Archive for ‘outlining’

February 29th, 2012

Plots Are Hard

by Holly Dodson

As I mentioned on Monday, this week I’ve been focusing my writing-related-task on outlining these stories in my head.  (Among other things, naturally.  I’ve also read two really great books this week so far, and am beta reading.  I enjoy staying busy. lol)

I’ve come to the simple conclusion that plots are hard.  Very hard.  Elusive even.  It may have been only Monday that I was banging my fists on the desk as I complained that I have a head full of characters and nothing to do with them, and what good are characters without plot?!

http://www.robinchung.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/frustration.jpg

*sigh*

One character in particular is driving me absolutely crazy.  I’ve had a couple of false-starts (THREE so far) with her, but still can’t get her right, and she still refuses to leave me alone.  Any time I try to work on another character, another idea, she barges to the front screaming, “What about me?”  Then I have to fight off the urge to shake her when I say, “Then tell me your story.”  But all she does is glare at me, her eyes smoldering from the intensity of whatever it is she’s hiding, with lips shut tight.

ARGH!  She makes me feel like a crazy person.

I have found a good method for getting my ideas detailed and fleshed out though.  Remember that five-page outline I mentioned Monday?  Yep.  Here’s my basic approach to that (Which, I’ve written three now, so maybe it’ll stick.  Who knows.)

TITLE Outline:

Chapter 1

  1. Hello, protag.  Nice to meet you, let’s get you into some trouble.
  2. Protag goes to school and is assaulted by a flying unicorn.
  3. Protag fights back, discovering some secret hidden power for defending himself against flying unicorns.

Chapter 2

  1. Protag escapes to a safe place.
  2. Protag needs help, he has to find Weird Old Man Who Always Says Weird Things.
  3. Weird Old Man’s house is even weirder than the man himself.

Etc.  You get the idea, right?  For each chapter I detail out who is in it, what happens, the conflict, and the motivation.  This is why they wind up about five pages long.  ;)

This is most definitely ten steps farther than the last outline I worked with.  And I’ll be honest and say I haven’t used it to write a book yet, but I will.  I like that this way I can detail out, in advance, the arc of each chapter.  Each chapter becomes a story within itself with a beginning, middle, and end and I don’t have to try to revise that in (like I’ve done many, many times before).

This way I have the opportunity to see where my plot is going to fall apart before I ever start writing, and can fix it.  Or redo it — without losing 10k words.  Been there, done that.

So do you guys have any plotting tips for me?  What do you do to get those characters to spill their stories?

 

Also, you may want to hop over to the SS&D ARC Tour page…there is a little bit of a surprise there!  Like, maybe another contest?  Hurry, go see!

Categorycharacters, outlining, Susan Dennard, Writing | Comment10 Comments »

June 8th, 2011

Road Trip Wednesday — No Pants for Me!

by Holly Dodson

Haha, sorry I couldn’t help myself.

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This Week’s Topic:
Are you a plotter or a pantser?


If you had asked me that same question a couple of weeks ago, you’d have gotten a very different answer than you will today.


As my posts from Monday and Tuesday will prove, I have developed into quite the organized plotter.  Who’d a thunk it?  ;)   As it turns out, writing to an outline is actually (Dare I say it?) easier.  Then there’s the fact that I’ve already solved some major plot holes because I could see them in advance — which means one less round of revisions later.


Dude, I’m in love.  :)


What about you all?  To plot or to pants, that is the question!  (hahaha I’m such a dork today!)

Categoryoutlines, outlining, RTW, Writing, YAHighway | CommentNo Comments »

June 6th, 2011

Outlining Your Novel – Part 1

by Holly Dodson

So the self-professed pantser here has some news.  I… um, how do I say this?

*deep breath*  Imadeanoutline.

Didn’t catch that?  Okay, okay… I made an outline.

Yeah, me.  An outline.  To write to.  I know, I’m shocked too.  It just kinda happened.  I didn’t mean to — I opened excel to organize my thoughts on the new WIP and before I knew it I had a color-coded outline of awesomesauce.

What the heck?  ;)

Anyway, seeing as Erinn loved the form I made, and even asked to share it with the Weekend of Awesomers, I figure maybe I should share it with all of you too.  Along with all the reasoning and explanations for the way it looks and such.

That is a bit much for a single blog post, so I’m going to break it into a couple.  One today and one tomorrow.  And tomorrow I’ll give you the form I created so you can use it too if you like it.  (So long as you don’t, you know, try to go and sell it or something.  That wouldn’t be cool.  But feel free to use it for your own purposes.)

The first thing I always do when I have a new novel idea is sit down with a pen and pad of paper and write out my thought process.  At the top of the page I put the question that spurred the idea and just see where it develops.  I do this even if I don’t plan on making a formal outline.
Once I can see what my basic concept is, I write a general synopsis.  Could be one page, could be three, it just depends on how much is running through my head.  The only goal here is to get out an idea of where I see the story progressing at the moment.  So I approacheded my outline with a solid concept and a general idea of where it was going, but NO idea how to put it into any kind of outline structure.
When I was in High School and college, I wrote plays.  I was very into theater and took a lot of classes on it and whatever, so when I approached this outline I looked at it almost like I would a play.  And I know there are some books out there who tout the advantages of using a three-act-structure in novels.  Why not, right?

Here’s what my outline looks like:

It’s three pages, five colors, eighteen chapters, and thirty-six scenes worth of outline.  :D

The side of my brain I use for the day job LOVES this outline.  It’s so shiny and colorful and ORGANIZED!!!  And there are numbers and percentages and formulas and… *gasps for breath* …it’s beautiful.

At the top I have my working title and a little blurb about the concept.  The notes along the right margin are subplots.

  
Along the left margin are structure notes based on the three-act structure method.  There’s a column for chapter numbers, scene numbers (because I write in scenes), location, characters, and a description of what happens.  *whew*
Okay, this post is super long.  Come back tomorrow for more info on the structure, what the colors mean, and to grab the file.  :D

Categoryoutlining, WIP, Writing | CommentNo Comments »