“I have an idea for a book I want to write. Where do I start?”
This is, by far, the number one question about writing that I get asked. My answer has two parts.
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You would think that writing fantasy would be easy. You have an idea, one that no one has ever had before, and you run with it. While getting the initial idea may not be hard, sometimes fleshing that idea out with resources can be tricky. I tend to patterns, which can lead to repetition in my world-building, and I’m also finding that the adage about there being nothing new under the sun is pretty true. When I’m feeling stuck or uninspired, I submerse myself in research among the sources on my writer’s bookshelf, and when that research involves building my story world, I consistently return to the following sources:
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If there’s one thing I know as a high school English teacher and a novelist, it’s that mistakes in writing not only happen but often make it to the final version of any given work. Students sometimes get flustered when I find different corrections that need to be made in different versions of their “final” drafts for a given essay. I explain that this happens because of how the brain works. Neurological science has taught us that the brain likes to take shortcuts and will fill input gaps with what we expect to be there. This is why a “he” that was supposed to be a “she” or a comma that’s placed where none should be will frequently go unnoticed through multiple readings.
Case in point: A few months ago, each of the alpha readers for my forthcoming novel found entirely unique grammatical errors that did not match those found by others in a manuscript I had proofed several times before sending out. I am an experienced writer and a teacher of writing, yet it still happens. Who was it that said to err is human?
As vexing as this can be for authors, it’s even more frustrating for readers. This irritation is compounded even further when the mistakes occur in areas of continuity rather than grammar. Nothing will yank a reader from a story faster than a character’s eyes described as blue in one chapter and brown in the next, or a location being misnamed, or a scene being written in the wrong season. While these seem like rare mistakes to make, they occur more often than authors like to admit. It is entirely too easy to make this kind of error when creating a world and juggling minutiae within it for an extended period of time, and it dispels the reader’s sense of willing disbelief. For this reason, every author should create an author almanac for every story world.
Every. Single. One.
For those who are unfamiliar or need a refresher (don’t scoff—I had to look it up to make sure I was using the right word), an almanac is an annual publication of reference information. The content varies by need: The Farmer’s Almanac contains details about the dates of the summer solstice, the autumnal equinox, phases of the moon, and other details important to farming while the World Almanac contains details about cultural, economic, and political significance in any given year. Whatever the target audience, the specific information that audience needs is collected in the appropriate almanac.
The writer’s version goes by many names: the novel bible, the fact manual, the world building notebook, the story portfolio. Whatever you call it, you should create one for cataloguing all of the details of each of your stories, even if you write contemporary fiction in well-known settings. Keeping track of minute details is essential to the success of your story and its impact on your reader.
Once authors decide to implement this practice, they often ask how to contain it. Lots of authors use bullet journals, many use spirals, some use notebooks, and a growing number are using computer software designed specifically for this purpose, like Notebook.ai (note: this is NOT an affiliate link). I love the idea of having everything on the computer, but I am a kinesthetic, tactile person. I gush over bullet journaling, but I’m too obsessed about organization—while bullet journaling uses an author-made key to help authors find ideas that span multiple collections of pages within and across journals, I’ve found I need room to expand any given section as much as necessary while keeping all of the information that pertains to the section together. Over the years, I’ve learned the system that works best for me is an old-fashioned three-ring binder with tab dividers, notebook paper, and lots of cheap pens. Throwback, yes, but effective for the way my subconscious works.
The next place where authors often stumble is deciding how to format the almanac. The answer is: whatever works for you. As with any system of organization, there’s no one right way. I recommend assessing what you already have, grouping like things together, and formulating your content divisions from there. For example, in my current series my divisions are:
Notebook.ai, a computer program designed specifically for building and storing author almanacs (including those developed by role-playing game enthusiasts), organizes the free content portion of its services (with further categories available for subscribers) as:
There are lots of articles on line that discuss how to organize an author almanac. If you are stumped in this area, I recommend you look at those articles, find a system that works for you, then tweak that system as needed for your style and the individual story.
Whatever your system looks like, you definitely need a system, if you don’t already have one. Your readers (alpha, beta, and commercial) will thank you for it. If you do have one, how does it work for you? What organizational categories do you use and what tips/tricks do you find helpful?
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I am a huge researcher. There’s something soothing to me about the methodical nature of reading for details and pulling out pertinent information. It doesn’t matter that I may only use that information… someday. Or that I’m maybe, just possibly, researching in order to put off facing the blank page…
Okay, the truth is, research is as tedious for me as it is for the next person. To be honest, the only time I love researching is when I’m stuck in my current work in project (WiP). When that’s the case, it is easy and comfortable to research something I think might be wrong with my story and still call it work. *whistles innocently*
So research can be a double-edged sword for me. It can be a convincing procrastination tool or it can be extremely useful in my world building. However, once in a while it turns out to be both.
