reduced from 40,000 to 27,000, much of which requires a rewrite.

However, I'm not despondent, quite the reverse in fact , because from now on, I will never, ever, begin writing a novel without first fully completing the plot chart.

 

[The Judge]

I have to say, I've never plotted a story in advance --the most I do is have specific scenes/revelations I need to include or locations I need to go. But although I have some hiatuses where I'm not sure how to get from A to D, I've never yet fallen into plot holes which involve ripping stuff up. Quite the contrary indeed -- I end up making small throwaway lines into important plot points so I have to expand certain issues.

I think this is perhaps because I work very slowly, and I'm continually going back to earlier chapters, reviewing what I've written. If I hit snags I brainstorm on what is there already, and plot it through that way. Effectively what you do/will do at the beginning in one lump, I spread out over the course of writing in smaller bits.

I also know I don't have the discipline to spend months working on a plot chart! So I can stand in awe at those who can do it.

In any event, well done for getting yourself back on course!

 

[VinceK]

I also know I don't have the discipline to spend months working on a plot chart

I think in part it's because in my enthusiasm, aka lack of experience, I introduce too many characters and too many complexities. With a plot chart I can track who's doing what when and where and it reveals if the story has become overly complex. It might be that as I become more proficient in the craft, some of it will become second nature. One can but hope

 

[HareBrain]

I introduce too many characters and too many complexities

I've had this in the past, too. Who am I kidding, I'm having it now. When I start my next big thing, I'm going to remind myself that three characters can generate enough complexities for a whole series.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I just keep the characters and complexities but make the point of views simple. I try to filter the story through one POV character - having said that Black's Nest now has four or five point of view characters alongside the countless subplots and characters. (My MC has a mother, a partner, five sons, one stepson, sixteen grandchildren and five great-grandchildren - that's before I add daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, an ex-wife, a handful of fairies, some demons, The Blue Rinse Brigade (witch's coven) )

 

[Elventine]

I at least like an idea of what I am writing and where is supposed to go.

 

[CWScott]

I had the same issues in my first story. So many twists and turns. Took forever to clean it up (and some of that had to be done in book 2). Do I now plot to the end? nope But I don't add so many twists anymore. I do like to know where the story is going though. If I know the end, then it doesn't matter how many twists or complications I add. Part of the fun for me is getting it all straightened out.

 

[Vertigo]

I think it depends very much on the book.

There are many good books I've read that could easily have been written without much plot planning, where the plot is pretty linear and, though containing lots of conflict and such like, still leads to the final goal in a fairly straightforward manner. And, as I say, I'm not knocking them; they are often excellent books. Whilst others have complex plots with multiple sub plots all interacting in critical ways that would be, I would think, pretty much impossible to write without massive potting before beginning.

Examples of excellent books with fairly simple plots might include: Bernard Cornwell's, Last Kingdom books, okay so those plots are rather tied by the real history, but even so they are still fairly simple plots with little or no sub plots and they're excellent books. Another classic example would be Orwell's 1984; again the actual plot is very simple and would have needed little planning but the book is excellent. Another would be Andy Weir's The Martian; the only planning would have been deciding on all the disasters and figuring solutions to them but the actual plotting was very simple. Again an excellent book.

Personally though my preference is for books with very complex plots and here I would cite authors like Reynolds, Hamilton, Weber, Asher, Banks etc., whose books I don't believe could possibly be written without massive plot planning beforehand. I have seen Hamilton, for example, commenting that he spends months plotting before writing the first word of the novel.

For myself, if ever I did write a book (unlikely but still...), I know I would be terrified of setting pen to paper before I had the complete plot fully worked out. But then I am an engineer by trade...

 

[The Big Peat]

VinceK - What does your plot chart look like?

As for me - I'm still experimenting with what suits me best. I don't think I could be a total discovery writer though. My brain outpaces my writing too quickly.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I would like to plot. I would adore to plot. My mind doesn't work like that. (Although I do a mean gantt chart once I establish what's happening where, when, to whom)

 

[Cli-Fi]

I wrote my first novel riding a wave of unfounded optimism. It took three long years, during which time I thought, after umpteen rewrites, I'd learnt my lesson about plotting.

How wrong I was.

I had an idea for another novel, so I began the plot chart and filled out the majority of the important twists and turns. This took many months and around 20,000 words of plot notes. I hadn't quite finished, but my impatience got the better of me and so I began writing.

After writing 40,000 words of the novel, I hit a snag. The plot pathways through ACT II became tangled, characters were falling over each other, the twists and turns had become knotted. Why? Because once again I had not fully completed the plot chart, and those tiny little plot holes had grown into gaping chasms into which my story plummeted.

It took two weeks to go back and fully complete the plot chart. My novel word count has been reduced from 40,000 to 27,000, much of which requires a rewrite.

