I am writing again!

It has been over a year since I last wrote a blog. It is funny looking back to why I stopped writing; it was due to severe writer’s block. Now I want to get back into the saddle; just a few things I must do before Samuel Colbran, the author, emerges!

The first thing is my book, Lake Merrin. I was looking to write the second book in the series, Savage Rebellion, but I am unsure where to go and what I have written is trash. So, a total rewrite is needed for the second book, but I must read the first and its companion novella, the Great Spoon Heist.

That is a simple thing except for one thing, the chicken scratch font for the journal part that I decided on three years ago. It doesn’t help that I can’t read it, I might need glasses, but I don’t think so. Instead of seeing the negative of why I choose this font, I have grown as an author, which is why it is inadequate for my books.

Journal entry of Lake Merrin

Then after I fix the above issues, I will move on to planning out Savage Rebellion with my version of the snowflake planner. From one the best masterclasses I went to showed me how to use this method. I reviewed Lisa Chaplin’s Master Class; check out the link for more information. (Which so happened to be my first blog).

My snowflake plan of Lake Merrin

I like the snowflake method because, at every story point, you first have a One-Sentence summary of Your Book, then create a Primary, Secondary or Tertiary question to reflect on each arc/plot point or character growth. Then everything is reflected back to the original summary, which will expand while you write.

Let me make an example for a basic storyline:

One-Sentence Summary: It’s a political fantasy story about confronting reality. It kicks off in an echoing cavern with someone’s birthright being challenged.

Primary Question: Is the protagonist’s motivation connected to each arc?

Secondary Question: How does this affect the protagonist’s personality or flaws?

Tertiary Question: Do the protagonist’s choices affect how the present conflict/villain’s plans change in the story?

With each arc, I would see how I answer these three questions. It will become part of my process to cover some of these questions; how I answer them will organically help my writing strategy.

I even broke that down further, coloured-coded the story arcs for Main characters/protagonists, minor characters, local arcs, world arcs and finally, conflict/antagonist. 

The story will emerge from the three questions to colour-coding, and the writing can begin. I will keep you all updated with my progress in future blogs.