Showing posts with label plotting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plotting. Show all posts
Vlog: How to Brainstorm Great Plot Twists
How do you come up with a great plot twist? Today I talk about my two main methods and how sometimes things don't always go to plan—and that's a good thing.
Vlog: How Do You Know When You're Ready to Write Your Book?
You asked, I answered! Today I'm talking about how to tell when you have enough of a plot to write an entire novel.
RELATED VLOGS:
RELATED VLOGS:
Twitter-sized bite:
How do you know when you're ready to write your book? @Ava_Jae talks brainstorming & plotting a new WIP idea in today's vlog. (Click to tweet)
Vlog: Writing a Synopsis Before First Drafting??
What is a synopsis, why do so many writers hate it, and why in the world would I write one *before* the first draft? Today I'm sharing the plotting tool I never expected to like.
RELATED VLOG:
RELATED VLOG:
Have you ever tried writing a synopsis before the first draft?
Twitter-sized bite:
Writing a synopsis before the first draft is a thing? @Ava_Jae vlogs about the plotting tool they never expected to like. (Click to tweet)
Vlog: How to Keep Track of WIP Timelines
Keeping track of timelines in a project as big as a novel can be confusing, harrowing—and sometimes painful. Today I talk about the lessons I've learned the hard way and how I avoid major timeline mess ups while first drafting.
RELATED VLOGS:
RELATED VLOGS:
Do you keep track of your timeline while first drafting?
Twitter-sized bite:
How do you keep track of your WIP's timeline? @Ava_Jae vlogs some tips. (Click to tweet)
Do You Need That POV?
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| Photo credit: evans.photo on Flickr |
I totally understand why this is a common problem. It can be hard, when you've decided to write a multi-POV story, to decide what POVs are needed to tell the story. After all, you're the author, you could write a story with five, eight, ten, fifteen POVs if you wanted to—but as is the case with many things, just because you can doesn't mean you should.
So how do you know how many POVs to use? And how to you decide what characters should get their own POV?
I always start with this rule of thumb: use as few POVs as you need to tell the story. This is a case where more is not the merrier. Why? Because switching POVs is jarring to readers, and the more times you do it with the more characters you use, the harder it is to get used to any one perspective. There are some readers out there who won't read multi-POV novels simply because they don't like head-hopping, so you really need to have a good reason for every POV that you use. As is the case with all things in writing, there should be a reason for everything.
But what counts as a good reason? Well...
It starts with really understanding your plot. What is the point of the story? What is the central goal and conflict? You'll want to make sure your POV characters are absolutely central to the story, in that you can't tell the story without their perspective. It means every POV character is directly tied to the central goal, so that their story is the story. What you don't need is to give supporting characters perspective chapters—every POV character should be tied enough into the plot that they'd count as a protagonist too. POV characters shouldn't just support the story, they should be the story.
So say you have a cast of characters and are still working on the plot, so you aren't sure who to make a perspective character. The way you choose is actually less complicated than you'd think: you always want to go with the character(s) who have the most at stake and would be most affected by the plot. And in the case of YA, these should all be teen characters.
Choosing perspectives for your story can be tricky at times, but I do think it gets easier with practice. Just make sure to consistently challenge yourself to only use as many POVs as you need to tell the story, and you'll be off to a great start.
Have you ever written a WIP with too many (or few!) POV characters? Or have you read any published books with that problem?
Twitter-sized bite:
How many POVs should you use? What characters should get their own POV? @Ava_Jae talks choosing POVs. (Click to tweet)
On (Breaking?) Writerly Patterns
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| Photo credit: TheZionView on Flickr |
As I finish plotting my seventeenth book (whoa), I've been thinking a lot about patterns. Like Katie says in the tweet I embedded below, I too frequently worry about whether a novel will be novel-length as I first draft. It's not uncommon for one of my first drafts to fall in the high 40k - low 60k range, and though I know I pretty consistently add 15k - 25k in revisions, it's still a little nerve-wracking every time I finish a first draft and see a number below 60k. What if I can't fill it enough to be the length of an actual novel? I worry endlessly.
So at this point, sixteen novels in, I pretty much expect my word counts to be low—and I usually can tell just how short it's going to be based off how many scenes I have set up when I finish plotting. I try to aim for fifty scenes and usually end up somewhere in the forty range, which is fine. But this time around, with MS #17, things have been starting off a little...differently.My friends are out there like "Oh shit, I have to cut 30,000 words from my manuscript" and I'm like "PLEASE LET IT BE NOVEL LENGTH???"— K. Locke (@Bibliogato) May 7, 2017
To give you some perspective, Into the Black in its current form has fifty-two scenes (the first draft had forty-seven), and that's unlikely to change at this stage. Those fifty-two scenes fall at around 96k at the moment (word count, of course, is much more fluid and still could very well change before the final copies are printed). It's one of my most thoroughly plotted books, and also—probably not coincidentally—my third longest manuscript ever.