One of my favorite techniques for getting unstuck is to examine my WiP for flaws in basic structure. As long as I balance research and analysis sessions with sessions where I’m writing new stuff, this technique can be more productive than distracting, which is why I’m offering it here.
The very first element of story that I analyze is my plot’s structure. *pauses to wait for groans to subside*
Yes, structure. Every story has one. Much like the frame of the house, the structure of a story is what gives shape to all of the scenes. So whether you’re a Plotter, a Pantster, or something in between (like me—I’m a self-proclaimed Excavator), structure is the frame of your story. This is why it can make sense to test your work’s structural integrity when you are stuck.
There are many different ways to structure a plot, but the one I favor is often referred to as the Three Act structure. This is because of its origin in theater, where plays were/are often divided into three acts (Except Shakespeare, who seems to have preferred five acts, but he’s, well… Shakespeare). Today, the Three Act structure is prevalent among screenwriters, which is beneficial if you are a budding screenwriter or a novelist who hopes to have your novels made into movies.
My go-to resource for understanding and implementing the Three Act structure is The Weekend Novelist by Robert J. Ray (note: there is a revised edition co-authored by Robert J. Ray and Bret Norris, but I don’t sync with this edition as much as I did with the original edition)(second note: I’ve recently discovered the edition I prefer is out of print, so the previous link takes you to the ebook version of the current edition). In this book, Ray details the Three Act structure and explains how to use it within the 52 – 60 act formula used by many screen writers.
In short, a story’s structural parts consist of three acts and seven major scenes:
Act One, which introduces the Inciting Incident (the scene that introduces the story’s protagonist with a problem to solve and/or a goal to achieve, which is the major goal of the story) and develops some of the Exposition (background information necessary for the reader to understand what’s at stake in your story).
Act Two, which begins with Plot Point One, climbs to the Mid-Point mid-act, and ends with Plot Point Two (each of these three points is a major story event in which the protagonist is somehow prepared to achieve his/her goal in the story’s climax).
Act Three, which builds up to the story’s Climax and includes the Denouement.
To go into any greater detail about this subject is to reinvent the wheel. If you’ve been following this blog for any amount of time, you’re aware that I’m not a fan of reinventing the wheel, so if you would like to know more about the Three Act structure and how to implement it, I recommend beginning with this resource or the one previously mentioned.
And if you are stuck in your WiP—truly stuck, not just disenchanted, bored, or tired—then I recommend going back to the basics, beginning with your story’s structure, and analyzing how the pieces of your story work. If all goes for me as I plan, future posts will touch on other elements of story to analyze and other resources to help you go in-depth in your learning, understanding, and/or utilization of these elements.
I don’t know who said it, (I searched the Internet for it. I did. But I got swamped in quotes about writing and, well, I have deadlines to meet!) and I’m probably going to butcher it, but at least one author is known for having said you never learn how to write a novel. Rather, each particular novel teaches you how to write it as you go. For this reason, no matter how many times you’ve been published, there’s always more to learn.
With that in mind, I’d love to hear your thoughts on story structure, and how analyzing yours it does or doesn’t help you when you get stuck in your current WiP. Please leave those thoughts in the comments section below.
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A while ago, a friend of mine who is working on her first novel asked me if we could get together and talk about her current work in progress (WiP). She had several scenes written but wasn’t sure how to advance the story further and wanted to get some feedback from me.
Of course I agreed. I teach the occasional creative writing class in the private high school where I work, and I love to help students and friends in this area. So we set a date to meet, and my friend asked if I would like to read what she already had before our conference date. I declined because, this early in her project, I was pretty sure the answers she needed were structural and I want the story to be fresh if I ever have the opportunity to critique it.
Sure enough, the problem was structural, and we were able to diagnose it with two questions. The first one: What plot structure was she using? (Her answer: the three act structure I had previously recommended.) The second question: What were her protagonist’s inner and outer conflicts? My friend was able to detail her character’s inner conflict but said as of yet, there was no outer conflict.
Viola. Problem identified.
Any high school English teacher will tell you (over and over again if you were to attend one of my classes) that without conflict, a story is boring. Any avid reader will agree. Yet, as writers who are reasonably nice people, we often struggle with placing our characters in the path of trouble. We want to live happy, peaceful lives, and we want our characters, whom we grow to love, to enjoy emotional stability, as well. The problem is, stories revolve around conflict. They depend on it.
