Do you know precisely the subjects that you will talk about in your story, the theme(s) of your book, or do you just start with a story without knowing where it will lead you
And, do you begin with a basic storyline, with other subjects (unknown beforehand) that will graft on it as the story will progress, or do you set/detremine them upstream in a precise plan ?
I have my plot and storyline before I start.
My Basic Plan and Self Help Guide:
1) One main storyline: keep the storyline as straight and clear as I can make it.
2) One main character: not too many characters, a maximum of five or six is best.
3) Dramatic opening. Steam straight into the action. Introduce my protagonist early. A brief description of him/her and flesh out some details about the protagonist.
4) No more than 5 or 6 round characters.
5) Flat characters play minor roles. Use flat characters to help advance the plot and storyline.
6) Be careful that there are not too many changes of geographical settings or locations. Have a strong reason for doing so.
7) Biography of each of my characters. What are the functions of my characters?
8) What makes each round-character uniquely different from each other?
9) Define characters by their actions, and by what they say and think.
10) Focus the readers like and dislike in my characters. How do the characters function: Elianor is sensible, Marianne is over-emotional, Macbeth is ambitious, etc.
CHAPTERS
11) Use working chapter titles.
12) Each chapter should be a water-tight, self-contained episode.
13) Chapters should have broad themes, yet be strong as a unit.
14) Chapters should be no more than eight to twelve pages. But three pages should be the minimum guide.
15) A chapter should link with the preceding and following chapter.
16) Who or what is the chapter about?
17) Where is the chapter set/location?
18) Chapters should end with a cliff-hanger or a hook.
DIALOGUE
19) It is vitally important to have my characters talk to each other.
20) Use stream-of-thought for secret, for private, or highly individual experience.
21) Use characters’ streams of thought to let people know their inner world; perhaps reveal things that would not be revealed in any other way.
22) What did my characters, think, see, hear, smell, taste or feel.
23) Is my dialogue speakable?
24) Does your dialogue make sense when spoken aloud?
25) Don’t have characters explain too much in their conversations with each other unless it’s essential.
26) The best dialogue is when the reader eavesdrops on conversations and uses his/her intelligence to fill in the gaps.
CAN I SEE IT
27) Use my imagination to picture the scene you are writing about.
28) What do my characters see, hear, touch, taste, smell.
29) Use vivid descriptions.
30) There should be something visual on every page.
31) Use real life experiences to describe characters, scenes and locations.
FAMOUS AUTHOR’S ADVICE
32) Henry James : Dramatise, Dramatise, Dramatise. Add as much credible drama and suspense as possible.
33) 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.
34) Walter Allen : Settings are centrally important and should be generally motivated.
35) What is the purpose of the setting?
36) What is its role in the novel?
37) Raleigh : Good novelists are great novel readers.
38) James Patterson : Outline, outline, outline. Plan you novel. Have the beginning, middle and end. List your chapters before you start writing.
38) FR and QD Leavis : The Function of characters, their roles in the novel should be made clear.
39) What is unique to each individual character?
40) 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:
(i) Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
(ii) Never use a long word where a short one will do.
(iii) If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
(iv) Never use the passive where you can use the active. Use short sentences for pace, and write in the active voice.
(v) Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
I hope that helps.
Readers are free to copy my self help plan and guide.
I'm planner, I plan the whole thing from A to Z and only then do I start writing. I think it's a lot easier and better if you know the ending since the start so you can work your way up to it and build towards it. I also add in all the themes I want but never hesitate to change, remove/add things. I start with my characters, setting and world then I make my plot. I just plan chapter-by-chapter with basic basic outlines for each, tracking everything going on in there, and how many different parts of my book's main and corresponding events come together in each.