# How much do you plan?



## Incanus (Aug 24, 2015)

The day you sat down to begin your novel, how much planning had you done?  Did you have just a few ideas and a handful of scratch notes?  Or did you have everything about plot and characters all worked out ahead of time?  Maybe something in between?  What things do you absolutely have to have ready before you start?  Is there a minimum?  Do you do more than the minimum?  How did you know you were ready to begin writing?

I’m interested in how my fellow Scribes have gone about this, not so much to replicate it, but to hear a variety of ‘testimonials’.  I’m taking into account that no two stories are the same, and that different kinds of preparation are necessary for different kinds of stories.

Also, I realize world-building projects can be anywhere from zero to ridiculously vast.

I’m not looking for highly elaborate details, just a general idea of ‘how much’.


----------



## Androxine Vortex (Aug 24, 2015)

I am purposefully taking a long time to write my book because the scope of timeline in it is so vast and everyday I come up with new and better ideas. The basic idea of the story has always been the same but I have revised and changed and completely rewrote ideas that my story a year ago looks extremely different. I spend the majority of my time world building and creating "lore" since my story is more of a poetic narrative. I want to take my time and not rush my work. You shoudn't rush art. I plan on taking many more years dedicated to outlining everything and "setting the stage." Is this necessary? For me, yes.


----------



## Gurkhal (Aug 24, 2015)

I'm not writing novels but at this point I plan the key parts rather detailed, but the road between these parts are most often given a fairly general treatment.


----------



## Svrtnsse (Aug 24, 2015)

My current project is a short story and not a novel, but I used a very similar process when I wrote my novel. I basically start with a very short and simple outline, which I then rewrite in more and more detail until I know almost exactly what's going to be happening at any stage of the story.

To give some numbers: The outline for my story is just below 20k words. This includes all rewrites from the first one, which is less than 50 words, until the fifth, which includes all the lines for all the conversations as well as notes for what emotions the characters are expressing when they say their lines.

The first time I started on my novel I had no outline at all, just a vague idea about what I wanted to do with. After ten pages I was so far off track I decided to scrap it all and think things over a little.


----------



## Penpilot (Aug 24, 2015)

What I need to start is as flows. For the plot, I need the major story beats for my major characters. For each major character I need to know, what do they want physically? What do they want emotionally? And why?

That's the barest bones of what I need. Often I have more than that, but if I have those things, I can get going and everything else can be put together on the fly.


----------



## Incanus (Aug 24, 2015)

Svrtnsse said:


> To give some numbers: The outline for my story is just below 20k words. This includes all rewrites from the first one, which is less than 50 words, until the fifth, which includes all the lines for all the conversations as well as notes for what emotions the characters are expressing when they say their lines.
> 
> The first time I started on my novel I had no outline at all, just a vague idea about what I wanted to do with. After ten pages I was so far off track I decided to scrap it all and think things over a little.



Impressive, Svrtnsse.  20,000 is pretty detailed.  I'm wondering--how long did it take to go from the 50 word version to the fifth version of the outline?

My first (4 or 5?  I've forgotten how many) attempts sound like the last thing you said here--Not doing that anymore!


----------



## Svrtnsse (Aug 24, 2015)

I don't have the exact dates for when I started on the outline, but it was sometime in early May and I started on the first chapter in early June. So less than a month but more than three weeks.
If you want to have a look, the full outline is available online here: Emma’s Story – Full Outline | s v r t n s s e
There's no summary available, so you won't get an overview of the actual story, but you may get an idea of how I work with rewriting the scenes and adding in more details with each attempt.


----------



## T.Allen.Smith (Aug 24, 2015)

Incanus said:


> The day you sat down to begin your novel, how much planning had you done?


I do a lot more planning now than compared to my beginning. Full pantsing doesn't work for me if the story is longer than a standard short (say 5k words or less). I've planned for as long as 4 months before, but I should note, that story is currently on the shelf as I've realized it's a bit big for me at this stage in my development.  





Incanus said:


> Did you have just a few ideas and a handful of scratch notes?  Or did you have everything about plot and characters all worked out ahead of time?  Maybe something in between?


The main characters are fleshed out pretty well, and after a considerable amount of time has passed just stewing on characters and plot ideas. Not every detail needs to be worked out. I like to leave some room for discovery writing in between major plot points, but the big ones, they need to be relatively firm


Incanus said:


> What things do you absolutely have to have ready before you start?


