I am not usually a plot boarder. I typically make an outline list and go from there, but this year I've challenged myself to actually make a plot line and sticky note my scenes to it.

So now I challenge you to do the same.

This is a plot line. It doesn't have to look exactly like this, but the idea is the same, tracking what kind of introductory scenes you have, the rising action, the climax, the falling action, and your denouement. 

I'm still basically putting my scenes in a straight line, working slowly to rearranging into the plot line positions, but it is still serving the same purpose: ensuring that my story is moving forward.

I've decided to do a difference narrative perspective per chapter, so I've used coloured sticky notes to identify who's perspective is telling each scene. It's been a great tool thus far to give me a visual of which characters are scene dependent, and as such, I've actually swapped out character POV's that didn't make sense to keep as a narrator. No one shot narrators, for me, please!

I have also been very specific about writing dates on these scenes so that I can arrange them in a practical order, as well as tell myself if events are happening too quickly or if I have huge gaps of time between events. 

This has forced me to answer the question: "So what are they doing during all of this?"
It had me realize that my (intended) MC was pretty passive, just waiting for events to fall around him. So I've had him arrested and now he's quite busy, maybe not physically, but his inability to rush anywhere to the rescue has him keeping track of events in very resourceful ways. It also gave his daughter a "call to action" which makes her more active in the story as well. 

This is the big important step before writing begins, because as you can see, everything in my story is already unfolding, it just needs to be written into sentences, paragraphs and chapters. And NaNoWriMo is fast approaching!

​Happy Plotting & Happy Halloween!

This past week's assignment seems rather limiting. I could probably dedicate a whole month to walk through character development alone, but alas, when I can only meet with my students for one lunch hour a week, I have to narrow down to the essentials. 

So going forward I have asked that you use at least one full journal page for each of your main characters. You can use half pages for minor characters if you want. I have a lot of pages in my journal so I'm going to be wasteful and give every character lots of room for notes later on.

On each character page I am going to put the character name and a description. You can add as much description as you want. I know that my students get very excited to describe hair, clothes, and other physical details, but don't forget to add other details about them too. My notes are usually more purpose driven than appearance descriptive. For example, family tree breakdowns are important in this generational story I will be telling, so knowing who is related to who and how they feel about these people (living or dead), is important to me. Knowing their education, not just how smart they are, but what their source of education has been: a family member mentor? a formal school? learning on the job? What are their obligations? What have been their traumas?

I have a very long list of details that I like to know about my characters, but for our purposes, I tried to blend the idea of characters and settings being intertwined, so hopefully you were able to figure out some history and purpose for your characters based on the environments they journey through.

The one piece I did emphasize is the Goals and Conflicts. And this I simplified by my tried-and-true Someone Wants But So chart. I've blogged about this before, probably several times, and I find this essential for character driven plot. 

How it works:

Character 1 Wants = 
For good measure, think about this in two ways. What do they want in this moment? This will drive your chapters.
Also, what do they want most of all out of life? This will motivate them to react to the obstacles they face along the way.
Your characters should have at least two goals at any given time, the Overall goal, and the In The Moment goal. 
Don't forget that you may have to dig a but deeper for the Overall Goal. Characters, like people, are not always aware of the deep driving forces they motivate them, or they aren't always able to put it into words. Often, what the character Wants and what the character Needs are very different things. 

The example I gave my students is: Your villain wants to take over the world. Great! But this is an In The Moment Want, it is just a step that they think they need to follow. 
WHY does your villain want to take over the world? To impress someone? Out of revenge? The answer to this question will give you your Overall Goal. And maybe your villain doesn't ever articulate that there is a deeper meaning behind it, but as the author, it is your job to understand all of those hidden secrets.

BUT!= The only reason to tell this character's story now is because they do not currently have what it is that they want. So what is that is standing in their way? Why don't they have what they want and how can they attain it?

SO!= This is the first step that your Character will undertake to work around or fix the obstacle. 

Odds are that your Overall goal will require multiple steps, so you will probably face another obstacle and another solution, in fact, you may be facing one for each chapter! That's good. If the goal was easy to achieve, you probably wouldn't have that interesting of a story. 

"Timmy wants to buy cookies. He takes his money and buys them at the store."

versus:

"Timmy WANTS to buy cookies, BUT the bully next door steals his money every time he leaves the house. SO Timmy builds a series of elaborate inventions to get out of the house unseen. BUT each invention has a flaw since he can only use scraps from around the house. SO he doesn't make it very far without the bully finding him. BUT the bully is so impressed with the inventions that he offers to buy them off of Timmy so that he can do practical jokes on his bullying brother. SO Timmy now has money and a friend in the bully who is less mean now that he is standing up to his own bully."

