Hardy - Planning your novel : ideas and structure

Fiction University's

Foundations of Fiction

Planning Your Novel:

Ideas and Structure

By

Janice Hardy

Published by Janice Hardy

Copyright 2014

This book is also available in print.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in print or electronic form without prior permission of the author.

ISBN 978-0-9915364-0-5

Books by Janice Hardy

Foundations of Fiction Series

Planning Your Novel:

Ideas and Structure

Novels

The Healing Wars Trilogy

The Shifter

Blue Fire

Darkfall

Table of Contents

When I was first learning to write, I read every book I could on writing. Some were very helpful, others less so, but after a while I grew frustrated over a common advice element I kept running into.

I found plenty of advice on what I ought to be doing, but very little on how to actually do it.

I was inundated with writing rules that werent helpful. Explanations of techniques that made me feel I almost had it, but still didnt quite get it. Some of the advice was so complicated I felt Id never understand it enough to improve my writing.

I kept struggling and eventually figured out what everyone had been talking about. I also learned that sometimes, its easier to tell new writers, dont do X than it is to explain why not, and when that rule doesnt applyand that some new writers dont want to know the why, they just want to know the rules so they can get published. Most important, I learned that writing isnt so black and white, and its not about the rules at all.

Years later, I started teaching writing classes and swore Id not make my students struggle as I had done. I sought to explain the hows as well as the whys, so someone could really get what those writing rules were talking about. To help my fellow writers understand the process behind those rules and guidelines.

For example, I wasnt going to tell my students dont use adverbs; I was going to explain why relying on them would hurt their writing and show them the difference between bad versus good adverb usage. I wanted them to understand why that rule existed in the first placeand why its not exactly a set-in-stone rule.

Jump ahead a few more years and I started a blog, The Other Side of the Story, to share the things Id learned in ways that made them easier to understand. The hows and the whys.

A few more years later, I had a wealth of information compiled. Reorganizing it into writing guides was a natural progression, but I wanted the guides to follow the same philosophy Id always hadwriting whys made simple. I wanted my guides to be instructive and helpful, with clear examples and tips writers could apply directly to their works-in-progress and see positive results.

I wholeheartedly believe a solid writing foundation allows writers to grow and improve with the confidence that they get it, and arent just following a rule because a book or blog said so. Confident writers understand how the myriad of techniques and rules work together to craft a story, and how to use those tools to craft the best novel they can. That foundation, that confidence, makes the journey from idea to novel a little less scary and a lot more productive.

A lot of work goes into writing a novel, and it all starts with planning that novel. To build a strong novel, start with a strong foundation.

And thats where this book comes in.

Different writers write novels in different ways, but each novel starts with a plan. Sometimes that plan is nothing more than a vague idea or a character who wont stop whispering in your ear at night; other times its a comprehensive summary of every scene in the book. However you do it, you decided to write a novel and then begin that process.

The goal of a novel plan is to develop enough information about that novel to be able to write it. How much information depends on the writer, because we all have a different process. Thats one reason writing advice can be so frustrating: What works for one writer might not work for you, and vice versa.

Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure is a series of self-guided workshops designed to lead you through developing a novel idea, crafting a summary line, creating a summary blurb, and finally, writing a working synopsis. Each workshop covers one step of that process, with smaller sections that focus on individual topics within that step. At the end of this book, youll have a solid plan to craft a novel from.

For those with completed manuscripts already, this book can aid you during revisions and even help you fix problem areas. The workshops and exercises are just as useful in tightening a first draft as they are in writing one.

Workshops : The workshops go step by step through planning and developing a novel. Each workshop offers focused topics with exercises and brainstorming sessions, tips and tricks, plus definitions of the common writing terms used in the workshop.

Exercises : These draw from the workshop and guide you through individual pieces of the novel-planning process. They build upon each other to take an idea and develop it into a plan (and plot) for a first draft.

Assignments : The assignments incorporate everything learned in the individual workshops and offer a larger step in the process. As the exercises build off the individual sections of a workshop, the assignments build off the workshops as a whole.

"Something to Think About Prompts : These prompts provide additional questions or advice to consider how an idea could be developed, and opportunities to take notes while ideas are still fresh. They also offer warnings for common pitfalls about a topic.

Brainstorming Questions : The brainstorming questions are designed to get you thinking about aspects of that section, and help you figure out what you want from your novel as it pertains to that section.

Throughout the book, youll find exercises and writing prompts to help you develop your idea into a novel plan. I highly encourage you to do the exercises, take notes, and write down thoughts as prompted throughout the sections (as well as any ideas you might have as you read). Even when you know the answer to a posed question, the act of putting it on paper crystallizes the thought and clarifies your idea.

Its not uncommon to feel we know something, but then when we write it down, its not as developed or clear as we first thought. This is one reason novels stall after a few chapters or we get stuck even though we know what should happen. Writing it down really does make the process easier.

As you do the exercises, feel free to brainstorm and pull in ideas that interest you. Sometimes you wont know what a detail will be until you answer one of the later questions. For example, you might know from one workshop that your protagonist has a dark secret, but not what that secret is until you reach an exercise that forces you to identify it. Or you might think of something in one workshop you hadnt considered before, but which really works for an exercise in an earlier workshop. Writing can be very organic, so dont be afraid to jump around if you need to. You can always go back and revise any exercise or assignment after youve done them all. Let your subconscious run free and see where it takes you.

Youll likely notice that certain information or ideas will start showing up throughout the various exercises. This repetition is good, as it means youre pinpointing what matters to the novel and adding deeper layers to those points, connecting them to other valuable elements of the story. These common elements or details are usually the core aspects of the novelthe heart and soul of the tale you want to tell. When you see these recurring ideas, try embracing them and developing them as much as possible. Theyre probably your subconscious telling you whats important.