So you can imagine my shock when I finished plotting The Rising Gold and had seventy-three scenes.
Seventy. Three.
This is easily the longest plot I've ever had, and I have to admit, it's a little intimidating. It completely breaks a pattern I've consistently had for, oh, twelve years, and suggests I may be looking at a first draft of well over 100,000 words—which is scary given I usually add 15-25k in revisions because uh...yeah. That's long.
Granted, maybe some of (or many of?) these scenes will end up being super short and I'll have nothing to worry about—which is totally possible. But even if I assume each scene will average out several hundred words shorter than Into the Black's average, I'm still looking at over 100k. But who knows? Maybe each scene will average around 1k and I'll have a low-70k first draft which would be perfect.
I don't know if this is an anomaly or if maybe I'm getting better at plotting and thus won't have to add so much in the end—only time will tell. But breaking a writerly pattern I've had for so long is a bizarre experience that should make the first drafting process—well, uh, let's say interesting.
What writerly patterns do you have? And have you ever broken any?
Twitter-sized bites:
What writerly patterns do you have? And have you ever broken any? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)
On breaking writing patterns while plotting, and the ever-evolving writing process. (Click to tweet)
Vlog: On Creating Conflict
Without conflict, there isn't a story, but sometimes coming up with conflict isn't as easy as we'd like. So today I'm talking about coming up with different sources of conflict, from central conflict to tension throughout the manuscript.
RELATED LINKS:
RELATED LINKS:
- How I Plot
- How to Pick Your Next Book Idea
- How to Write Realistic Relationships
- On Character Motivations & Goals
How do you figure out conflict for your manuscripts?
Twitter-sized bite:
Struggling to figure out the conflict for your WIP? Author @Ava_Jae vlogs some tips. (Click to tweet)
5 Essentials to Establish Before You Start Plotting (or Writing)
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| Photo credit: E V Peters on Flickr |
(P.S.: As always, these are suggestions and I'm in no way suggesting it's impossible to plot or pants without them. But establishing these upfront can certainly make the process a little smoother—and easier.)
- The basic premise. What is your book about? What elements does it involve? This is a pretty obvious starting point because it'd be difficult to start plotting or writing a book without a premise in mind. A general idea of the what is important as you get started—even if that what is still pretty vague, it helps to start here so you can flesh that out before you dive in.
- Your characters' goals. Knowing your main characters' goals upfront is absolutely essential to making sure you don't accidentally write a passive character. This means knowing what your character wants to accomplish on page one and what they want to accomplish near the end (because those things can change!). It's okay if your characters' goals evolve throughout the course of the book—the important thing is that you make sure they always have some kind of goal they're striving for—in every single scene. Because if your characters don't have a goal, chances are likely they'll lose their agency because they won't be pushing for anything—instead, the plot will be pushing them around.
- The opposition to your characters' goals. Of course, there's no story if your characters can easily accomplish their goals. Knowing what the opposition is to your characters' goals and what will make it difficult for them to accomplish what they want is important to establish the foundation of the conflict—and conflict, of course, is essential to any story.
- What's at stake? Relatedly, knowing what's at stake is important when considering your characters' goals, because with little at stake, your character isn't risking much, and thus there isn't much making your story compelling. Consider both what's at stake in the macro sense (saving the world) and what's at stake personally for your character (saving their sister, for example). By establishing the stakes early on and making them personal, you'll make it much easier both for yourself while you're writing and your future readers to connect with the protagonist and care about the protagonist's journey.
- The general setting. While you don't have to have every world building element established upfront (I certainly don't), it's always a good idea to have a basic understanding of the setting. Where is your story located? What basics do you know about this setting? The setting is great to keep in mind as you plot or pants especially because it can play a role in the plot if you let it.
Once you've established these five essential elements, you have enough to start considering the story as a whole—whether that means brainstorming and plotting in earnest or jumping into a draft is up to you. All the other details—more information about your cast of characters, narrators, tense, POV, the structure of the story itself—will fall into place as you push yourself to consider the story more deeply. But once you have these five essentials in place, you've got a pretty good foundation to build the rest of the story on.