1) Main characters: How many, what are their roles, who is/are the POVs, 1st/3rd person, narrative style and voice. 
2) How I can begin in a way that'll grab 
3) How I can end in a way that'll please and surprise (The inevitable yet unexpected) 
4) Inciting event  
5) Key event  
6) Story structure (I typically default to 3 Act)  

All of the above are must haves before the story takes shape.  


Incanus said:


> Is there a minimum?  Do you do more than the minimum?


See above. That's my minimum for anything larger than short stories. Is that more than average? I don't know


Incanus said:


> How did you know you were ready to begin writing?


When I have a firm grasp of all the points mentioned above, I'm ready to start planning scenes. The scenes linked together, form a rough, but general and dynamic outline, which is expanded or reduced as needed, & followed  for each writing session.


----------



## Incanus (Aug 24, 2015)

Svrtnsse said:


> I don't have the exact dates for when I started on the outline, but it was sometime in early May and I started on the first chapter in early June. So less than a month but more than three weeks.
> If you want to have a look, the full outline is available online here: Emma’s Story – Full Outline | s v r t n s s e
> There's no summary available, so you won't get an overview of the actual story, but you may get an idea of how I work with rewriting the scenes and adding in more details with each attempt.



Wow.  Even more impressive.  So you wrote all 5 of those outlines inside of a month?  I don't think I could do that even with a gun to my head.  I have difficulties linking abstract thoughts to abstract thoughts, and I have difficulties coming up with ideas I like enough to go with the ideas I had difficulty in coming up with in the first place--if you follow me.  Yeah, I need to stew on my ideas before they start to solidify.


----------



## Svrtnsse (Aug 24, 2015)

Incanus said:


> Wow.  Even more impressive.  So you wrote all 5 of those outlines inside of a month?  I don't think I could do that even with a gun to my head.  I have difficulties linking abstract thoughts to abstract thoughts, and I have difficulties coming up with ideas I like enough to go with the ideas I had difficulty in coming up with in the first place--if you follow me.  Yeah, I need to stew on my ideas before they start to solidify.



I think the trick for me is to start with something very simple and then elaborate on it little by little. That way the logical leaps that needs making won't be as big. In the outline I also don't have to care at all about making sure anyone else understands what I'm writing, so there's no polishing on language and sentences and choice of words etc. I can save a lot of time there.

Once I got started on the actual story it got a lot slower and now I'm averaging a little over 2k words a week (the plan is one chapter a week and I've managed that for the past 12 weeks).


----------



## skip.knox (Aug 24, 2015)

I'm doing this backward, or so I think after reading Svrtnsse's posts. The only way I'm able to get to a 50 word outline is by stumbling my way through much longer exercises. Or, to put it another way, if I gave you a brief outline of my novel at the *beginning* it would have been about entirely different characters. It still would have been about an invasion, but that's about the only point still in common with where I am now (working through Draft 2). 

To go back to the initial question, I do very little planning up front. I get an idea that intrigues me (what if goblins rather than barbarians invaded the Roman Empire; or, a fellow learns how to grow human beings like growing plants) and I have to write my way through it. Oh, I can plan up front, and I have, but the actual writing rarely resembles the initial plan. Maybe I'll learn to plan better, but I dunno.

So what I wind up with is more or less constant planning. I don't know how I would even begin distinguishing between writing that is outlining, sketching, prototyping, and writing that is writing, and writing that is re-writing. It all just feels like writing to me.


----------



## DanJames (Aug 24, 2015)

I change, from idea to idea. I also don't just write fantasy.

The crime thriller I started has a lot of detail within it's planning. However, the drama I'm writing has no plan outside of a few details in my head.

With the crime thriller, there's a lot of head games stuff, mysteries to unravel, puzzles to solve and the all important twists in the tale - because of this the level of detail in the plan has been unbelievable, deciding on any named character and how they fit in. Who is a red herring, who is the real killer, motivations, etcetera, etcetera.

The drama I'm writing is about a guy who always wanted to globe trot finally being put in a position to do it, but it goes from bad to worse every step of the way before finally coming home. This will have planning, but it will all be done as a rolling process, I want to write as if I'm experiencing it as the character, so I want to be surprised when he goes to Hong Kong for example, by reading up and researching what I need to know about Hong Kong. Experiencing the world as he does.

