How I Wrote a Novel in Four Months, Part Three
Hello!
This is part three of my blog post on novel-writing. See parts one and two.
Writing tips are in bold.
This work is free, in an attempt to help aspiring writers, but please don't share it without linking to it here/proper attribution!
-------------------------------------------
PART THREE
And now, dispatches from the not-exactly-trenches:
I thought I had a handle on this writing thing. I was a professional writer, after all. I had experience. I was that kid with notebooks filled with plot ideas and character names and maps. I was prepared.
HAHA, no. I had no idea what I'd signed myself up for.
(This is not to scare you off. I hope to do this many more times. Just - watch your scone intake.)
What you need
Gather your supplies:
1. Have a good computer and good writing software (can't recommend anything, sorry!), or a notebook if you prefer hand-written.
2. In either case, have a notebook in which you can write things that must be accomplished, then check them off one at a time. (This was a huge help. I strongly recommend doing this. That way, you can make sure you haven't overlooked anything.)
3. Use slideshow software of your choice to keep various plot elements separate (writing software may have this built in)...or flashcards. For example, I had one slide for technology, one for each character, one to give a backstory to a certain organization within the City, etc. It was very helpful to quickly flip through everything, and to see each thing separately.
4. If you want/can, snacks and caffeine. I found that masala chai and chocolate was the best combination (other than food), for me at least.
Get in the mindset to write:
1. Set a routine if you can.
2. Prepare yourself to write every day. EVERY day. No excuses, unless you're ill or have something legitimately important going on in life.
Ready?
I'd always thought of writing as following a plot arc, with certain twists and such that have to happen for the story to work. And that's still the case. But my best writing happens when I set up a general plot - a conflict, some basic elements of the fictional world - and then let the characters interact with that fictional world. I know roughly where I want them to end up, and I have a sense of their motivations and agendas and what's going on that could derail those, so I can write in such a way that things should come together in the end. But getting there - that's what I care about. What happens in the characters' lives. I had to stop pushing the plot to get to that point and let the plot happen (this works for me whether it's a thriller or a slow meandering story). Let the characters act, in-character (very important)...because guess what comes from action? Consequences. And then more consequences. Soon enough, my plot started to snowball.
Putting together my plot was a challenge at first. For my novel, Aestus, Book 1: The City, I knew absolutely nothing about my characters' world, other than that it had to do with climate change, it was underground, it was far in the future, I had a specific geographic location in mind, and...that was about it. My initial idea was to see how an underground futuristic city would work in practice - a super interesting thought experiment - with a strong female character who wasn't clichéd, ideally (more on that later). So I sat down and thought about it. How would they get their water? How many people could a city like that theoretically support? How much energy would it use? Do your research. (I got very into this.)
That said, I tried not to let the planning stage (which is great fun for me) be visible in the text itself. I'm a big proponent of letting the "world" I'm building sort of just...be there in the background. It's annoying to me to have to read through pages of description. You can tell us that your society functions in x or y way. How do people living in it experience it?
I try specifically to show "the world" based on how it's relevant to the characters. For example, I could explain that the landscape looks like x or y, or I could say why it's relevant to this soldier:
(All of this information about Patrol, by the way, is a build-up to a main plot point. The build-up is very important. I wanted to give a human side of Patrol: why they're afraid, what their world is like, where they do battle, etc. I wanted an ordinary day in the life of Patrol that turns out not-so-ordinary.)
Planning
For those of you who are meticulous planners, I understand. I tried to plan. I really did. But the thing sort of mushroomed out of my control, and very quickly. It became more a game of "have I covered everything?" That checklist got very long. (Having multiple parties with conflicting and complicated agendas tends to do that. I liken it to being an orchestral composer - you have to keep all the parts going at the same time, and make sure everything lines up and fits together.)
The way I see it, characters fit the needs of the plot...and plots fit the needs of the characters. I've found that my stories start from the first of these principles and quickly morph into the second, sticking as usual to the general outlines of the plot just so that there's a cohesive narrative. But don't be afraid to do a 180 with a character, or to replace them altogether. Sometimes characters need to be revised; sometimes they just pop up.
For example: Gavin.
Gavin Tskoulis is one of the biggest (literally and figuratively) characters in Aestus. He's Jossey's bodyguard of sorts and oldest friend. He's one of the heads of Patrol, the powerful military that helps keep the City safe. He's indispensable to the plot.
And he came out of filler text.
I kid you not. I made him up to make one of the flashbacks longer to make the rest of a chapter longer, back when I was struggling with how to write/plot. In that flashback, I talked about Jossey's brother, and their childhood, and - I think because I needed more detail - his best friend Gavin.