What else do you consider before plotting (or pantsing) a WIP?
Twitter-sized bites:
Think you might be ready to start plotting but aren't sure? Author @Ava_Jae talks 5 essentials to establish first. (Click to tweet)
Think you might be ready to start pantsing your WIP but aren't sure? @Ava_Jae talks 5 essentials to establish first. (Click to tweet)
Vlog: On Plotting a Sequel/Series
In which I talk about an integral part of working on a series: plotting sequels and tips for series development.
RELATED VLOGS:
RELATED VLOGS:
Have you ever worked on a series?
Twitter-sized bite:
From plotting sequels to development over a series, author @Ava_Jae vlogs series-writing tips. (Click to tweet)
How to Write Excellent Plot Twists
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| Photo credit: Romain Toornier on Flickr |
- Planned plot twists. By and large, this is the majority of plot twists. In order to pull off a twist that both makes sense and is effectively built into the story but clever enough that it'll surprise readers, you often need to plan ahead. When trying to come up with a plot twist, some steps you can use to spark a twist include:
- What are all of the possible outcomes? Write them down. Even the most ridiculous, out-there outcomes, add them to the list.
- What are other outcomes I didn't include? By this, I mean push yourself. When you've come up with what you think is a final list, it can be good to push harder and consider what you could add as a possibility that you may have initially censored out. (Remember: don't censor!)
- How can I make this specific outcome bigger/more surprising? Once you have a favorite (or a couple favorites), brainstorm to see how you can make it bigger and more surprising. What can you do to enhance this twist? Again, don't censor even the most ridiculous possibilities.
- How can I make sure this outcome makes sense in the context of the book? Now that you have an outcome, built it back into the plot. This is one of the many reasons why it's helpful to plan ahead—it's much easier to build something into the plot when it's all an outline than it is to add something retroactively to a manuscript.
- Surprise plot twists. Now, this might seem a little incongruous—of course plot twists are a surprise! That's the point! But what I actually mean are plot twists that are a surprise to the writer. This has happened to me a couple times; I'll have a solid plot down, start writing, and out of nowhere a wild plot twist appears! It's always fascinating to me when this happens, but I also have to make sure to integrate it into the plot as I write—and rewrite—because spontaneity can sometimes be messy.
While those are two options for the inception of a plot twist, far more important, to me at least, is honing them in revisions. I'll often use multiple rounds of critique partners and readers to see who gets the twist and when, so I can then go in and make adjustments as necessary to make sure the twist is believable, but not predictable. Sometimes this means tweaking specific characters, or revising several scenes to leave a dusting of foreshadowing (but not too much!). It often takes some careful rounds of testing with readers to get the right balance between surprising but believable—but it's definitely worth the extra work.
How do you write plot twists? And what are you favorite examples from YA lit?
Twitter-sized bite:
Want to write a twisty manuscript but not sure how to nail those plot twists? @Ava_Jae shares some tips. (Click to tweet)
Repost: Pre-NaNoWriMo Tips
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| Photo credit: Moyan_Brenn on Flickr |
So here we go!
- Decide on an idea. This kind of goes without saying, but the sooner you think of your NaNo novel idea, the more time you’ll have to let it develop before the mad dash of November. And you’ll be writing so quickly come November, that you’ll be glad for every iota of pre-decided information you have. Assuming I get all my deadlines done this month, I'll be working on my #MagicMurderMayhem WIP this NaNo, which I worked out over the summer. :)
- Start plotting. If you’re a pantser, then you’re probably going to skip this step. But if you’re even slightly open to plotting (even a very flexible, loose plot), then I highly recommend that you try plotting in advance. As a regular fast-drafter, I can tell you that the best tip I’ve ever received on fast-drafting is to know what you’re writing. Just about every time I’ve ever encountered writer’s block, it was because I didn’t know what was next, or how to connect the dots between two plot points (in which case I plotted in more detail and voila! The words returned).
Point is, when you’re writing like a speed demon for NaNoWriMo, it’ll be much easier to keep the pace if you actually know what happens (or at least have a vague idea). Whether it’s flashcard plotting, a brief list of events, a plotting method similar to mine, or the combination method I used (successfully!) for #MagicMurderMayhem, NaNoWriMo will be so much smoother if you get your events in order before the race begins. - Tell family/friends about your November plans. We writers tend to withdraw in November. We sneak away to our caves and shoot daggers (with our eyes, of course) at anyone who dares interrupt our precious writing time. Letting your friends and family know in advance about why you’re going to disappear for thirty days can help save you some aggravation and disappointed people.