In a longer work, like a novel, you often need more than one conflict. In his screenwriting craft book, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting, industry veteran Robert McKee states that the Law of Conflict is: “Nothing moves forward in a story except through conflict” (210). He goes on to state that for a story to possess sufficient complexity, it must contain conflict at three levels: inner conflict, personal conflict, and extra-personal conflict. So, for example, if I were to write an epic fantasy novel, it would need to contain a protagonist with some sort of emotional need (inner conflict); someone she is fighting with (personal conflict); and something that has gone terribly wrong in her world (extra-personal conflict). In The Lord of the Rings this trifecta of trouble appears as Frodo’s innate, Hobbit desire to live a sedentary, quiet life (inner conflict); Frodo’s struggle to master the One Ring instead of being mastered by it (personal conflict); and the need to prevent Sauron from world domination (extra-personal conflict).
If you are working on a novel, and you currently feel stuck or are floundering for ideas about how to develop your plot, try analyzing your story’s structure (even if you are a “Pantster,” or are – like me – some sort of hybrid between Plotter and Pantster; every writer has to have some sort of structural frame to hang those scenes on). Take a hard look at your protagonist and his or her levels of conflict, and see if you can’t find some way of getting unstuck there.
As a creative exercise, try brainstorming these three levels of conflict for random characters. I’d love to hear some of your results in the comments below!
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I love journals. Whenever I see a blank stack of paper, my fingers itch with the urge to find the nearest pen and fill each page with line after line of story. Add a stylish cover and the sale is practically made, whether I need a new journal or not. This minor compulsion is so strong that my elder son is prone to pushing me ever-so-subtly past the stationary aisle of whatever store we happen to be in at the time.
One lovely side-effect of my addiction is the benefit a new journal brings to my writing. As already mentioned, a new journal begs to be filled, so it can be a great means of inspiration for me on those days when it’s oh-so-hard to write. Not only is a journal a great place to sketch out scenes for my current work in progress, it’s also a fabulous place to keep notes and ideas.
At least, until I need to find those ideas.
Because of my love of journals, I have a whole collection of them. Flipping through them to find a half-remembered story idea or a tidbit of inspiration is time consuming and, often, quite frustrating in spite of the elaborate indexing and coding system I’ve developed to prevent such frustration-inducing experiences. I had given up on finding any batter system, ascribing the time lost while questing through journals as part of a writer’s lot until I learned of a revolutionary new idea: note cards.
Last year, I discovered the phenomenon that is podcasting. (You can read about that discovery here.) A short while later, I drove through a suburb of Houston listening to podcasts randomly shuffled from the list on my phone. (My vehicle’s audio system syncs to my phone. How cool is that?) As I sat in rush-hour traffic waiting for my turn to be cut off by a light that changed color much too quickly, my phone landed on a show called the Hope Writers podcast. On episode 03-07, titled “How to Capture and Organize all of Your Writing Ideas,” the hosts of the blog discuss a way of using note cards to organize writing ideas and inspirations. (You can link to the podcast here. Note: This is not an affiliate link.) The system is so much like the one that I teach to my student as they compile information for research papers that I felt as if a 2×4 had struck my head. I swear I heard the timber plank crack as it figuratively crashed upside my skull.
The basic idea is this: instead of carrying a journal in which to scribble whatever piques your fancy, carry a deck of note cards. Jot one idea per card then, when you’re ready to begin new project, organize those cards by topic and viola! Another application is to organize those cards by idea (setting, character, conflict…) and file them in a box according to whatever system works best for you. It sounds so simple, but I cannot tell you how much this idea
has revolutionized my writing life. I found a durable but light-weight note card pocket at my local office supply store, so I can keep my note cards in my purse on bag without worrying that they will become tattered. This has allowed me to downsize my Mary Poppins-style purse to a cute bag and reduce the weight I consistently carry on my shoulder because of said bag. I don’t leave tons of unused pages in a journal because I left them blank in case I needed to add to the idea already begun there. It is easy to punch a hole in the note cards and add them to whatever upcoming story binder they belong to. (You know: those stories you can’t write yet but know you will soon. I collect those ideas most likely to be developed into full stories in three-ring binders of their own and add scene, conflict, and character details as I find them.) It’s also a great way to inspire creativity: find a few cards that connect in an intriguing way and you’ve got a new story idea or novel.
The possibilities are truly endless. Not only that, this system allows me to actually finish a journal to the point where I can pack it away and actually justify my next foray into the stationary aisle or—even better—stationary supply store.
While I’m not a fan of reinventing the wheel, I do appreciate discovering ways to make it run more smoothly. If you have any organizational tips or tricks you can’t live without, I would love to hear them in the comments below.
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