What a Concept! Plotting Your Novel Conceptually

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

With two birthdays this week, major clean up after my home remodel, and prepping for a slew of people visiting in a few days, I'm dipping into the archives today. Enjoy this updated look at plotting a novel conceptually. 

I'm always looking for better ways to plot my novels. Every time I attend a great workshop on story structure, or see a phenomenal blog post, or read a fantastic book, I incorporate those tips into my process and update my basic plotting template. One of my pre-novel planning techniques is to start conceptually and narrow the plot down to specifics.

Thinking about a story conceptually allows us to brainstorm what we want to have happen without worrying about the details. Such as, you know you want a major reveal and surprise at the mid-point, or you want X to happen in the climax. Maybe it's whatever the protagonist does at the climax of act one that will come back to bite her in the all-is-lost-moment at the end of act two. You can shape the flow of the story even though you don't know exactly how it will go. Conceptually, you know how you want it to turn out.

For examples, let's check in with Bob and the gang.
Read more »Written by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com