- Connect with fellow NaNo writers. Do you have a Twitter? If you don’t, I recommend getting one and searching hashtags like #NaNoWriMo to find fellow NaNo writers. It’s early, but people are already thinking about it (like me), and you’ll be glad for the support of your fellow exhausted/excited/slightly crazed writers come November.
- Familiarize yourself with the website. I’m not sure when exactly, but the website occasionally goes down before the big event to prepare the servers and give the site a fresh upgrade. That’s normal, so don’t panic when it happens. (It may have already happened this year, but I'm not sure.)
But until then, it doesn’t hurt to set up your account and browse through the site, just to get to know it if you don’t already - Investigate distraction-free writing tools. Like Write or Die, Freedom, or my new fave, myWriteClub's word sprints, which I talk about in this post. They come in handy when you're trying to write quickly.
- Mentally prepare yourself. In order to reach the goal of 50,000 words and claim your NaNoWriMo victory, you’ll need to write 1,667 words a day, assuming you write every day of the month. 1,667 words isn’t all that bad, and some days you’ll fly through them and roll right into 2 or 3k. But there are days when you’re going to be exhausted, when time is really short, when every word is fighting you, and those are the days you need to be prepared for.
It’s okay to miss a day. It’s also okay to get stuck and write terribly and cry over your keyboard. It's also okay to realize part-way through you're writing the wrong manuscript and start over.
Here’s what you’re not going to end up with at the end of the month: a masterpiece. You’re writing the first portion of a book (50k isn’t usually a full-length MS, although it can be depending on the category/genre) in a month. It’s going to be messy and occasionally ugly and embarrassing. And that’s totally okay.
The point isn’t to come out of NaNoWriMo with a gleaming, beautiful draft. The point is to get the first portion of a draft finished, so that you can complete your book and then revise it later.
You’re writing the bare bones. They aren’t going to be pretty, but they don’t need to be. - Get excited. You’re going to write a book. Or a portion of one, anyway. You. A book. Yours. It’s something to be excited about, it’s something to celebrate, even if the writing is so horrendous that you cringe when you read it back. NaNoWriMo is exhausting, yes, but it’s also exciting because you’re doing something that millions of people only ever dream about—you’re writing a book, and it’s all yours.
For those who have (or are going to) participate in NaNoWriMo, what do you do to prepare?
Twitter-sized bite:
Ready to gear up for #NaNoWriMo? Author @Ava_Jae shares tips to prepare for the big event. (Click to tweet)
Keeping Track of the Details
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| Photo credit: nocas on Flickr |
This has become especially relevant as of late, as I've revised a sequel for the first time ever, and I have to say I'm glad I took careful notes the first time around because they will definitely be saving my hide in the months to come.
For Beyond the Red I primarily used two programs to keep track of the details, though I'll probably migrate to just one in the future. The programs I use are pretty different, though—WorkFlowy is a bulleted list type program that I wrote a post about ages ago, and Excel is, of course, the spreadsheet program Excel.
Initially, I used WorkFlowy more for brainstorming, but it became a place where I stored details mainly because I came up with a lot of details while brainstorming in the program. I like to keep it there, though, because the collapsable bulleted list layout that makes up WorkFlowy keeps things neat and easily accessible. That's where I keep track of world and culture details, everything from how long a day is on Safara to which monarchs are ruling where.
Meanwhile, I use Excel for the more nitty gritty details—all of my language notes are in there, as well as a record of what everyone looks like, how old they are, so on and so forth. Both lists have proved completely invaluable especially as I've been working to keep things consistent, and I can't imagine trying to tackle a series—or even a single complicated book—without them. It's far too easy to forget little details, and having to go through a manuscript to try to find the answer is way more time consuming if you don't have a list set aside with your answers already.
How do you keep track of details in your manuscript?
Twitter-sized bite:
How do you keep track of details in your manuscripts? @Ava_Jae shares her method. (Click to tweet)
The Benefits of Story Structure by Janice Hardy
Hey guys! I've got a very special guest post today from award-winning author of The Healing Wars trilogy, Janice Hardy! Today she's talking about story structure, so hope you guys enjoy!
I've never been a "wing it" kind of gal, so story structure has always appealed to me. I find it comforting, and it lets me worry about the story itself and not whether or not I'm missing anything important. Even better, I can quickly drape any idea I have over my favorite structure to see if there's actually enough there to write an entire book.