One of my main characters - extremely important to the plot - just sort of...happened. From filler to indispensable character, all because I needed an excuse to extend part of the timeline. Literally.
Introducing Gavin to my carefully-constructed Plot-with-a-capital-P was like dropping a boulder into a large-ish puddle. It didn't create ripples. It created a huge displacement of water. One that I didn't know how to deal with. But he was there, and he was suddenly a Major Character, and I couldn't bear to delete him. In keeping him in, I instantly derailed a large chunk of my plot.
And it was an excellent decision, thank God. I'm so glad I kept him in there.
I should back up for a moment and explain that I was initially very insistent that There Would Be No Romance in this story. Why? I am sick and tired of epic stories with "strong female characters" in which the arc eventually leads to her wedding/romance/etc. as the - or a major - achievement toward which the story builds, as if that's the highest goal to which she can aspire as a heroine. I have no problem with her ending up with someone, but that should not usually be the focus of the story. Does she get the guy? Does she not? How about, whatever, great if she does, yay weddings, but that's not the point of the story? How else does she change over time? What does she need to accomplish or achieve? Who is she? So I purposely started out writing Jossey as tough but fair, as strong, as terrified of the dark, as extremely self-sufficient, etc. - in short, as a rounded character, regardless of the men in her life. In fact, I didn't really care much who was in her life when I started. There should be, I thought, one helpful young man who assists her on the bus when it breaks down, just because she couldn't do everything herself, but he was just filler. He was a way to get her to the main part of the plot where she starts to figure out the other dangers she's facing...by herself. She would prove herself, blah blah. She didn't need anyone. She was a survivor. She didn't show vulnerability.
And then I rethought a few things.
In particular, introducing Gavin was like taking a hammer to much of that. Not to the principles listed above, to which I think I've stuck pretty well, but to the way that she could be a strong female character with men in her life who cared and wanted to help. Along those lines, I did a complete overhaul of one of the earliest characters - the young man who helps her when the bus breaks down. He is no longer filler. Far from it.
There you have it. Two of my main characters literally started as filler.
I'm talking main characters. That's unheard of for me.
The point of this is, it's okay to rethink your characters. It's okay to experiment and rewrite large chunks of your plot. Sometimes it's necessary. Sometimes it makes it much better.
The ending
For about 90% of my book, perhaps longer, I had a very specific ending in mind. That ending did not happen as I pictured it. I am okay with that. It needed to be changed, so I changed it. Do what makes sense for the plot and the characters. If you really love a scene, see if it can be worked in. If not...don't be afraid to delete it.
Additional thoughts
1. When I plot, I write down what needs to happen, but when I actually write, I just sort of aim toward a general plot point and often abandon some of the detail if it's not critical. As they say in art lessons, sketch lightly, give the impression of the thing, not every single line.
2. Re: spoilers, I throw in little clues as I go, which is fun.
3. When I don't want something to sound contrived, but I have to write a transition, I try to throw a cute (but natural) scene in there if possible. Keep it moving without letting it become boring.
4. Pro tip: It helps to be less picky about the plot you've constructed and more picky about the characters, who often are not constrained by what you may think is the plot. Once they start "acting" contrary to what you've planned, that's usually a good thing - it generally means you've gotten a sense of their motivations and such, and relayed in-character actions accordingly.
EXCEPTION: PLOT TAR PITS, or WHAT HAVE I DONE.
"I think it's plausible enough"/"I can figure it out later?" are not solid foundations for a story (!). At least not when it's a core element of your story. Oops. I'm calling this a plot tar pit, rather than a plot hole, given the effort required to get out of these when they're truly sticky (such as relying on unfeasible technology for your science fiction novel, *cough*). Swimmers beware. (You can, however, often figure it out later. I do not recommend this method, especially as the issue occurred to me several hundred pages in.)
Similarly, do not - DO NOT - write an epic scene with multiple perspectives without working out the timelines first. Just...don't. Anything that requires planning...plan it. Do your readers a favor and make everything line up correctly.
One more note - regarding twists and such, and the reveal, here's a blog post I wrote to myself:
-
Click here for Part Four
© 2020 S. Z. Attwell
This is part three of my blog post on novel-writing. See parts one and two.
Writing tips are in bold.
This work is free, in an attempt to help aspiring writers, but please don't share it without linking to it here/proper attribution!
-------------------------------------------
PART THREE
And now, dispatches from the not-exactly-trenches:
I thought I had a handle on this writing thing. I was a professional writer, after all. I had experience. I was that kid with notebooks filled with plot ideas and character names and maps. I was prepared.
