To Plan Or Not To Plan | Like A Writer

Hey Guys x

I'm starting a new series!

I read this book yesterday (yes, I read the whole book in one sitting, in about 9 hours because it's the most amazing thing I think I've ever read) and immediately my brain went into overdrive.

Not only did it spur me on to write my own novel, but it made me want to talk about writing. So I thought, why not start a series about writing on my blog?

The series is called 'Like A Writer' and I plan on doing these posts every Friday, but if I feel less passionate or if something happens, obviously this isn't set in stone, but it's my plan for now.

I'm also going to make it a specific page on the blog (look above to see 'book reviews' and 'favourites') because it is something really important to me and, if you're writing a book, or you want to, I want it to be easy to find.

I also have to point out - I AM NOT A PUBLISHED AUTHOR (yet!)
Everything that I write will be taking things from the book, talking about my own experiences of it, what I will do when continuing to write my novel, and the different options that you can take. But I also want this to be a discussion, so please write your own opinions each week in the comments!

Also, the book 'See Jane Write' above is specifically about chick-lit, which is what I'm planning on writing, but this series will be really general, so it can apply to all (or at least most) of you!

So this week, for the first 'Like A Writer', I want to talk about planning a novel.

In the book, one thing that I found particularly interesting was how writers plan their novels.

The one that I took away with me from the book is to write down all of the major plot points that you want to happen in your book vaguely, and then fill in the details when you're writing.

For me, planning has always been an issue.

Things that I've written in the past, I've planned out every aspect. I used a powerpoint presentation to clearly map out each chapter so I knew exactly what was happening and when. But, every time I've done this, these books fall by the wayside and I never look at them again.
However, with the novel that I'm currently writing, which for the purposes of this series, I'll call 'Lou's Novel', I did not plan. Literally, before I started writing it, all I had in my head was the name of two characters and the first line/scene. On paper, this sounds like it shouldn't work, but in reality, because of those two character names (one of which has now been changed!) and that first line, I now have 40,000+ words of a book that I'm really passionate about. I guess it depends on personal preference.

However, in the book 'See Jane Write', what is widely recommended is doing a character sketch.

Basically, once you have your characters, you make a detailed outline of your characters, putting in things that may not even make it into the book, such as 'five words to describe his/her personality' - this is because, you can't write about someone unless you know them inside out, and to know them, you need to create them. They're fictional, so you have free rein to do whatever with them, as long as they're somewhat realistic!

For 'Lou's Novel', I actually haven't done a character profile for anyone yet. I have 4 main characters, and each has their own family and other secondary characters, so it's going to take me a long time! However, it'll help to make the characters 3 dimensional, and that is the end game - to make the characters completely realistic. So I'd fully recommend everyone reading to do this, even if you haven't started writing yet. Especially if you haven't started writing yet!
This also goes for secondary characters, but obviously with a lot less details.

I actually have a character profile document to fill out that I've had for ages, with loads of questions about the characters that can be used multiple times. If you need any inspiration when building your characters, please email me (lous.world@hotmail.com) or comment below with your email address and I'll send you the document.

But in terms of the book as a whole, it's completely up to you - I haven't planned mine yet and have 40,000 words, but for the other 40,000 - I will be writing down the main points and finishing the book around that. But some people plan from the beginning and it really helps, because you're less likely to get to a hard point and give up (as I did this time last year - I hit a point that I had no plan for and didn't know how to write through, and I left it for a good few months, which I really regret. I'm now redrafting and editing the first 40,000 before I write anything else) - having a plan allows you to see the end game, and that's really important.

Anyway, I'll leave this post here. I really hope it helped you or gave you something to think about!

Thank you for reading

Comment below - what do you think about planning? Would you plan out an entire novel or make it up as you go along?

Keep Smiling - Lou xx