If there is, then understanding basic story structure makes both the plotting and the writing of that book a lot easier. Story structure offers plot turning points to aim for and provide a framework for the plot. Even if you're a pantser, structure can help during revisions when you have a first draft done and want to make sure all your plot points are working.
Some writers worry that structure will create a formulaic novel. If you follow them exactly and take them literally, then yes, that could happen, but the strength of story structure is to let it guide you and remind you of the important plot elements of a novel. The turning points are more conceptual and suggest types of situations to aim for. And even when a novel does follow them exactly, if done well, readers don't even notice. The novel feels tightly plotted, not predictable.
How Story Structures Work
Structure is like the line drawings in a coloring book. How you create your story (color in the line drawings) is up to you, but the structure provides guides and boundaries to help keep you focused. Turning points such as, "leave the ordinary world" are just a way of saying, "the protagonist does something new that starts the plot." This can be a literal "enter a magic wardrobe and discover Narnia," or "decide to wear a dress to school for the first time ever to catch the eye of the boy you like."
Each turning point represents a major shift in what the protagonist is experiencing, and the choices she has to make to move forward.
Why You Want to Use a Story Structure
What makes any structure so valuable as a tool is that the details of each turning point can be anything you want them to be. The structure is just a frame to hang the story on, and having solid, proven turning points can help you decide what events need to happen to get the most out of your own plot.
They also help you find holes in your plot and places where the stakes might need to be raised. If you notice the protagonist never fails, that's a red flag that you might not have enough at stake or enough conflict driving the plot. Or you might not have a solid character arc that allows your protagonist to grow. Structure is a guide, and the scenes and problems encountered are all up to you.
My Favorite Choice: The Three Act Structure
Although there are many common structure, my favorite is the Three-Act Structure. Not only is it the most common story structure out there, it's an easy to use structure for both beginning and experienced writers.
People have broken the Three-Act Structure down in a myriad of ways, but it unfolds basically like this:
Act One: The Beginning (The Setup and Discovery of the Problem)
Act one is roughly the first 25% of the novel and focuses on the protagonist living in her world and being introduced to the problems she needs to resolve. Something about her life is making her unhappy, but she’s not yet ready to do anything about it. She might not even be aware of the problem, but feels unsatisfied in some way. She's presented with an opportunity to change her life, and she either accepts the challenge or tries to avoid it and gets dragged into it anyway. By the end of the first act, she's on the plot path that leads to the climax of the novel.
Act one is all about showing the protagonist's world (her life, dreams, issues, etc, as well as the literal setting) and letting readers see the problems and flaws she'll need to overcome to get what she ultimately wants. In essence, it's where you say "See how messed up this gal's life is? This is what she has to fix before she can win."
Act Two: The Middle (Figuring Things Out)
Middles make up roughly 50% of a novel. The protagonist leaves what’s familiar to her and undergoes a series of challenges that will allow her to get what she wants and solve the Act One problem. She struggles and fails repeatedly, learning the valuable lessons she’ll need in Act Three to defeat the antagonist.
Good middles show this struggle and growth, and braids together the plot and subplots, crashing the conflicts against each other. Each clue, discovery, and action brings the protagonist closer to the Act Two disaster that sends her hurtling toward the climax and resolution of the novel. She’ll start off with some level of confidence, sure of her plans, but as things spiral out of control she’ll become more and more uncertain and filled with self-doubt until she’s forced to consider giving up entirely.
Act Three: The End (Facing the Antagonist and Resolving the Problem)
The ending is the last 25% of the novel. The protagonist decides to take the problem to the antagonist. She’ll use all the things she’s learned over the course of the novel to outwit and defeat that antagonist. They battle it out, and she’ll win (usually), then the plot wraps up and readers see the new world the protagonist lives in, and the new person she’s become after undergoing these experiences.
The final battle with the antagonist doesn’t have to be an actual battle, just two conflicted sides trying to win. The protagonist gathers herself and any allies and challenges the antagonist. There is often a journey involved, either metaphorical or literal, as a final test.
Having a general sense of how these three acts unfold in your novel can be enough information for you to write it. Structure doesn't have to be a detailed outline of every scene and what happens. It's just a frame in the shape of the story you want to tell.
Do you use a story structure? If so, which one?
Win a 10-Page Critique From Janice Hardy
Three Books. Three Months. Three Chances to Win.
To celebrate the release of my newest writing books, I'm going on a three-month blog tour—and each month, one lucky winner will receive a 10-page critique from me.
