When I have a new story idea, I can't wait to start writing. However, I've learned that if I jump right in, I stumble more as I write and have to fix more things later. I save myself a lot of time writing and rewriting with some up-front planning.
Writers are often classified by their writing style. Plotters are writers who thoroughly plan—or plot—their novel ahead of time and work from detailed outlines. Pantsers tend to jump into writing with minimal planning and make it up as they go; in other words, they write from the seat of their pants. I, like most writers, fall somewhere in between the two extremes. I don't plot out every single scene in detail, but I do need to understand major plot points and my characters and the world they live in before I start writing, or else I find that my characters look like cardboard cutouts and world feels flat.
The five steps I cover below gather the information necessary to begin your novel, regardless of your writing style. What varies is how deep you go into each step. For example, when creating characters in step three, a pantser may have only a couple of bullets under their main characters' names, while a plotter may have complete biographies.
The tangible benefit of completing the five steps is that each step requires you to proactively think about a major element of your novel before you begin writing. Otherwise, if you jump right in, you'll encounter frustration in having to go back and rework your novel because you didn't write it right the first time.
Oh, and treat each step as a Little Up, and you'll see that you're making big progress on your novel, even before writing the first paragraph.
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The Tidy Guide to Writing, Editing, and Publishing Your Novel
Non-FictionDo you dream of writing a novel, but not sure where to start? Have you been working on a book for ages but feel stuck? Despite all your best efforts, do you feel overwhelmed? Here's a clutter-free guide for planning and writing your novel right the...
