Writing Aid: Planning your Novel

Writing is hard work. I would never discourage anyone from writing, but I would tell them: it’s hard. Because you not only have to write – that wonderful act of connecting your brain to your fingers and your fingers to a pen or a keyboard and seeing words appearing on the page or the screen – but you also have to do hundreds of other things. And one of these things, whether it’s for a short story or a novel, it’s planning.

I used to be one of those non-planning writers, and to a certain extent, for short stories I still am. I love that impulse that comes from having a combination of words in your head, and writing them down to see where they take me. It’s a great journey of discovery and few other thrills are like it, for me.

However, planning is important. I dare say, fundamental. And yes, even for a short story, a few notes, a quick trajectory mapping your themes, your character/s’ path, will make your story better, more cohesive, with every word resonating with the others.

Look at this, Catch 22 outline/plan:

You can find more example of writers’ writing plans here in this Flavorwire article: Authors Handwritten Outlines

(and I so want to turn all of those into posters, or even a wall paper!).

Fascinating, isn’t it?

As I said, I used to be a non-planner, but I’ve changed (David Bishop, I’m looking at you). Now I know WHY you should plan your novel.

Planning doesn’t take away any of the joys (jouissance, there, I said it) of writing, on the contrary. And here are the reasons WHY you should outline/plan your novel (novella and/or short story):

1. because you can see how your ideas pan out BEFORE you’ve written yourself in a corner
2. because you can make sure all the parts fit in the whole, with the PACING you think it’s right for your story
3. because you can play with your STRUCTURE before you’ve spent hours, weeks, maybe months writing pages that don’t fit
4. because you can determine what parts you really NEED in your story
5. because you can insure each of your characters has a ROLE to play, with its own trajectory, not merely serving the plot
6. because you can see how the THEMES and IDEAS for the story fit and return and resonate throughout your structure
7. because once you have a SOLID OUTLINE, then you can write without fear and just enjoy what surprises and adjustments the narrative will bring you

Next time you sit down with an idea in your mind, outline it. Make it yours. Make it a map of your narrative that you can follow and choose your path on, and where you and your characters and ideas will never get lost.

I’d like to know if you plan or outline, and how you do it. I find that paper is still the best way for me, and only after I can put it on a Word document, but there’s also specialized software and post it notes on the wall: what’s your system?

And if you don’t have one, why?

Back with a vengeance (I wish :) An interesting article on new creative interests in older age

Apologies for the long silence (again). The best plans and all that, and some deeply involving events in life.

However, I bring you a very interesting reblog:

Creativity in the Aging Brain, a guest post hosted on the Artist Road blog (a very good blog to follow, if I may advice)

I believe curiosity, as in learning a new language, how to play an instrument, how to work with clay and so on -  curiosity keeps us alive, makes our bran work in new ways. puts us in contact with new people. I see it happen in older relations, that moment when they think they have done all they had to do in life, and there’s nothing else but waiting for death. I believe in raging against it, and yes, learn new things with passion for the sake of it.

Me, I have a violin looking at me, and a Learn Chinese for Beginners waiting patiently for my older years

How about you, have you made plans?

 

Creative help: Ralph Bakshi

I fell in love with The Lord of the Rings when I was 10 yo, and then the wonderful animation of Bakshi fixed itself in my head, the music and the characters’ interpretation, for all the years following.

Bakshi is now looking for funding for his new project Last Days in Coney Island. Still a few days left to reach the funding goal, and as a creative to another, a little help, why not?

Kickstarter site for Bakshi’s campaign

Plenty of art examples on the site, and details on the plan for this animation adventure. Let’s do this

 

Self publishing tools: PressBooks and ISSUU

As the market evolves, so do the tools available to writers.

Personally, for the moment I’m pursuing traditional publication. However, I do not exclude that in the future I may want to publish something independently: I see no reasons why (and I haven’t read to the contrary) not to experiment with both options.

Self publishing is not considered vanity publishing anymore (although for some still is, but equally, not all traditionally published books are golden), and it does allow for more personal experimentation, both in terms of narrative, content and marketing strategies.