HAHA, no. I had no idea what I'd signed myself up for.
(This is not to scare you off. I hope to do this many more times. Just - watch your scone intake.)
What you need
Gather your supplies:
1. Have a good computer and good writing software (can't recommend anything, sorry!), or a notebook if you prefer hand-written.
2. In either case, have a notebook in which you can write things that must be accomplished, then check them off one at a time. (This was a huge help. I strongly recommend doing this. That way, you can make sure you haven't overlooked anything.)
3. Use slideshow software of your choice to keep various plot elements separate (writing software may have this built in)...or flashcards. For example, I had one slide for technology, one for each character, one to give a backstory to a certain organization within the City, etc. It was very helpful to quickly flip through everything, and to see each thing separately.
4. If you want/can, snacks and caffeine. I found that masala chai and chocolate was the best combination (other than food), for me at least.
Get in the mindset to write:
1. Set a routine if you can.
2. Prepare yourself to write every day. EVERY day. No excuses, unless you're ill or have something legitimately important going on in life.
Ready?
I'd always thought of writing as following a plot arc, with certain twists and such that have to happen for the story to work. And that's still the case. But my best writing happens when I set up a general plot - a conflict, some basic elements of the fictional world - and then let the characters interact with that fictional world. I know roughly where I want them to end up, and I have a sense of their motivations and agendas and what's going on that could derail those, so I can write in such a way that things should come together in the end. But getting there - that's what I care about. What happens in the characters' lives. I had to stop pushing the plot to get to that point and let the plot happen (this works for me whether it's a thriller or a slow meandering story). Let the characters act, in-character (very important)...because guess what comes from action? Consequences. And then more consequences. Soon enough, my plot started to snowball.
Putting together my plot was a challenge at first. For my novel, Aestus, Book 1: The City, I knew absolutely nothing about my characters' world, other than that it had to do with climate change, it was underground, it was far in the future, I had a specific geographic location in mind, and...that was about it. My initial idea was to see how an underground futuristic city would work in practice - a super interesting thought experiment - with a strong female character who wasn't clichéd, ideally (more on that later). So I sat down and thought about it. How would they get their water? How many people could a city like that theoretically support? How much energy would it use? Do your research. (I got very into this.)
That said, I tried not to let the planning stage (which is great fun for me) be visible in the text itself. I'm a big proponent of letting the "world" I'm building sort of just...be there in the background. It's annoying to me to have to read through pages of description. You can tell us that your society functions in x or y way. How do people living in it experience it?
I try specifically to show "the world" based on how it's relevant to the characters. For example, I could explain that the landscape looks like x or y, or I could say why it's relevant to this soldier:
"Below them, the valley spread out in a semi-circle, pocked with holes and rivulets where flash floods had apparently carved their way over the centuries. When it rained here, it poured, Wickford knew. Patrol lost a man or two every year to the deluges.
He glanced at the sky. It was clear.
Beyond the flat valley, the canyon entrances yawned, parallel gashes in the Earth. They wound their way toward the horizon.
The Onlar. That's where their caves began. The canyons were pitch-black.
Patrol would probably be at a huge disadvantage against creatures that could see in the dark."
- Aestus, Book 1: The City, Chapter 19
(All of this information about Patrol, by the way, is a build-up to a main plot point. The build-up is very important. I wanted to give a human side of Patrol: why they're afraid, what their world is like, where they do battle, etc. I wanted an ordinary day in the life of Patrol that turns out not-so-ordinary.)
Planning
For those of you who are meticulous planners, I understand. I tried to plan. I really did. But the thing sort of mushroomed out of my control, and very quickly. It became more a game of "have I covered everything?" That checklist got very long. (Having multiple parties with conflicting and complicated agendas tends to do that. I liken it to being an orchestral composer - you have to keep all the parts going at the same time, and make sure everything lines up and fits together.)
The way I see it, characters fit the needs of the plot...and plots fit the needs of the characters. I've found that my stories start from the first of these principles and quickly morph into the second, sticking as usual to the general outlines of the plot just so that there's a cohesive narrative. But don't be afraid to do a 180 with a character, or to replace them altogether. Sometimes characters need to be revised; sometimes they just pop up.
For example: Gavin.
Gavin Tskoulis is one of the biggest (literally and figuratively) characters in Aestus. He's Jossey's bodyguard of sorts and oldest friend. He's one of the heads of Patrol, the powerful military that helps keep the City safe. He's indispensable to the plot.
And he came out of filler text.