With the fantasy work I'm doing it's all a little different. There is planning involved, but the venture is a joint project with a friend, so all our planning goes through each other, which does slow down the process if we're not seeing each other often. We'll also often write about something that will be a continuation of something one of us has already written, but from another perspective or further on down the timeline. Because of this when one of us changes something we may both be required to. This is a large amount of effort on our part, but is making the verse stronger as a result.


----------



## Miskatonic (Aug 25, 2015)

It varies a lot. If I'm creating a complete fantasy universe then it's going to take a lot of planning. On the other hand if I'm creating something that takes place in our world but has some supernatural or fantasy elements thrown in then I really don't have to take much time at all.

I've thrown a few ideas together for a paranormal/supernatural detective story that is ready to go when it becomes a priority. I didn't really need to spend a lot of time thinking out all of the details as far as the "rules" of how the fantasy elements work. I can adjust anything that needs adjusting while I write without having to really worry about creating glaring contradictions that I have to go back to and fix constantly.

This is the main reason why I spend a lot of time doing my research and planning out all the details when I'm creating a full scale fantasy universe. Once all the details are in place I can just write the story and not have to worry about having to constantly adjust the rules to make things work. It takes a lot of time if you are really focused on all the little details, but it will pay off in the end.


----------



## Incanus (Aug 25, 2015)

@skip--I think the only 'backwards' way is the way that doesn't end up working out.  The approach that works is the right approach.  I seem to be somewhere between you and Svrtnsse.

I like how you said that all the different parts still 'feels like writing' to you.  I could use that sensations a little:  somehow, brainstorming doesn't feel that productive to me, because it doesn't generate any prose, just a few scraps of notes.  Of course that's silly because the early ideas are crucial and everything else depends and builds upon them.


----------



## psychotick (Aug 25, 2015)

Hi,

Well as I've said before I'm pure pantster. I've never planned at all.

My system is more organic than that. I start with a scene or an idea write it, and then go from there. So for example my current work - provisionally called "Spaced" - began with a single concept - the idea of someone - a pilot on a ship completely alone - completely lost somewhere in the universe with no way home. The ship works but he simply doesn't have a map. From there I asked the basic questions - how did he get lost? What sort of drive could dump you anywhere in the universe with no direction home? (That would actually make a good title now that I think of it.) Who is this guy? What does he do?

From there I expand the scene and the elements of plot come. For example is the book about his getting home? Is it about how he got lost / spaced? I world build and do all the rest as I go.

As for how well it works, for me it's perfect because it means I can only write what inspires me. To give you some idea, I started Spaced on the fifth of the month and it's currently 92K, close to finished the first draft. I can't imagine that I would be anywhere close to this if I'd tried writing a plan and then writing according to it.

Cheers, Greg.


----------



## Chessie (Aug 25, 2015)

Hi, Incanus.  How much planning I do really depends on the story itself. I always _do_ plan because having a strong sense of what's happening in that story allows me to write more efficiently. I write more short fiction than novels, so I loosely plot the shorts whereas the novels take more time to construct before starting to write. 

I will say this: plotting in general, whether it be just a little or a lot, has allowed me to know enough going into those scenes that my word count has essentially tripled since I first started writing. I know a lot of writers shy away from "knowing everything" and all I can say is that no, I don't know _everything_, just some things, and planning has been a boon to my writing.


----------



## FifthView (Aug 25, 2015)

I plan in detail before writing, similar to T.Allen.Smith's approach.  The problem I have, from time to time, is the perfectly planned scene that turns out to be boring once the writing begins.  I don't necessarily mean boring _only_ for myself as I'm writing, but the realization also that it will be boring for the reader.  The scene can still be perfectly logical, seemingly necessary, etc., but simply be boring.  When this happens, it always feels like a major roadblock in the whole process and throws me off my game.


----------



## cupiscent (Aug 25, 2015)

I prefer to plan a lot. The novel I've just finished polishing and am starting to shop around had a rough plan, but that still led to lots of false starts, which led to some chapters taking a couple of weeks to write. The rough draft took me something like two years. And then when I came to revision, I trashed whole sections and did different things, because that didn't suit the overall story. That was when I decided that I needed to nail down the overall story _before_ I'd written 100k words.

