How to Plot a Novel

The easiest part of writing you first novel, is the plotting process. This will not take a lot of time, if you know the concept. What you should remember though, is that there is no ONE way to write a novel. For ever novel written, there is a method, and for every method there is writer.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• The initial idea A notebook A word processor or computer

1. The initial idea can be anything; "A boy learns that he is a the true heir to the throne of a magical kingdom" or "A woman finds out her husband has died in the war" or "A ghost comes back to the house he died in and demands retribution for his murder".
   
   For the sake of continuity in this article, I am going with the idea of "A boy learns that he is the true heir to the throne of a magical kingdom".
   
   In your notebook, write out a one sentence idea for the story. Highlight it, or write it in a really cool color. Make sure that you can see that sentence when ever you work on the story.

2. You now have a place to start, let's find out where to take it, okay?
   
   Find a name for your boy. I am going to use, Sam. Most of my male characters start out with this simple name.
   
   Now time to start asking some questions;
   
   1. Why doesn't Sam know he is the heir?
   2. Where is Sam at, if he isn't in the magical kingdom?
   3. How does Sam find out he is the heir?
   
   These are your starting questions. If you can answer them, and if they present more questions for you, then you have an excellent start to your story.
   
   My answers;
   
   1. Sam grew up with his uncle the Magician Dremor. Why?
   2. Sam has been hidden in the paralell universe of Earth to keep him safe. Why?
   3. Sam finds a letter from his birth mother when he is rummaging in the attic. What does the letter day?
   
   As you see I have three more questions to ask myself.
   
   4. Why did his uncle raise him?
   5. Why did he grow up on non-magical Earth?
   6. What does the letter say?
   
   I answer these as well.
   
   4. Dremor was given Sam for safe keeping because their world was under attack. Who was attacking them?
   5. The uncle did not mean to bring Sam to Earth, but the spell went awry and they ended up here, around the time the stock market crashed in the late 1920's. What caused the spell to mess up, and where were they supposed to go?
   6. The letter was telling him goodbye and given him the book of Alar, which was to be presented to him on his 13th birthday. How old is Sam, and if he is older, why wasn't the book given to him?
   
   Three more questions answered, and four more asked.
   
   Note: I am coming up with things off the top of my head. I have no idea who Dremor is, nor what this book Alar does yet. Use your imagination and don't put to much thought in to this. The faster you get this down, the better it will flow.
   
   7. Who is attacking them?
   8. What caused the spell to mess up, and where were they supposed to go?
   9. How old is Sam, and if he is older, why wasn't the book given to him?
   
   Now, answer these questions and keep asking more. Don't give yourself a time limit on this. Spend a couple of weeks on this if need be. Personally, I am aim for about 250 questions asked and answered. But, if I can get at least 200 questions, then I know my idea can be turned into a good story.
   
   Make notes all up and down the margins of your note book for cool things you have figured out. Keep the questions moving towards the middle and the end of the story though. As you can see, the best place for me

3. You now have your questions, and you have answered them.
   
   Some final questions for my story are;
   
   234. If Mara told Dremor that she wasn't going to die to save the child, then why did she fake her own death?
   235. How can Sam get past Mara to get the book of Alar and cast the spell to keep the universes from shifting again?
   236. Why does Sam have to choose between his kingdom and the girl that he loves?
   
   234. She wanted to look like the selfless mother that the people of Alaris expect of a Queen. All this time she has ruled the kingdom from her hiding place in the City.
   235. Sam uses Mara's own trick. He fakes his death and before she can stop him, he grabs the book and with it in the hands of the true heir, it finally opens.
   236. Sam realizes that he doesn't have to chose between the people and his love, Chasity. In order to save both he sacrifices himself, thus proving his loyalty and that he is the rightful heir to the throne. The book of Alar allows him to live, and Sam takes Chasity as his Queen.
   
   I now have an ending to my story. I know to end my story with the grand wedding of the King to his Queen. What now?
   
   If your note book is filled, that is great, you have an excellent start on the plotting of this story. Now the fun really begins.
   
   Remember all those little notes you have made in the margins? Get another notebook and answer them. All of them, and the questions those answer create as well. This will be an excellent start on your world building. This is tricky though. You can spend years building the wonderful world of Alaris. DON'T! Only build the parts of the world that you need. You don't need to build an entire ecosystem, as the story takes place in the City. But, you do need to know what kind of animals are in the City, and how they move. You might want to even sketch out a few maps so you can make sure that the sun always comes up in the East and sets in the West. More on world building in another article though. Keep it basic and only answer the questions that need to be answered to get the story written.
   
   Some of the questions you might have in your margin are;
   
   What does Sam look like?
   How old is Mara?
   Why haven't they ever given the City a proper name?
   Who wrote the book of Alar in the first place, and why?
   
   Some of these might be asked in your plotting questions, and some may need to be answered in order to keep moving forward. That is fine. Let the story tell itself and follow its lead.

Tips & Warnings

• Make your writing a daily habit. Find some time, fifteen minutes even, to write every day.
• Keep a notebook with you at all times, to jot down ideas for your story.
• Use baby name books to get names for your characters.
• Don't be afraid of writing things that make you uncomfortable. Real things have to happen to your characters to make them real.
• There is no ONE way to write a story.
• Don't let anyone tell you this is a waste of your time.
• Don't worry about getting things perfect, theme, settings, rythm, all these things can be dealt with, and should be dealt with, during the actualy writing and rewriting phases.

[jnevonne]

on 10/8/2009 This article is really inspiring. It opened up a lot of thoughts... can't wait to start writing.. Thanks!

[ricci-j]

on 4/14/2009 I am new to novel writing and this exercise has opened up the story to me like a blossoming flower. It is so exciting to watch it unfold. Thanks!

[snowkab]

on 1/3/2009 I never really thought about doing it this way. I normally just get an idea, grab a notebook and write a couple pages about what going to happen in the story, and then write about who the characters are then write the story. This is a really interesting way to it, I think I'll try this out.