However, I'm not despondent, quite the reverse in fact , because from now on, I will never, ever, begin writing a novel without first fully completing the plot chart.

For my current WIP I have plotted the ending, I have a great ending. I know what it is going to be about, and major points, but getting there is what the tricky part is for me.

 

[Cli-Fi]

I just keep the characters and complexities but make the point of views simple. I try to filter the story through one POV character - having said that Black's Nest now has four or five point of view characters alongside the countless subplots and characters. (My MC has a mother, a partner, five sons, one stepson, sixteen grandchildren and five great-grandchildren - that's before I add daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, an ex-wife, a handful of fairies, some demons, The Blue Rinse Brigade (witch's coven) )

WTF? DO you really need all those characters? Or do they all die like in game of thrones?

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Every writer is different. Some fab novels have been written without a plan and some fab ones have been written with the author knowing everything. Agatha Christie is reported to have written hers backwards.

I know I've said it before but a recent development for me has been reading and editing earlier chapters before going to writers group and I think it kept my story on the straight and narrow to the point where I am adding and rewriting bits but I'm actively copying huge chunks of draft one into draft two and just editing them. It's the first time I haven't needed loads of drafts. Also with book two I have a very clear idea of the story so I'm going to edit it.

 

[Vertigo]

Agatha Christie is reported to have written hers backwards.

That's how I'd look at it. Well not quite; I'd plot backwards and write forwards. For me, I would look at each major event, starting with the ending, and decide what I need to achieve that. If it requires more than one thread to get all the ingredients in place then fine. Then work back those threads and repeat the process. If I can make those threads cross over earlier in the plot without forcing it, all the better.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

WTF? DO you really need all those characters? Or do they all die like in game of thrones?

I'm not giving spoilers but most of them survive the first two books. At present I only know of one major character death but as Ian (the MC) is sixty-eight, Wilf, his partner is about seventy-two and his mother is at least eighty-eight... I mean they are all candidates for plausible natural deaths.

They wouldn't be in there if I didn't need them. It's a family saga and wouldn't be the same if I took them out. Some are more major than others. I use Ian and three of his sons (Matt, Pete and John) as POV characters in the first book. In the second book Pete is injured so I've traded him for Matt's wife, Ruth.

I'm not actually juggling any more characters than I did for my epic fantasy (nobody complained there were too many) but its been a challenge to get them straight because they nearly all have the same surname, and Ian and Pete are both grandpas. Ian, Matt, Pete and John are all referred to as dad etc, depending on who is talking to them.

 

[Vertigo]

Oh and, like I said before, that process is very much like engineering; your start with the end product - the bridge, the program, the building - and work backwards. So for a bridge maybe I need cables; so then it's how will I get those cables across the river, and how will I support them. Then both of those 'threads' have their own requirements etc.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Oh and, like I said before, that process is very much like engineering; your start with the end product - the bridge, the program, the building - and work backwards. So for a bridge maybe I need cables; so then it's how will I get those cables across the river, and how will I support them. Then both of those 'threads' have their own requirements etc.

See I think of stories as an archaeologist rather than an engineer. It's like stratigraphy (a process I constantly failed to understand in my degree) but basically it's about adding and taking away layers to the story and understanding how each piece fits -- I still can't explain it lol.

Kind of like this:

 

[Vertigo]

Ah well there you go! As you dig your way down you are indeed starting at the end of the story and working your back in time to the beginning!

But more seriously If I'm understanding you right that's sort of what I'd imagine happening whilst writing. There you are layering body onto the skeleton of the plot. Adding the depth, textures, characters, action etc.

 

[VinceK]

VinceK - What does your plot chart look like?
As for me - I'm still experimenting with what suits me best. I don't think I could be a total discovery writer though. My brain outpaces my writing too quickly.

I use a modified version of the storyboard detailed in Blake Snyder's "Save the Cat" laid out in a Word document. The reason I modified it was to keep everything in one document, so my version also includes the main characters' story arcs from beginning to end.
Each scene card has the following:
DATE/TIME
POV
LOCATION
SCENE DESCRIPTION
EMOTIONAL CHANGE
CONFLICT
SETUP
PAYOFF

I then transfer the story to WriteItNow.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Ah well there you go! As you dig your way down you are indeed starting at the end of the story and working your back in time to the beginning!

But more seriously If I'm understanding you right that's sort of what I'd imagine happening whilst writing. There you are layering body onto the skeleton of the plot. Adding the depth, textures, characters, action etc.

Yes that's what I'm trying to say. I imagine more that I'm the one adding the layers with full understanding because I was there but the reader digs it back up again and adds their interpretation to a story.

My favourite story is of the flint arrowhead in one lecturer's hands, in another lecturer's hands the same piece became a broken scraper and in yet another lecturer's hands it was a chip from a tractor.