Every writer will have a different way of plotting their novels. Some craft the characters, the scenes, the turning point, the climax, and the resolution before beginning to write. Others just start writing. Many fall somewhere in between. With my first book, Destined to Fail, I had a lot planned out before I started writing. I knew who I wanted the main characters to be, the conflicts that would arise, and how the story would end. That was for draft one. Draft two was changed slightly and draft three was completely different than what I had originally penned out.
When I started my second novel (while Destined was being edited) I wasn’t sure if I want to plan everything out like I had before. What if everything just changed again, then I had all these notes and plot points for nothing? After doing some research online, talking to other authors, and seeing what firmly worked for me with Destined, I came up with my own plan. First, I jotted down what I wanted to be the focal point of the story. What lessons did I want readers to take away from my story? What was the main complication the main character must endure? How does she resolve it? I quickly answered these questions, then noted the setting and time frame that I wanted to stick to.
Next was characters. I filled in details on three characters to begin with, my main character, the antagonist, and the best friend. For the main character, here is what I listed:
NameAge
Primary Goal
Most Notable Personality Trait
Family
Other Facts
Other facts included her job, the name of her dorm, and major.
After the three main characters were complete, I wrote down a few ideas and even scenes that I knew I wanted to be in the story. For example, I knew how I wanted to begin the story, I knew I wanted a specific conversation to happen between my MC and her best friend, and I knew how I wanted to have the love interest meet MC’s family. Those all were jotted down, among with a few other specifics that I thought of at that time.
Then, I got deeper in the characters. I wrote detailed descriptions of what I wanted my MC to look like, what her childhood was like, her nervous traits, the fact that she makes a to-do list every day, what her school schedule was, her favorite food, etc., etc. Then went on to the MC’s best friend. What she looks like, how they met, her major, her hometown, her goals in life, that she’s addicted to popcorn and on the verge of breaking up with her boyfriend. Same with the antagonist. After that, I started to break up my characters into sections. School friends, family, work friends. The love interest and his friends. The staff where MC works. My goal with these was just get a name down, who they are, looks, and why they were important to the story. The full details didn’t come in my planning process. I added more to their sections as the writing started. But before I began, I just wanted a solid base, a solid starting point, of characters that I wanted to be included.
It was important to me to at least have a few details on the characters. I didn’t have as much information when it came to the actual plot; the storylines have been occurring on their own as my writing progresses. That will actually be my subject for next week’s post, so be sure to come back and check that out! Thanks for stopping by, and Happy Thanksgiving week to those who celebrate the holiday!
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