It's easy to enter. Simply visit leave a comment and enter the drawing via Rafflecopter. One entry per blog, but you can enter on every stop on the tour. At the end of each month, I'll randomly choose a winner.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Looking for tips on writing your novel? Check out my book Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, a series of self-guided workshops that help you turn your idea into a novel, and the just-released companion guide, the Planning Your Novel Workbook.Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of The Healing Wars trilogy and the Foundations of Fiction series, including Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, a self-guided workshop for planning or revising a novel, and the companion Planning Your Novel Workbook. She's also the founder of the writing site, Fiction University. For more advice and helpful writing tips, visit her at www.fiction-university.com or @Janice_Hardy.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Indie Bound
Twitter-sized bite:
Author @Janice_Hardy talks the benefits of story structure on @Ava_Jae's blog + a giveaway! (Click to tweet)
How to Manipulate Scrivener Labels
So last week I participated in #YAGetsStuffDone on Twitter, which was a tag that lasted a week and encouraged goal-setting and cheering each other on to get their goals done. One of my goals was to finish plotting a project I'd barely started brainstorming, which I did both in Word and Scrivener simultaneously, writing the synopsis in Word and transferring it over to Scrivener on scene cards to get everything ready for drafting.
When I finished on Saturday, I posted my results, which looked like this:
A lot of people appreciated the color coding, as I did (it's so pretty to look at!), and some asked how to change the colors around in Scrivener, so I figured I'd write a quick post about it.
You can do color coding for a whole host of things—for two projects I drafted with chronically ill characters, I used the colors to signify different pain levels, for example—but I most often use it when I'm drafting a dual or multi-POV novel.
When writing a multi-POV novel, each color signifies a different POV. I like to do it this way because it helps me visually see the spread of different POVs, so no one character gets too much (or little) screen time. This is especially helpful in the brainstorming stage because it forces me to think about whose POV each scene will take place in and why.
Luckily, manipulating the labels in Scrivener so I can do this quickly is really easy.
When I finished on Saturday, I posted my results, which looked like this:
A lot of people appreciated the color coding, as I did (it's so pretty to look at!), and some asked how to change the colors around in Scrivener, so I figured I'd write a quick post about it.
You can do color coding for a whole host of things—for two projects I drafted with chronically ill characters, I used the colors to signify different pain levels, for example—but I most often use it when I'm drafting a dual or multi-POV novel.
When writing a multi-POV novel, each color signifies a different POV. I like to do it this way because it helps me visually see the spread of different POVs, so no one character gets too much (or little) screen time. This is especially helpful in the brainstorming stage because it forces me to think about whose POV each scene will take place in and why.
Luckily, manipulating the labels in Scrivener so I can do this quickly is really easy.
- Right click an index card —> Label —> Edit...
- Open Meta-Data Settings. Here you can change the name of your labels, add more labels, remove some labels, change the colors by double-clicking the color box, etc. As I said, I do one label per POV character, but however you set it up is up to you. Once you're done, click "OK."
- View —> Use Label Color In —> Pick your settings. I like to check off Binder, Index Cards, and Outliner Rows, so the index cards change colors and so do the labels in the row of scenes. If you want the little index card icon to change colors too, then you can also check off "Icons" but I don't usually bother with that.
And that's it! From there, whenever you want to change the label (or color) of the index card, you just Right click —> Label —> [Pick your label]. The colors will change automatically as you go label to label.
It's that easy and the results are not only visually pleasing, but helpful for organizational purposes. I definitely recommend it if you like to add a little splash of helpful color to your outlines.
Note: Like many Scrivener features, I'm not sure if all of this is available in the Windows version. It might be! But it might not. I have the Mac version so I'm not sure.
Have you ever used the label feature in Scrivener?
Twitter-sized bite:
Have you ever used the label feature in Scrivener?
Twitter-sized bite:
Want to color-code your outline in Scrivener? @Ava_Jae breaks down an easy way to do so. (Click to tweet)
On Combining Two Ways to Plot
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| Photo credit: erstwhile ungulate on Flickr |
I'm not going to lie, though—plotting this WIP was really hard. So hard that I actually took a break halfway through and put it away for several months before I opened it up and looked at it again.
The thing is, as completely necessary as pre-plotting is for me before I write even a single word of the WIP, it's not exactly the easiest of processes. With this most recent WIP I sort of forgot about one of the two plotting processes I've played around with that maybe would've made the experience a little easier, but for my next project I think I'm going to combine my two methods.