In this example, Timmy's WANT is an IN THE MOMENT. What he really wants is to not be bullied. So even though he wasn't planning on eliminating his bully, his motivations have led him to his desired outcome. The same result could be had if the neighbours all thought that it was the bully making all of that mess with the failed inventions, forcing his parents to send him to boarding school. In either case Timmy gets to keep his money, buy cookies, and not be bullies anymore.

Some of my students struggled to identify the steps involved. And it can be hard to narrow down desires and motivations, especially if you are writing from some real world influence. The closer it is to you, sometimes the harder it can be to see solutions broken down into steps. So to help, I asked this question: "What would change for your character if they achieved their goal?" Sometimes working backwards can help you to see how things could play out.

Don't forget to give motivational goals to those villains and sidekicks, too. They need a reason to be in the action together, no matter how similar or different their personal goals are from each other.

Good luck, Writers!

The next step is a hefty one. I have a lot to do before tomorrow!

This is my favourite step, and it is definitely one that I tend to spend the most time thinking about the probably the least amount of time writing notes about. Sure I might list some place names and maybe do a rough sketch of the terrain, but my pre-novel notes are usually so character focused that I miss the opportunity to really flesh out my setting as a character.

I know that that might sound weird. No, I'm not giving my landscape a consciousness à la Spirit, but you can't deny that some of the best books and novels have settings that feel real. Not just because you can picture the landscape, but because you understand the in's and out's of how it works, of how different people within that world interact with their surroundings. 

I explained it to my students like this:

It doesn't matter if your story takes place on a different planet or entirely in the confines of someone's bedroom, each of the physical places (or nonphysical if you're exploring a different realm of consciousness) has a reason for being, a history, a system of maintenance, a set of rules and expectations, and a meaning specific to each individual who either passes through or sees it from the outside. 

We interact with our surroundings so naturally that we often don't care to notice the cause-effect relationships that create our experiences with each space we move into. I have a very different relationship with my guest bathroom than I do my ensuite. I have a very different relationship with my grandmother's house than I do my sister's. I have a very different relationship with my teaching partner's classroom  than her student's do. And I have a very different relationship with New York City than someone who has lived and worked their all their life. And I imagine that I have a very different relationship with a Klingon ship than I have sitting in my own house. 

You get the idea.

So now I'm going to ask that you identify the spaces occupied by your main characters and make some notes about what these spaces mean.

I gave my students these questions to use as a starting point. If you have other ones, add them to your own list, and maybe even send me a message about what could be added. 

Obviously we could scrutinize every little detail and go on forever making a "History Of" encyclopedia, and I guess if that helps you, go for it, but it's okay to leave some room for discovery. You can fill in some of this information as you learn more about these environments from your character's experiences.

World Building:

1. Where is your story set?
2. When is your story set?
3. How long does your story take (hours, days, weeks, months, years?)
4. Where do most people in this setting live?
5. How do most people in this setting live?
6. What kind of terrain or landscape make up this setting?
7. What kind of landmarks, buildings, or structures are important to the people in this setting?
8. How long have the current inhabitants lived in this setting?
9. Have other people/societies/or elements of nature lived here before?
10. What are the benefits of living in this place or in this society?
11. What are the struggles of living in this place or in this society?
12. What does this society value?
13. What is this society working towards (Peace? War? Exploration? Profits? Technology? Nature?)
14. What keeps this society running the way it is?
15. What threatens this society?
16. How do most people living in this society feel about living here?
17. How do most people living outside of this society feel about living outside of it?
18. What are the expectations of people living in this society?
19. What happens to people who do not meet these expectations?
20. Are there more than one setting important to your story? If so, go back through the questions 4-19 for each of those. 

 
Happy plotting! And don't forget to tweet me #Step3Complete when you've made your World Building section in your plotting journal!

My first write-in meeting with my students has been a success. I had them begin Steps 1 & 2, so already they are ahead of my own planning!

So let's do some catch-up!

Your first 2 pages are dedicated to the things that you love about stories and that will make you feel positive about being a writer.

Your next 2-4 pages will be the parking lot that you put all of your ideas about THIS novel.

Don't have much of a novel idea yet? No worries! These pages are meant to be filled in on your writing journey. Even while in mid-NaNoing you can put jotting down those little blips of thoughts that you might like to use. 

As I told my students, if all you know is that you want to include these amazing green shoes that you came up with, then put that down on your page! The key is to put down any little thing you think might fit in your novel. If you change your mind about, don't cross it out! You never know when these little jems will come in handy! Even just a list of character names you like will be useful when you need that one-shot character to deliver a message!

