A 5-Minute Fix to Jump-start Your Scene

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Never fear the blank page again.

Blank pages stink.

Even when I know what I want to write, I still have days where I struggle to get that first line down. Once I do, the words usually pick up speed and I slide into my scene and my writing sessions, but not always.

On those days, I write that first line, then delete it. Write it again, and hit the backspace key like a woodpecker on a tree. Eventually, I get up and make a cup of tea and start the whole process over again.

This happened a lot in my early writing days. It didn’t take long for me to realize there had to be a better way to start writing. I examined my process. Since I’m a plotter by nature, I sought answers there first.

And found one.

Birth of a Book Part Nine: The Development Stage: Summarizing the Story

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Part of the Early Stages of a Novel Series

This series has been discussing the early stages of writing a novel. We started with the Stage One: the Idea Stage, beginning with the Inspirational Spark, moving on to Brainstorming the Idea, Clarifying the Idea, and wrapping it up with Testing the idea. Next, we entered Stage Two: Development, which got us looking at ways to create characters, and then further develop those characters. We then shifted to setting and world building, and last week, we focused on figuring out the plot. Today wraps up Stage Two with summarizing the story.

A story summary is a lot like a synopsis without all the pressure. It doesn’t matter what format it takes or how long it is, it’s just all of your thoughts and brainstorming ideas fleshed out on paper.

Birth of a Book Part Three: The Idea Stage: Clarifying the Idea

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Part of the Early Stages of a Novel Series


In this series, I’ll be analyzing the early stages of writing a novel. Part One is the Idea Stage, focusing on my own four-step process of developing an idea enough to turn that idea into an actual novel. First, we went through step one of the process, The Inspirational Spark. Last week, we discussed step two with Brainstorming the Idea. Today, let’s move on to step three, take what we brainstormed, and clarify the idea.

6 Easy Steps to Planning Out Your Novel

By Laurence MacNaughton, @LMacNaughton

Part of the How They Do It Series

JH: One of my favorite aspects of writing a novel is planning it. I love plotting and figuring out how an idea might become a book, and it's always a treat for me to hear how other writers plan their stories. Please help me welcome Laurence MacNaughton to the lecture hall today to share his process and offer tips planning a novel.

Laurence grew up in a creaky old colonial house in Connecticut that he's pretty sure was haunted. He's been a bookseller, printer, copywriter and (somewhat randomly) a prototype vehicle test driver. When he's not writing, he bikes and hikes the Rocky Mountains, explores ghost towns and wrenches on old cars. His books include It Happened One Doomsday, The Spider Thief, and Conspiracy of Angels. Get free stories, bonus features, and more fun stuff at www.LaurenceMacNaughton.com.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Indie Bound

Take it away Laurence...

The Ebb and Flow of Plotting a Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Over the last few weeks I’ve been revising one of my works in progress. Before I change any text, I like to rework my synopsis and summarize every scene and capture what happens, why, how the scene unfolds, where it goes, what’s driving it, and add a myriad of notes and reminders for me to keep track of when and where things happen. It’s messy, but effective for my process.

One thing I’ve noticed this time around (though it’s something I’ve always done), is that I plot forward until things get a little fuzzy and I’m not sure what happens, then I go back a few scenes and flesh out the plot until I’m able to move past that fuzzy scene. The story develops with a gentle ebb and flow, moving back and forth as needed.

Busting the Outline Myth

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

The word outline in the writing world has come to be synonymous with detailed planning, which is really a disservice to both the outline, and those who might benefit from it. Not every writer uses or wants to use an outline when they write and that's okay. I'm a fan of outlining, but I certainly don't think it's the only way to write a novel. But I think there are some misconceptions about what outlining is, and that might be keeping people from trying something that might work very well for them.

Mainly, that outlines are highly detailed in-depth summaries of every little thing in a novel.

This isn't true.

Four Ways to Pre-Write Your Scenes

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Some writers can sit down, open up a page, and write. Others need a little prep work before diving into a new scene. I'm one of the latter, and I've found I'm a lot more productive if I take a few minutes to figure out what I'm going to write before I write it.

There are all kinds of ways to plan your scenes, but consider figuring out the plot-driving elements first. Knowing your protagonist's goals, their motivations, and the conflicts of the scene will make it easier to move the story forward. If you're not sure how it ends, you might think about taking a little extra time at the start to figure that out. Often scenes get stuck because the writer doesn't know the next piece of the plot to move the story to the next scene. How this scene will setup and transition to the next.