The methods I'm talking about are:
- Scrivener cork board. So I've described this method before in my On How I Plot a WIP and How to Use Scrivener's Cork Board posts, so I won't go into super detail here, but it basically involves writing brief summaries of every scene in your planned book, each on a separate flashcard that gets "pinned" to the cork board. Some scenes are more fleshed out than others, but I write just enough for me to understand the gist of what has to happen in each scene. This is the only method I did for the last WIP I plotted, and yes, it worked, as it has worked in the past, but I found it more difficult than the previous two projects I'd plotted, which involved a combination of this method and...
- Pre-draft synopsis. So I know on paper this sounds like voluntary torture, but I have been pleasantly surprised to find that writing the synopsis before I've written the book is a million times easier and more enjoyable than writing it after. Go figure. (I've written about this discovery in this post.) But basically this is exactly what it sounds like—opening up a document and writing however many pages you need to go step by step through what will happen in your book.
In the past, when I've combined the two it usually involved having both Scrivener and Word open at the same time. (I don't know why my brain insists on writing a synopsis in Word when Scrivener is perfectly capable of handling both the outline and synopsis, but whatever, brains are weird.) I'd write the synopsis part first, expanding more and more as I go along, and gradually transfer over what I had to the flashcards, which I would later need for first drafting. Both times I did this I managed to finish fully plotting the projects in a week or less.
Would have been nice if I'd remembered that while plotting the last project, but I digress...
Sometimes playing around with new strategies or combining ones you have can be extra effective, which is why I'm sharing it with you guys. After all, you never know what methods will work best for you if you don't try new strategies here and there.
Have you tried either of these methods for plotting?
Twitter-sized bite:
Looking for a new way to plot? @Ava_Jae shares a combination method you might want to try. (Click to tweet)
Vlog: World Building Part 1
You asked, I answered—here's the first of a four part series focused just on world building. Struggling to build the setting in your book? Here's a good place to start. :)
RELATED LINKS:
RELATED LINKS:
- World Building: Insider vs. Outsider
- World-building Tip: 15 Details to Remember
- World Building Tip: Holidays and Rituals
- World-building Tip: The Ripple Effect
- How to Worldbuild (Without Info-Dumping)
Where do you begin with world building?
Twitter-sized bite:
Not sure where to start w/ world building? Author @Ava_Jae kicks off her 4-part world building vlog series. (Click to tweet)
Discussion: How Much Do You Stick to Your Plots?
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| Photo credit: Maya83 on Flickr |
And since I'm almost between projects, I looked at a half-plotted project I got distracted from and made it a messy, but fully-plotted project, and thus began thinking about plotting. And how necessary it is to me, even though I don't particularly love the actually plotting part (I like having plotted, not actually plotting). And how different the story will look if I actually write it, because everything changes.
I've mentioned briefly before that I use outlines as guidelines, rather than rulebooks. But I thought it might be fun to go into more detail about that, at least in how it affects me.
From the outline to the first draft, I'd say they're probably about 80-85% the same—barring really drastic changes that force me to re-outline a big chunk of the book...but that hasn't happened in the first draft for me quite yet. From outline to *final* draft, however, the percentage is definitely wayyyy lower. For example, I frequently have to replot/rewrite the last third of the book or so in revisions (have I mentioned lately how much I dislike writing the climax and ending?).
In Beyond the Red, I'd estimate probably 70% stayed pretty close to the original outline—though I did change things throughout the manuscript, and yes, rewrite the last several scenes completely (I think at least three times). But with exception to the completely rewritten parts, most of the changes I made, though they were scattered throughout, didn't massively impact the plot overall.
Not so much with my most recent WIP. With that one, I had to rewrite parts of the opening, cut parts from the opening, rewrite sections in the middle, and COMPLETELY rewrite the last third of the book. There was very little that stayed. And I deviated while first drafting, too. So from outline to final-for-now draft, we're looking at probably... 50% the same? Somewhere in there.
So long story short, as vital as outlines are to me (because without them, I frequently get stuck, and also psych myself out about not knowing how it's going to end, etc.), sticking to them is not really my top priority. They're just meant to give me a direction so that while I'm first drafting I don't hit any major roadblocks—if only because I know where the story is going from here.
For those of you who plot, how much do you stick to your outlines?
Twitter-sized bite:
Plotters, how much do you stick to your outlines when writing & revising? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)
Plot Essentials: Climax
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| Photo credit: BookMama on Flickr |
The Climax is the moment the entire book has been leading up to: when the protagonist comes head to head with the antagonist or antagonizing force. In Speculative Fiction, this often means the hero coming against the bad guy in some kind of epic showdown; in Romance, it's the Grand Gesture, where the hero or heroine has to overcome their flaw and make up for being a jerk previously. Everything hinges on this moment: will the hero overcome insurmountable odds?
