Welcome! My Process

Writing a novel can be a daunting task. Where to start? What are the most important pieces to include?

Some people prefer to outline while others stick to improvising. My process is a bit of both. Here's how it goes.

Character

I start with: WHO do I want to write about?

What do they look like?

Where are they from?

What are their hopes and fears? I really take my time in mapping this out, and once I do that I move on to setting.

Setting

Where do I want this person's story to happen?

When does it happen?

What is the culture of this location, time, or world?

This gives me insight into what kind of story I want to write. I let this mull for a long time before touching it.

Plot

Do I want adventure? Monsters? Witchcraft? Where is the strife? All of these questions need to be answered before I begin the outline.

I then outline all of the major plot points following the canonic rising action, climax, falling action format.

What happens in each of the three acts ?

I won't usually have more than about twelve of these to keep it streamlined.

Then I can start planning for chapter one.

Between the bullet points, I let the story do what it wants to do, improvising and letting the actions take me from point one to point two.

It's great fun, and there really is a method to the madness of writing novels even if my method is unique to my preferences.

If you're curious, give it a try!