I kid you not. I made him up to make one of the flashbacks longer to make the rest of a chapter longer, back when I was struggling with how to write/plot. In that flashback, I talked about Jossey's brother, and their childhood, and - I think because I needed more detail - his best friend Gavin.
One of my main characters - extremely important to the plot - just sort of...happened. From filler to indispensable character, all because I needed an excuse to extend part of the timeline. Literally.
Introducing Gavin to my carefully-constructed Plot-with-a-capital-P was like dropping a boulder into a large-ish puddle. It didn't create ripples. It created a huge displacement of water. One that I didn't know how to deal with. But he was there, and he was suddenly a Major Character, and I couldn't bear to delete him. In keeping him in, I instantly derailed a large chunk of my plot.
And it was an excellent decision, thank God. I'm so glad I kept him in there.
I should back up for a moment and explain that I was initially very insistent that There Would Be No Romance in this story. Why? I am sick and tired of epic stories with "strong female characters" in which the arc eventually leads to her wedding/romance/etc. as the - or a major - achievement toward which the story builds, as if that's the highest goal to which she can aspire as a heroine. I have no problem with her ending up with someone, but that should not usually be the focus of the story. Does she get the guy? Does she not? How about, whatever, great if she does, yay weddings, but that's not the point of the story? How else does she change over time? What does she need to accomplish or achieve? Who is she? So I purposely started out writing Jossey as tough but fair, as strong, as terrified of the dark, as extremely self-sufficient, etc. - in short, as a rounded character, regardless of the men in her life. In fact, I didn't really care much who was in her life when I started. There should be, I thought, one helpful young man who assists her on the bus when it breaks down, just because she couldn't do everything herself, but he was just filler. He was a way to get her to the main part of the plot where she starts to figure out the other dangers she's facing...by herself. She would prove herself, blah blah. She didn't need anyone. She was a survivor. She didn't show vulnerability.
And then I rethought a few things.
In particular, introducing Gavin was like taking a hammer to much of that. Not to the principles listed above, to which I think I've stuck pretty well, but to the way that she could be a strong female character with men in her life who cared and wanted to help. Along those lines, I did a complete overhaul of one of the earliest characters - the young man who helps her when the bus breaks down. He is no longer filler. Far from it.
There you have it. Two of my main characters literally started as filler.
I'm talking main characters. That's unheard of for me.
The point of this is, it's okay to rethink your characters. It's okay to experiment and rewrite large chunks of your plot. Sometimes it's necessary. Sometimes it makes it much better.
The ending
For about 90% of my book, perhaps longer, I had a very specific ending in mind. That ending did not happen as I pictured it. I am okay with that. It needed to be changed, so I changed it. Do what makes sense for the plot and the characters. If you really love a scene, see if it can be worked in. If not...don't be afraid to delete it.
Additional thoughts
1. When I plot, I write down what needs to happen, but when I actually write, I just sort of aim toward a general plot point and often abandon some of the detail if it's not critical. As they say in art lessons, sketch lightly, give the impression of the thing, not every single line.
2. Re: spoilers, I throw in little clues as I go, which is fun.
3. When I don't want something to sound contrived, but I have to write a transition, I try to throw a cute (but natural) scene in there if possible. Keep it moving without letting it become boring.
4. Pro tip: It helps to be less picky about the plot you've constructed and more picky about the characters, who often are not constrained by what you may think is the plot. Once they start "acting" contrary to what you've planned, that's usually a good thing - it generally means you've gotten a sense of their motivations and such, and relayed in-character actions accordingly.
EXCEPTION: PLOT TAR PITS, or WHAT HAVE I DONE.
"I think it's plausible enough"/"I can figure it out later?" are not solid foundations for a story (!). At least not when it's a core element of your story. Oops. I'm calling this a plot tar pit, rather than a plot hole, given the effort required to get out of these when they're truly sticky (such as relying on unfeasible technology for your science fiction novel, *cough*). Swimmers beware. (You can, however, often figure it out later. I do not recommend this method, especially as the issue occurred to me several hundred pages in.)
Similarly, do not - DO NOT - write an epic scene with multiple perspectives without working out the timelines first. Just...don't. Anything that requires planning...plan it. Do your readers a favor and make everything line up correctly.
One more note - regarding twists and such, and the reveal, here's a blog post I wrote to myself:
"When do you reveal something about a character? Theoretically, you'd build up to it as planned – holding it back until *just* the right moment.
But sometimes you want them to just show [SPOILER] to the world in a beautifully crafted moment...that would probably totally wreck the suspense and the overall plot arc. But would be so satisfying.
So so satisfying.
Sigh.
#selfcontrol"
-
Click here for Part Four
© 2020 S. Z. Attwell
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