Plotting a Novel Length Work

One of the many ways to pot a novel. Personally I use the 3 act structure to loosely plan before I start writing. There are things I can’t plot and I have to write to discover/figure them out.

Also I don’t agree with number 1 - for me a character doesn’t have to be sympathetic or even likeable, they have to be interesting.

Er... none of the above?

For me, it's more like: Have characters and "starting scenario", and hopefully at least a vague idea of what kind of ending the ending is. Write down words as they come to me. At some point, have no idea what happens next. Know that I need a Thing that fits these parameters, has this effect on pacing, and will cause/enable these actions/events in the future. What is Thing? Have no idea; get stuck for days/weeks/years.

I'm really trying to find better tools to avoid the stuck-for-years part. Did not enjoy that, last time out....

I think that there are as many processes as there are novels and writers.

Rather than looking for the "one true way" it's perhaps more helpful to look at possible ways.

I note, by the way, that having a sympathetic character is not a requirement and may even be a hinderance for some writers and some books.

There are an awful lot of very much loved and read novels whose primary characters are not "sympathetic." Off the top of my head, I think of Austen's Emma, a novel that Austen herself said in a letter to her sister "I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like.” Another less than sympathetic hero is Dunnet's Lymond; Lymond spends much of the first book being interesting, and annoying, but not actually likeable.

Well, I kind of whack stuff out until it's vaguely novel-length, and then I hack away the bits that don't work and flesh out the bits that do.

Less facetiously: my stuff usually starts with one scene/character. Worldbuilding and plot grow together. When I start drafting I have the end, and two or three touchstone moments. Plotting and pacing happen by feel, if that makes any sense. What I've found, having finished a bunch of books at this point, is that my plots tend to naturally divide themselves into thirds. This is probably because of the reading I've done in my life, which generally conforms to a three-act structure.

But I'm a discovery writer. Too much thinking ahead actually slows me down, because getting bogged down too early in the details I'll need to resolve before finishing absolutely cripples my creativity.

I don't expect anyone else to do it the way I do.

InkFinger said:

I would love to hear any process that people are willing to share.

Click to expand...

'Sympathetic characters' might be more useful as a concept to newer writers (like me) than to established writers. It's a relatively easy way to encourage a reader to give your book a look. I didn't want to write a likable protagonist, for example, and I succeeded brilliantly in getting people to dislike my protagonist , but have come to realize that making my characters likable engages readers more easily. So that's now on my radar.

As I grow into a better writer, perhaps I will find other ways to engage readers than through sympathy. So I will agree with sympathetic as a good trait when plotting a novel, with those caveats.

On the subject of caveats, Humbert Humbert is anything but likable; he's deplorable... and yet he is still likable. Because he defends his deplorable position in true boot-straps spirit. So even this extreme example of unlikable character has qualities to get behind--i.e. is, in a sense, likable. Or compelling, if we differ on the definition, but his determination to articulate his reasons for holding a misanthropic view is admirable.

OK--plotting a novel length work.

I've heard that forty scenes is about right for a novel. A scene is often about 1000-4000 words. A scene has a defined structure, by and large. So, toss into the pot the idea of forty scenes in sequence.

If bending your one protagonist to the three act structure does not require forty scenes, then I'd agree that a second goal (and arc) from a second character, integrated into the story and hopefully providing direct conflict, can get a person there.

I use the snowflake method, and this aims for ~ forty scenes. Like Liz, I hash out words and aim for a word count knowing there will be much accordioning back and forth during revision. I'm on draft four at the moment and sitting at 118,000 words. The first draft looked like it wouldn't break 90,000. I managed to get it to 115,000 but then draft two was down to 106,000. Up and down.

36 chapters currently, about forty scenes overall.

I am most interested in speculative erotica, where something about the sexuality has unexpected consequences for scientific or magical or [???] reasons. So the structure there is often more 1) sex happens for one of the usual reasons 2) shit that was unexpected 3) consequences 4) character growth and resolution.

InkFinger - And here's where the frustration I warned you about comes in -- because what you say is valid and sound, and my brain bounces right off it.

I don't know if this is going to make sense to anyone but me and my poor long-suffering housemate, but my latest revelation is that I understand story very much in the way a reader experiences it. Which, among other things, means my writing-brain shuts right down if asked to supply anything that isn't going to be in the actual words of the story. So for example, if a mystery story is from the detective's PoV and starts after the crime has been committed, plotting it by working out what the villain does before the story starts just ain't happening.

Like lizmonster, I do plotting and pacing by feel. And 90-95% of the time, that works fine. Unfortunately, when it doesn't work, I've got no back-up plan, and that other 5-10% involves an awful lot of bashing my head against the wall.