For the next project (currently sitting in a drawer awaiting revisions) I planned a lot. Before I started writing, I had a fifteen-page outline for a thirty-chapter novel, which ended up being about 70k words long (it's YA, and still missing some meat in rough draft). I wrote the rough draft in under 30 days. I've only just started looking at it with an eye to revisions, but while there's going to be a lot of colouring and polishing, I'm not envisaging any major lift-and-shift work.

For the project I'm currently rough-drafting, I had a medium-level plan when I started writing - chapter points but no scene details, about five pages for a novel expected to be 100k words. Everything was going great until I stalled in the fourth chapter, with absent details that had big story ramifications. I've now accepted that I need to plan further, and am taking a couple of weeks to get my planning across the novel down to scene level. If I solve all the problems now, writing goes much more smoothly.

I will note that my planning has been influenced _hugely_ by having completed and revised two novels. Revisions have shown me the sorts of things I need to know and have in place for the big story elements, so I can start working those into initial planning such that I don't have to fix them in revisions. I'm not sure that planning - no matter how careful or intricate - can help without full experience of your own storytelling.


----------



## Incanus (Aug 25, 2015)

Thanks everyone.  I'm all out of 'Thanks' for the time being.

I'm not even certain why, but I like hearing about the various ways in which people approach these things.  I guess I like knowing where I fit in the bigger scheme.

I hardly know how to even get my head around psychotick's production levels.  Leaves Stephen King in the dust.  Thus I have to assume you are a professional writer and earn your income that way.  I'm not sure I could even copy down an already written novel in a month much less think of one I like, develop the characters, theme, setting, style, pacing, and execute it all in that time, while holding down a full-time job.  Talk about rushing art (as Androxine Vortex mentioned)!  12 novels a year is incomprehensible to me.  Though I have absolutely no idea one way or the other, I do find myself wondering about the quality level of such output.

I'll be spending the next month or so simply developing ideas.  After that, it will likely take me at least a couple of years to draft and edit a single, average-sized novel.  psychotick will apparently complete 24-36 novels to my 1 in that time.  Totally mind-blowing.


----------



## SugoiMe (Aug 25, 2015)

I like to at least have a timeline of where my characters are gonna be at on which days. I also have a rough idea for how many chapters I'm gonna spend in a certain location. Then I just fly at her.

This NaNoWriMo, I actually have some examples for scenes I want to use, so there's a bit more planning involved.


----------



## psychotick (Aug 26, 2015)

Hi Incanus,

Twelve novels a year? I'm good but nowhere near that good. My best year was four novels and two shorter works. And time management helps. Currently I have two tv shows a week that I watch - Castle and Humans - and the news. I live alone and I spend fairly much all my free time writing. As for Spaced, I freely admit this one is extreme production even for me.

But the key to my speed is that it's first draft. I write fast and with a lot of mistakes. Then comes the entire next step starting with the beta reading. So I may write a novel in a month, but it might then take me a second month to rewrite it, and the third to go through the rounds of editing.

However, I do feel compelled to mention Michael Moorcock. For a while he was writing a novel every ten days - though he had a team to help him. You should google his method. It was basically a very prescriptive method with his novels all quite short and following a pattern - and yet they're not bad reads at all.

Cheers, Greg.


----------



## Incanus (Aug 26, 2015)

Yeah, I sort of extrapolated off that one stat you gave, knowing full well there was still editing to be taken into account.  It's still almost unbelievable:  four edited novels in a year.  Astonishing.

I plan on being pretty sloppy for my upcoming first draft and increasing my output, but as I said earlier, I honestly don't believe I could even match Svrtnsse's 20000 word _outline_in a month with a gun to my head.  Totally not joking; I'd be a gonner.  I could conceivably use a little more of my free time, but writing is really, really, really, really hard and drains my brain like nothing else.  3 or 4 hours and I turn into an empty husk of a human.  Usually I do under 3 a day.

Time management not good:  in about 13 months I've got a little under 60000 words, almost all of which has been edited 1 to 4 times.  A typical writing week would be working 5-6 days, about 2 hours each session, I'd say.  And, the stories are probably only mediocre at best.  Still, I enjoy it, and plan to continue on.

I note that some famous books are written at wildly different rates-- Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 was written in 9 days, and Lord of the Rings took about 16 years.  I should fall somewhere in between those!!

edit--Interesing about Moorcock.  I know Dumas was super-prolific as well, and also had a 'team'.