Sticking with examples from the previous posts, here are the climaxes for some popular novels (and, obviously, they contain spoilers, so skip if you haven't read them!):
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (J.K. Rowling): Surprise! Harry isn't dead after all—or at least, not permanently—and now he's back and ready to take on Voldemort once and for all, while the Battle of Hogwarts rages around them.
- City of Bones (Cassandra Clare): Clary finds Valentine and Jace, who seems to be helping him. Valentine reveals a massive secret: in a Luke and Leia twist, he's Clary and Jace's father and they are—surprise!—siblings. Luke helps Clary fight Valentine off, but will they be able to defeat him and keep the Mortal Cup safe?
- Divergent (Veronica Roth): Tris and simulation-controlled Four come head to head. Tris needs to shut down the simulation to save her friends, but can she do so without killing Four in the process? Or getting killed herself?
The climax, for me, is the most difficult part of writing a book—and it's the part I often dread reaching while first drafting. But with the right set-up and a sequence that gives your protagonist a significant role in the outcome (as in, no one should do the hard work for them), you'll craft a climax that keeps your readers hooked.
What are your favorite climatic scenes from books or movies?
Twitter-sized bite:
Do you struggle to write your WIP's climax? So does @Ava_Jae—but today she's talking tips and examples. (Click to tweet)
Discussion: Are You a Plotter, Pantser, or Hybrid?
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| Photo credit: Innovation Lab on Flickr |
Unexpectedly, plotting turned out to be a very effective method for me. I learned plotting ahead of time allowed me to write faster and helped eliminate most of my writers block, which turned out to be actually "don't know where to go from here" block.
While I don't necessarily stick 100% to my outlines while writing (as I've said before, I use them more as guidelines than rule books), I now don't start writing until I've fully plotted out the book idea. It's been an effective method for me so far.
That said! I am more than well aware that plotting doesn't work for everyone, or sometimes only works half the time, or only works up to a point for some. And if there's anything writing with the intent to publish for a decade now has taught me, it's that everyone's process is different. And sometimes one person's process is different book to book. And that's okay.
So since I haven't talked about this recently, I'm curious, and thus am making this discussion post: How many of you are plotters? Pantsers? Somewhere-in-between-ers? What do your first drafting processes look like?
Twitter-sized bite:
What's your first drafting process like? Are you a plotter? Pantser? Both? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)
On the Creation Process (or Why I Prefer Revising)
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| Photo credit: Dean Hochman on Flickr |
I’m not done with that, but I have started brainstorming and plotting something new. And even though I probably won’t write it for quite a while, I convinced myself that plotting it out now would be a good exercise.
I haven’t changed my mind, necessarily, but boy. I forgot how difficult it is to create something out of nothing.
Confession: sometimes I open up a Scrivener project and spin my desk chair in circles and circles and circles and call it brainstorming.
— Ava Jae (@Ava_Jae) August 19, 2015
Plotting, for me, I think is the most difficult part of the writing process, because that’s the time when I have literally nothing to go on besides a few vague ideas. That’s when I have to take a sentence and a few bullet points of fragments and blow it up into a full, plausible outline. And to be honest, it takes a lot of staring, (spinning my chair), and asking myself, “Okay…now what?”
This usually takes several days for me, at a minimum. And I have been making progress, which is great, but wow it feels like slow going. Still! Progress is progress.
The next step, of course, after finally finishing the outline is the first draft, which is probably tied for “hardest part of the writing process.” Though at least when it’s time to first draft this project, which will not be immediately, I’ll have something to go on.
But all of this has kind of been a concrete reminder of why I’ve really come to love revising so much. Because yeah, revisions are a ton of work, but taking what I already have and expanding it, and pushing it to its limits, and delving into the details and layers and nuances? It’s fascinating. And it’s so exciting because that’s the step where the distance between the cool story I imagined and the story on the page becomes smaller and smaller. That’s where I really start to see the story reach its potential—and become even more than I first thought it would.
And to me, that process never stops being totally incredible and worth the hard work.
But first I have to figure out where the story is going. And then I have to write it. And as difficult as those steps are, they all become totally worth it, too.
What’s the hardest part of the writing process to you?
Twitter-sized bites:
What's the hardest part of the writing process for you? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)
Writer @Ava_Jae says the hardest part of the process for her is plotting and first drafting. What do you think? (Click to tweet)
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