Monday 2 January 2012

Planning for My Novel...

This is actually the first Christmas/New Year holiday when I've had any quiet time to write.

As my Dorset novel is going to be getting attention this year, I decided to repeat the useful planning I did earlier in 2011 for my novella- character sheets and chapter outlines.

It's not that I don't have this information, its just not in one concise form that's easy to refer to- it's on bits of paper, in notebooks and the synopsis and first three chapters.

So I decided to start with getting all my character sheets together, and actually completed about three hours-before the computer got taken over for editing photos by my OH...

I've been using the Character Fact List from 'The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing' and found it really helpful for my novella characters.

So knowing my novel characters still had weak spots, it was surprising to realise that over the last twelve months a lot of my hero's grey areas had finally emerged from the gloom, and I now only had minor points to clarify.

My hero Marcus, has always been much clearer than his love interest, as so often my hero is the first character to step forward when I have an idea. But I think that's just how characters develop for me.

As for my chapter outlines, I do think I'll need to jiggle a few bits about, as aspects of my plot have developed in an interesting- and probably more exciting- way.

(I used to be amazed how a writer could have the whole story in their mind before they began writing, but now I can see how it works.) 

There are aspects of the plot that I haven't resolved yet, but if it works like it did with similar aspects in the novella, then I'm not too worried about sorting them when I get to them.

On Wednesday I hope to have the comments back for the synopsis and first three chapters of this novel- which won the NWC Romance Novel trophy in December.
I'm prepared for the bad bits as well as the good...

5 comments:

Diane Fordham said...

You sound organised Carol. Good on you. I am sure with the attitude you have it will all fall into place. Sounds like a fun project! x

Patsy said...

I'm impressed with how organised you are!

Have a great 2012.

Teresa Ashby said...

I think you're right about sorting out certain things as you come to them and being flexible as your plot develops.

It sounds as if you have the right balance between being organised and being prepared to change if you have to.

Happy New Year x

Rosemary Gemmell said...

Like the way your work seems to be shaping up, Carol! All the best with your 2012 projects. And I love the name Marcus - that's my Dangerous Deceit hero (in 1813)!

Carolb said...

Thank you, Diane,Patsy, Teresa and Rosemary- hope you all have a great 2012 too. :-)

I learnt early on (after I had the triplets) that some basic organised routine helps life run smoother, but it's only now that I've started to apply that process to my writing.

I was quite surprised how beneficial I found a few simple changes to my planning stages- in fact it made me less worried when I got to those parts that I was unsure of and could try different ideas.

Rosemary, Marcus is a great name, it's classical but still sounds modern enough for any time period.