----------



## T.Allen.Smith (Aug 26, 2015)

Incanus said:


> Time management not good:  in about 13 months I've got a little under 60000 words, almost all of which has been edited 1 to 4 times.  A typical writing week would be working 5-6 days, about 2 hours each session, I'd say.  And, the stories are probably only mediocre at best.


Have faith in the idea that no writing performed in earnest is ever wasted. 

I'm willing to bet you've learned a lot in those 13 months. You're also probably closer to establishing the vision of how you want to write, your developed voice & chosen style. 

You might find in the future that you need to approach writing from a different angle, through a process completely different from what you described above. Yet, that time spent learning craft while you struggle to find your method is indispensable. 

Continue to write. Keep challenging yourself. Stretch your boundaries and experiment. In time, if you don't give up, you'll find your way.


----------



## RupamGrimoeuvre (Aug 26, 2015)

I'm currently working on a short story project where I'm muse-writing stories based on their (story) cover paintings. It's a weekly thing, and I am also painting the cover in that limited time. Along with other paying stuff to support my writing.

So, time is something I already don't have. That said, I am still trying to plan it before I start with the story. These stories are fairly short, around 3.5k-4k words, but I plan the main points of the story before I type anything. I have a somewhat clear idea of how it starts, what happens in there and how it ends. Still there are always endless revisions in the final, but that's another thing.

I'm also working on a novel-length illustrated dark sci-fi story. I have figured out almost all the main points of the story. Even already written a short synopsis-like rough draft. But I'm letting it sink in for a few months before start writing the first draft. 

Both my projects are two very different approaches, and I'm kind of experimenting.


----------



## Svrtnsse (Aug 26, 2015)

T.Allen.Smith said:


> I'm willing to bet you've learned a lot in those 13 months. You're also probably closer to establishing the vision of how you want to write, your developed voice & chosen style.



A way of testing this is to pick a piece of your early writing and rewrite it. I did this a while back and it was very encouraging. I picked one of my very first short stories from a few years ago and used it as outline for a new story. 

EDIT: It's on the blog too, both versions. Here: Stories | s v r t n s s e - scroll down to the end, it's the story about Tuuli.


----------



## Incanus (Aug 26, 2015)

T.Allen.Smith said:


> Have faith in the idea that no writing performed in earnest is ever wasted.
> 
> I'm willing to bet you've learned a lot in those 13 months. You're also probably closer to establishing the vision of how you want to write, your developed voice & chosen style.
> 
> ...



So well put.  Indeed, the main point of my writing over the last year was to 'learn', as opposed to 'produce'.  I occasionally have a fleeting moment where I lose sight of this.  

I deliberately chose to work with different formats and POVs for this very reason.

The 8 titles I wrote contain at least one instance of the following features:

First-person POV; Third-person limited POV; Third-person omniscient POV.

Flash fiction; Prose-poem; Short story; Novelette; Novella

One is written in a rich, dense, old-fashioned style, and one is in a modern, lean style--the rest fall somewhere in between (though admittedly closer to the 'rich' side).

All of it was quite 'earnest', to say the least.  Actually, looking over the list I just wrote, it seems pretty comprehensive.  Could be worse.


----------



## Russ (Aug 27, 2015)

Incanus said:


> edit--Interesing about Moorcock.  I know Dumas was super-prolific as well, and also had a 'team'.



The Moorcock mad productivity stories are interesting.  Keep in mind they were 60,000 word novels.  I don't think he had anything resembling a "team" in those days.  You should also consider that in some older articles that I have not yet seen on the interweb he inferred he was using some interesting substances to help himself write.  Can't recommend that.

How to Write a Book in Three Days: Lessons from Michael Moorcock | Wet Asphalt

I know lots of seasoned pros who are happy with 1000-2000 words a day.


----------



## Incanus (Aug 27, 2015)

Russ said:


> The Moorcock mad productivity stories are interesting.  Keep in mind they were 60,000 word novels.  I don't think he had anything resembling a "team" in those days.  You should also consider that in some older articles that I have not yet seen on the interweb he inferred he was using some interesting substances to help himself write.  Can't recommend that.
> 
> How to Write a Book in Three Days: Lessons from Michael Moorcock | Wet Asphalt
> 
> I know lots of seasoned pros who are happy with 1000-2000 words a day.