I came across two interesting looking tools, both free at the basic level (of course there always premium options to pay for, if one wants more themes, formats, etc), covering most I think of the digital publication modes and platforms available:

PressBooks

ISSUU

I haven’t tried any of these yet, but I thought you may want to look into them if you’re thinking of self-publishing. They both come highly recommended (various sources, articles, etc), and seem relatively easy to use (usual procedure: register a free account, start uploading/choose your options, etc).

Once I’ve used them, I’ll write a review. If you know of similar tools/softwares, do share

Board Games for book lovers and Sci-Fi for 2013

Ah, Board Games! I love them In the back of my mind, I have a deep seated wish to invent one (do you invent a board game? do you assemble it? do you design it?).

In the meantime, have fun with this selection by flavorwire:

10 Board Games (for book lovers)

I support genre fiction in general, and speculative fiction in particular (genre has so many nuances, these days, good and bad, and for some, it excludes literary endeavours, which I really don’t agree with!)

This is an interesting article from the Guardian about the 2013 scifi trends (a HBO series of Gaiman’s American Gods? Sounds jolly to me

Writing advice:

Give yourself some off time from writing, now and then, and instead read a book, watch a film, have a walk or go to a museum. We have senses that can be stimulated by diverse experiences, and it can all be channeled to enrich your writing.

 

 

 

Is blogging really that powerful?

I was reading through a number of blogs – I’ll post a bunch of links next week so you too can procrastinate develop a feel for the writing blogs out there, those by writers and those for writers and the ones in between (I am master of procrastination, one day I’ll collect all my tips and share them for the greater good of procrastinators all around the world!).

Blogging, whatever the social network (Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, Tumblr, etc), always seems to be the one essential platform building tool. Making yourself known, creating an audience, etc etc. Some people are incredibly good at it, and they have in fact built a reputation and a profession on their use of social networks, and they happily share most of it for free and some of it through books and workshops and seminars. Which is brilliant, and a great help for those of us just starting out with the platform building.

However.

I can’t help thinking that it all sounds really very involving. The best way I know to build/enter into/be part of/help grow a community is by interacting. 

Interacting requires reading other people’s posts, commenting, establishing a rapport, asking questions and offering answers. In a global world, where some of the blogs you read could be in the opposite part of the world to yours, it means a potential 24/7 influx of conversations. And it’s brilliant, absolutely brilliant. But again, really quite time consuming.

Is blogging really that powerful, then? So necessary and impossible-to-do-without?

I don’t think so. And yes, I am blogging as I write this, but bear with me.

What most of the blogs out there don’t say is this: once you have written your books, short stories, essays…then yes, becoming part of a community and sharing what you’re writing and hopefully making it interesting enough so that people will want to buy your work (whether traditionally or independently published) is absolutely worth the effort and time needed. Also good for keeping up with those social skills you’ve been neglecting while writing.

But until you have that material available to you (not all that you’ll write in your writing career, but an initial portfolio), you should focus on writing and getting better at it with every new thing you write. Blogging is fun, and it’s good to be able to share your thoughts and experiences, but, if you’re a writer, writing  should always come first.

It’s about discipline, of course, and discipline doesn’t come easy (to me, anyway, I hope it’s easier for you). Which is why I’m going to switch the internet off right now and go write, because I have a novel to finish (and a second one to plot, and short stories to polish, and ideas to consider) and all the platform building in the world will not write it for me.

Are you disciplined? Do you think blogging is essential? Let me know.

Tools for writers

First of my weekly posts, something for writers.

1) Duotrope (a web-list of venues for submissions and competitions) apparently moved from being free to asking for paid registration (I haven’t checked it yet myself).

These guys (Diabolical Plots) are offering a substitute website, for free: a place where you can upload your submissions, keep track of acceptances and rejections, browse the available markets, etc etc. The system is still in beta, therefore expect a few glitches, but it’s worth looking into it:

The Submission Grinder

I’m going to register and see how it works

2) Two competitions here:

Made-up Words competition

The Jeffrey Archer Short Story challenge

 

My writing advice for the month of January:

Look at your writing projects, and make a priority list. It’s easy to get distracted, because all projects are shiny, but pick one and make it a priority, so that one will get finished. And then on to project number two on the list.