Remember, it doesn't always have to be a written list. I'm a word-based planner, but magazine collages or even a novel pintrest page can accomplish the same thing - just be sure that you won't get too sidetracked when it comes time for writing. Have an offline version of your digital journal if you've started one. 

I'll be sticking to my notebook!

And I can't wait to get to Step 3! It is my favourite part of planning!

If you've prepared your idea parking lot pages, tweet me #Step2Complete

I will try to get mine done soon so that I can get us going on the next step. I want to have my steps down ahead of my students as best I can. 

Happy Planning!

It is October first, the first day of NaNo prep for WriMo's everywhere. Even the pantsers are sharing writing related memes and checking-in on the writing forums. 

I was on the fence about participating this year, but then my job description changed and I saw an opportunity to bring NaNoWriMo to my students. As I gathered and built resources to entice the students to try at hand at being authors, it rekindled the joyful memories I have of the NaNoWriMo community. 

In short, I won't be sitting this one out! I am also going to try to walk the talk I'll be giving my students about novel preparation. It's easy to cut corners with the "I know what I'm doing!" manta - yet at the same time I have 4 works-in-progress that need serious re-writing. Not to say that NaNo novels are publish worthy by December 1st, but it would be nice to not have to take a wrecking ball to those 50,000 words if I write with purpose.

There are many NaNoWriMo's and NaNoCurious out there, and you can drive yourself crazy googling writing tips. I am simply sharing my journey as I have done in previous years, except this time I will be sharing the content I am providing my students as they begin their first noveling journey.

Feel free to join us if you like.

Let's begin:

Inspiration

I am encouraging my students to create and maintain noveling journals as they prepare for November. The very first two pages will be dedicated to Inspiration. Lists, cut-outs, drawings, anything that uplifts them into the world of plot. 

There are two reasons to spend time building these pages:

1) It helps to identify the kind of novel you wish to create. Which parts from your favourite books makes you like them? Which characters from which movies move you the most? What kind of endings leave you feeling satisfied? What kind of perspectives grab your attention most?

When you know what interests you most, you are less likely to find yourself diving into material that bores you. It doesn't mean that you will be recreating these bits and pieces from established work, but it will give you a feeling to pursue. You need to feel the excitement, the joy, the tension, the relief as you work through your novel. You can't ask a reader to feel something you didn't feel in creating it. It would be like asking your guests to taste the chocolate that you never put into your cake - it's awkward and disappointing for everyone.

2) It helps to remind you about what you are doing and why. Your inspirations never need to be all about plotting. What is the song you play when you have a bad day? What do you use to give yourself an energy boost (and yes, many WriMo's will accept "coffee" as an answer)? And who do you think of first when you need encouragement?

Having quick access to the things that keep you going will be a great tool to get out of the November funk. Writer's block, self-doubt, or things getting overwhelming in your real life - all of these things happen to even the most experienced writers. The difference between someone who wants to write and someone who has written is perseverance through the times that tell you "just stop". The voices inside of a writer's head are usually the loudest, most hurtful, and discouraging of all, so get that tool belt loaded with as much positive energy as you can before your novel begins. 

What I Have So Far

Well, the good news is that I have a direction for NaNo that I didn't have 4 days ago. I get turned off of ideas very quickly if I can't picture the road ahead for my potential story. But this isn't a new idea for me. It's an idea that I've had planned out for over 10 years, and in a sense I've already written it. 

One of my WIP's has been sitting on the editing shelf for a very long time. 
Remember that discouraging inner voice I told you about? Yup, that's the one! And for the life of me I haven't been able to put my finger on what's wrong with this story. I know that it has multiple issues, but it's hard to see a solution through all of the days, weeks, months and years poured into one story. I've toyed with the idea before, but as I've been thinking about it lately, I think that it might be a reasonable solution. At worst, it will be an opportunity to look at the original story in a new light - maybe even remind me why I've held onto this story so tightly for so long.

What does this have to do with Inspiration? 

Since I will be revisiting a world I was once very immersed in, I am fortunate to be able to re-use some of that old planning. I still have the original playlist I made that I can add to or change up. I still have the outlines and notes. I still can picture the inspirations that awoke so much of the story when it was just a bud. 

My next step will be putting this in my journal. Oh yes, I have a journal, and I will be maintaining it with a pencil because that's how I roll - old school!

So that's my challenge to you. Find your inspirations and get them somewhere concrete. 

When you've done so, tweet me #Step1Complete. 
I'll probably need these responses to keep my motivation up, too. I guess I'll be adding you all into my Inspiration pages. 

See you for #Step2