Thanks Russ.  Great link.  Aside from the speed factor, there is some good basic info in there--should apply whether you're spending 3 days or 3 years.  Setting up and sticking to a structure just makes a great deal of sense, particularly while first-drafting.  It can always be messed with later.


----------



## BWFoster78 (Aug 27, 2015)

> I know lots of seasoned pros who are happy with 1000-2000 words a day.



Is this rough draft? Edited? In what stage?

After reading through the last part of this thread, I became interested in the question:

How many hours would it take to write and edit a 60,000 word novel (not counting down time while it's at the beta readers, editors, etc. Just total hours with butt in chair.)?

Here's what I came up with:

1st Draft - 2000 WPH
2nd Draft - 3000 WPH
3rd Draft - 6000 WPH (ready to send to beta readers)
4th Draft - 3000 WPH
5th Draft - 12000 WPH
Proof - 12000 WPH (ready to send to copy editor)
Pick up Copy Edits - 12000 WPH (time spent picking up proofreader comments negligible)

If I did my math right, I'm creating 632 publishable words per hour spent with my butt in the chair.  Therefore, a 60k novel will take roughly 95 hours.  At 1.5 hours per day, I can produce a novel every 63 days.  Not great but not horrible.


----------



## Xitra_Blud (Aug 27, 2015)

Usually, I give myself about 2 to 3 months of playing it out in my head before taking it to paper but on my last two projects, I really didn't give myself much time at all. The one I'm working on now, I gave it maybe a month or two and it definitely went through a couple of changes before I took it to paper but the one before that I started on it as soon as I got the idea.


----------



## Incanus (Aug 27, 2015)

BWFoster78 said:


> At 1.5 hours per day, I can produce a novel every 63 days.  Not great but not horrible.



Not great, really?  That works out to 6 (albeit short) completed novels a year!  Even better than psychotick.

If I recall correctly, didn't you spend around 4 years on your first novel?  You'd sure be picking up a lot of speed there.


----------



## BWFoster78 (Aug 27, 2015)

Incanus said:


> Not great, really?  That works out to 6 (albeit short) completed novels a year!  Even better than psychotick.
> 
> If I recall correctly, didn't you spend around 4 years on your first novel?  You'd sure be picking up a lot of speed there.



I've gotten really serious about writing in the last few months.  Those numbers I gave aren't pie in the sky plans; they're on the low end of what I'm actually doing.

Understand that it took me four years to learn how to write and find my voice. Now that I have something that I think works for me, I can go full speed ahead.

I started outlining _Repulsive _, at that point barely a concept in my head, on 7/14. Started writing on 8/3.  Friday morning, I'll be complete with the 2nd draft at 55,000 words; that's less than a month.

My big challenge for myself will be to write the entire rough draft of _Gryphon_, estimated around 120k, during the month of November.  I'm going to have to push myself to two hours a day.


----------



## ThinkerX (Aug 27, 2015)

> The day you sat down to begin your novel, how much planning had you done? Did you have just a few ideas and a handful of scratch notes? Or did you have everything about plot and characters all worked out ahead of time? Maybe something in between? What things do you absolutely have to have ready before you start? Is there a minimum? Do you do more than the minimum? How did you know you were ready to begin writing?



For me, this has changed pretty radically down through the decades.  

To be clear, my initial writing efforts back then were AD&D writing rip offs.  Looking back at some of those early fragments, I can almost hear the dice rolling.  Likewise, my rather...over-extensive world building was very much AD&D focused.  Usually I'd just pick an idea I deemed 'cool' and start writing.  When in doubt, I went back to the AD&D handbooks.  Predictably, I wrote myself into a lot of corners; while I wrote a lot back then, I finished very little.

After a while, I realized that gaming systems simply don't translate well to story telling and writing.

Ok, flash forward to about eight years ago.  After a long hiatus, I started writing again.  Same deal as before: I picked a cool idea and started writing.  And when I hit roadblocks, I turned to my old notes and the AD&D collection.  But this time, I used all that in strictly an advisory capacity.  And (rare for me) I finished a rough draft (though I didn't realize it as such) of a longer work.    

