Do you plan what's going to happen in your stories before you start or do they tend to write themselves once you begin? If you plan, how strictly do you stick to your plan?
I tend to just start writing and then go back and change bits around if they don't fit, but just wondering if it's easier to dedicate time to planning the story first.
I have heard famous authors say that the biggest lesson they learned from writing their first novel was to plan their novels from the beginning to the end. Many said they started with a rough outline of their first novel because they lacked the knowledge of how to plan properly.
I confess I learned the hard way. I would have saved myself much time and consternation, if I had thoroughly planned my novel. I should have outlined my novel from the beginning to the middle, and then from the middle to the end.
I had to go back to the beginning and thoroughly outline my novel. I have found it much easier working to a plan. I stuck rigidly to my plot and storyline, instead of going off on time-consuming tangents. I shudder to think of the time I wasted.
TIPS ON PLANNING A NOVEL
One main storyline: keep the storyline as straight and clear as you can make it.
One main character: not too many characters, a maximum of five or six is best.
Your opening should be dramatic. Steam straight into the action. Introduce your protagonist early. A brief description of him/her and flesh out some details about the protagonist.
Frame by frame continuity.
No more than 5 or 6 round characters.
What are the functions of your characters?
What makes each character uniquely different from each other?
Define your characters by their actions, and by what they say and think.
Focus the readers like and dislike in your characters. How do the characters function: Elianor is sensible, Marianne is over-emotional, Macbeth is ambitious, etc.
Round characters are key and very important.
Flat characters play minor roles. Use Flat characters to help advance the plot and storyline.
Be careful that there are not too many changes of geographical settings or locations. When you do change, have a strong reason for doing so.
SENTENCES
Each Sentence : What is My Basic Point Subject? What Am I Saying About It?
If in doubt over a choice of words, opt for the simple word over the longer more complicated word.
Keep sentences short, use simple vocabulary.
Sentences should be visual and speakable.
One thought one sentence.
Build sentence round a person or solid object.
CHAPTERS
Each chapter should be a water-tight, self-contained episode.
Chapters should have broad themes, yet be strong as a unit.
Chapters should be short: no more than eight to twelve pages. They can be as short as half a page, or two, three, four pages in length. But three pages should be the minimum guide.
Sign-posting is important.
A chapter should link with the preceding and following chapter.
Who or what is the chapter about?
Where is the chapter set/location?
Chapters should end with a cliff-hanger or a hook.
PARAGRAPHS
A paragraph should contain one main topic.
The topic should be clearly signalled by the opening sentence, which is called a topic sentence.
You should be able to get an overview of the content of a paragraph by just by scanning the opening (topic) sentence of each paragraph.
The topic is then developed, either by further explanation, an example, or by a contrast of opinion.
You may occasionally need a linking sentence to the next paragraph.
Short paragraphs are best – long paragraphs only if it is necessary.
A break in the text occurs at a change of, Subject, Time, Place and Viewpoint, and indicated by asterisks or a white space between sections.
DIALOGUE
It is vitally important to have your characters talk to each other.
Use stream-of-thought for secret, or private, or highly individual experience.
Use characters’ streams of thought to let people know their inner world; perhaps reveal things that would not be revealed in any other way.
What did your characters, think, see, hear, smell, taste or feel.
Is your dialogue speakable?
Does your dialogue make sense when spoken aloud?
Don’t have your characters explain too much in their conversations with each other unless it’s essential.
The best dialogue is when the reader eavesdrops on conversations and uses his/her intelligence to fill in the gaps.
Read the best traditional and contemporary plays to see how dialogue works.
SHOW DON’T TELL
Use your imagination to picture the scene you are writing about.
What do your characters see, hear, touch, taste, smell.
Use vivid descriptions.
There should be something visual on every page.
Use real life experiences to describe characters, scenes and locations.
FAMOUS AUTHOR’S ADVICE
Henry James : Dramatise, Dramatise, Dramatise. Add as much credible drama and suspense as possible.
Ruth Padell : Show Don’t Tell. Do not narrate when your characters can explain themselves and each other, by what they say, think and do.
Walter Allen : Settings are centrally important and should be generally motivated.
What is the purpose of the setting?
What is its role in the novel?
Raleigh : Good novelists are great novel readers.
James Patterson : Outline, outline, outline. Plan you novel. Have the beginning, middle and end. List your chapters before you start writing.
FR and QD Leavis : The Function of characters, their roles in the novel should be made clear.
What is unique to each individual character?
Alain : ( French Philosopher ) An abstract style is always bad. Your sentences should be full of stones, metals, chairs, tables, animals, men and women.
George Orwell:
A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus:
1. What am I trying to say?
2. What words will express it?
3. What image or idiom will make it clearer?
4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?
And he will probably ask himself two more:
1. Could I put it more shortly?
2. Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?
One can often be in doubt about the effect of a word or a phrase, and one needs rules that one can rely on when instinct fails. I think the following rules will cover most cases:
1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
Maxim Gorky was talking to his good friend Anton Chekhov about literature. Their conversation turned to the subject of planning.
‘Should I plan for my next novel?’ asked Gorky.
Now Chekhov knew that Gorky was not a good planner.
He replied, ‘This is not a question about literature it is a question about psychiatry.’
Gorky was perplexed. ‘I don’t understand what you mean,’ he said.
Chekhov said, ‘Anyone who attempts to write a novel without a plan must be mad.’
I hope that helps.
Readers feel free to copy and edit my guide to suit themselves.
Good luck.
I always plan. Scenes tend to add themselves as I go along, but if I didn't have an outline I'd never get to the end :)
I don't plan per se but the story unfolds as I write - I have to be careful not to let it run away though!