This exercise prompted me to reevaluate my old material not for gaming, but for story telling.  I made maps and rough guides, noting potential issues leading to story telling possibilities:  barbarians destroying an old empire, cities ruled by demons, technology emerging in a sort of revamped roman empire and more.  

Result: I now have two worlds with relatively detailed histories, cultures, magic, and technology - and an abundance of transition points for stories, long and short.  Hence, when I start a new work set in either of those worlds, much of the background worldbuilding is done, and because of the history, I know the general course, at least, the story must take. 

About the time I came here I decided I wasn't going to start a story unless I had at least a hazy idea as to the beginning, middle, and end.  I have learned this approach works fine for short stories and novelettes - up to around 15,000 words.  Past that, complications ensue.

I have been working on a series of novella's (35,000 - 40,000 words) the past few years.  Ok, I wrote the first draft of the first one three years ago, botched a rewrite a year and a half ago, and finally finished the second rewrite a few months ago.  Then I started on the second in the series, and realized that while I had solid ideas for the majority of the scenes, I didn't know the order those scenes went in, plus a couple of dang big plot holes had slid by me.  I was getting tangled.  So, I did an outline.  Just a few pages, maybe a thousand words.  It helped a lot.  Composing the outline helped me further organize my concepts.  

I finished the draft for that novella in May.  Then in July, I started the third in the series.  July was a hectic month, with many real world distractions.  I composed part of an outline, which was not well thought out.  As a result, my scenes were not well thought out, and I was engaging in major rewrites almost from the start.  August, if anything was at least as hectic as July, and as a result my progress has slowed to a crawl - if that.

But to sum up:

Begin with a cool idea.  Maybe write a scene based on said cool idea (which I think of as an 'idea piece.'

Brainstorm some more.  Long or short story?  Shorter story, determine beginning, middle, and end.  Longer story, put together an outline.  This phase can take anywhere from a few hours to a few months.  Often I realize that other 'cool' idea's or situations can be merged with this effort.

Start writing.  Usually a crude first draft with gaping plot holes and other issues, a smoothed over second draft, and then an edit pass.  

Went and ordered that '5000 words per hour' book, see if it'll help.


----------



## BWFoster78 (Aug 28, 2015)

> Went and ordered that '5000 words per hour' book, see if it'll help.



I think the book is a help, but for me, it's really all about motivation.  Two things that most helped me:

1. Reading about increasing my efficiency.

I found this motivating in two ways:

a: The concept of sprints lowers the barrier to start writing. Instead of thinking "I'm going to write a book" (a huge freaking task) or even an entire chapter, I think "I'm going to devote the next thirty minutes solely to writing." That's not all that hard to do. What's 30 minutes?

b: I had actually discovered this next part prior to reading books on the subject - the act of tracking my progress helps make me do more.  The theory has something to do with brain chemicals or something, but being able to check off in a spreadsheet that you did something gives you this happy feeling, which your brain wants more and more of.

2. I discovered that there are a lot of self published authors who are achieving success.

It really seems like anyone can get to the $1000 - $2000 a month range, and a lot of people are over $5000/month.  Some are doing much, much better than that.

For a long time, the message I got around the internet was, "The only way you're going to succeed as a writer is if you get lucky."

I found that message incredibly demotivating.  If I have no control over my destiny, what's the point of putting in the work? That message saddled me with a "writing is a hobby only" mentality for a long time.

Then I discovered that I can control my destiny. I am absolutely positive that I can succeed.  All I have to do is work hard enough and smart enough for long enough.  Okay, that's a big, big, huge "all," but still ...  I find that message incredibly uplifting.  It propels me to spend that 1.5 to 2 hours a day with my butt in a seat putting words on the page.


----------



## Adalind (Sep 2, 2015)

When I was working on my previous novels, I didn’t plan anything. As a consequence they were just … lacking, and I never did anything with them again because fixing them seemed to be an impossible task. 

With my current project I’ve decided to make a detailled outline and character profiles before I start writing. This way I can immediately see if the plot makes sense, if it’s exciting enough and if there are any plot holes. I’ve even decided what goes into which chapter.


----------



## Helen (Sep 2, 2015)

Incanus said:


> The day you sat down to begin your novel, how much planning had you done?



Tons.

I try to "see the story."

But that doesn't mean I won't have written anything at all - often I'll have written scenes to see how they pan out, how many pages they take up, what's missing from them etc.


----------

