[february 2022] how to write a novel, part 1: planning & plotting
in which i lay out the novel-writing process
i don’t mean to start this newsletter on a downer note, but yesterday was the 11 year anniversary of the day my dad died. i had a complicated relationship with my dad—he was an abuser and relished in his own cruelty toward my mom, sister, and me; but i still miss him a lot, i dream of him all the time. i wish i could say “he was a good man,” but i’m not sure he was. i think, under different circumstances, he could have been. i think he was on his way to becoming a good man when he died, started to really realize the awful things he did to us. he suffered greatly in death, for four years in extreme pain, and despite how he treated us, i wouldn’t wish that kind of pain on anyone.
i write this newsletter in fits and bursts over the span of a month, which i guess is why it’s gotten so long and why it probably seems so tonally disjointed. in this issue, i offer an update on my projects, recommend some manga and fanfic, and lay out part 1 of my novel-writing process.
news & announcements
The Fanauthor Workshop is still open for applications
check out what the Fanauthor Workshop is all about and apply before March 12! all proceeds from the workshop are going to initial funding of OFIC Press, which will be a nonprofit literary press that publishes novels and novellas by fanauthors.
OFIC Magazine will re-open for submissions on March 20 (+ our first giveaway!)
i can’t tell you how stunned i am by the response we’ve gotten to OFIC. reading submissions for this issue has really been a wonderful experience, and i’m so excited to start reading for the next.
for those who are subscribed (or plan to subscribe) to receive a physical issue, due to supply chain problems, it will be delayed by a few weeks. my sincerest apologies for this; hopefully i’ve adapted the workflow to account for this in the future so you’ll be receiving the mag only a couple weeks after the digital issue drops. the digital version of issue #1 will be released as planned on April 1.
if you haven’t subscribed yet, check out our Patreon! we only have 27 physical copies left for issue #1.
and right now we’re hosting our first giveaway—you can participate via twitter or tumblr by following us and RTing/reblogging the post!
march/april availability & a new service!
i’m booked through February, but i have plenty of March/April availability for writing consultations! check out my services, and if you’re ready to book, you can go ahead and schedule on my Calendly. if you’d like to chat first, you can schedule a free 15 minute query session.
i’ve recently added copywriting and ghostwriting to my list of services. this includes writing commissions! so if you have something you’d like written, message/email me with your idea and i can give you a quote. i’ll accept fanfiction requests on a select basis, depending on my interest in/awareness of the canon text.
what i’ve been into lately
blue morning (manga by Shoko Hidaka, suBLime) — in which a bratty viscount blackmails his butler with whom he’s deeply and obsessively in love. cw for all the usual dubcon of BL manga. weirdly what i admired most about this one is the historical perspective of Japan mid-reconstruction. there’s a lot of economic and political intrigue among the filthy porn and that made it feel very fancy.
given (manga by Natsuki Kizu, suBLime; anime, crunchyroll; live action, crunchyroll) — in which a sad gay boy with a tragic past wants to learn guitar, and a guitar prodigy with a band very reluctantly agrees to teach him (while falling in love in the process). there’s also a very spicy secondary ship between the drummer and bassist. the anime follows the manga very well but i haven’t seen the live action and i don’t really plan to unless someone tells me it’s amazing.
on or off (manhwa by A1, tappytoons) — i don’t usually rec manhwa-in-progress but unfortunately this one has come to a close. in which a college student intern falls in love with his sort-of boss who falls in love with him back. even though the premise is relatively simple, i couldn’t put this one down. it’s very cute and funny and has all the real-real awkwardness of dating someone 1) you work with, and 2) is significantly older than you. believe me, i can verify it to be true (big oof @ self).
stardew valley (video game by ConcernedApe, steam/switch/mobile/probably others) — i think it’s safe to say SDV is my favorite game of all time, even above genshin impact (genshin feels closer to an addiction than a hobby, which is why i don’t recommend it to anyone even though it’s crazy fun). there’s just something that feels so magical about Pelican Town, like the way i felt reading Harry Potter for the first time. it’s really an immersive experience, and fulfills some kind of evolutionary instinct in me to own a farm and live in a small community where i know everyone and contribute meaningfully. also, i’ve been playing it HEAVILY modded because i’m one of those people who doesn’t actually like when games are challenging, so i’ll happily take any way i can cheat. my favorite mod is stardew valley expanded which virtually doubles the game. more importantly, though, i read an amazing SDV fic about Alex and Elliot, ft. poorly negotiated BDSM and beautifully rendered smut. highly recommended, even if you haven’t played SDV.
ted lasso (tv show, apple tv) — my sister recommended this show to me and it did not disappoint. in which an american football coach goes to england to coach english football. and even though i despise the word “wholesome,” it is, indeed, very wholesome.
arcane (cartoon, netflix) — about forty people recommended this to me, and i get why. i mean jinx/silco’s creepy obsessive daddy/daughter power play dynamic is basically my kryptonite, although i left it also shipping viktor/jayce in an equally fucked-up way. in which uhh. wow, there’s really a lot going on in this show. i can’t really summarize it succinctly. suffice it to say, if you like good animation and fight scenes with extremely hot bamf women, you will like this show.
manga (nonfiction, edited by Nicole Rousmaniere and Matsuba Ryoko, thames & hudson) — i got this book for christmas and i love it so much i sleep next to it (which is a weird habit i’ve developed with very beloved books). it’s honestly one of the most beautiful books i’ve ever held. everything about it—the colors, the design, the materials it’s made from—it’s just gorgeous, and worth every penny of its cost. it’s the book version of the manga exhibit at the British Museum, and includes some amazing essays about manga history as well as several well-chosen excerpts.
if you know any other good nonfiction books about manga/anime (specifically BL or shojo), i’d love to know about them! i also started playing Fire Emblem: Three Houses and am looking for beginner tips, and right now i’m watching Jujutsu Kaisen. after that i’ll pick up that one BDSM k-drama i keep seeing gifs of. if you have recs or tips for me, send me an ask!
been thinkin a lot about
how the fuck to write a novel. i’m sitting here, having just finished a novel, doing the prewriting for the next, wondering how i once got a whole world on the page. it seems so enormous.
i used to have a quote hanging up on my wall that i can no longer find, but it was from Neil Gaiman (I think) and it said (paraphrased), You can never learn to write a novel. You can only learn to write the novel you’re writing. i can’t find the original quote but i remember resisting the idea for a long time. i have a science degree, after all. i have a lot of coursework toward building systems and processes to achieve a specific outcome. so i believed that i could develop a master writing process that would always work.
i think the truth is somewhere in the middle. i don’t think a writing process is actually “do this and then this and then this.” to me, a good writing process only exists so you always have something to do, so you never halt because you have no idea where to go. you can and will veer from the process, but at least it’s there to come back to if you get lost. a good process offers, not a hard and fast step by step guide to writing a book, but the option of a path forward. think of the novel itself as unfamiliar terrain; this process, a map.
so i thought i’d begin a series on the process i use for myself and with most of my clients and students. this month’s process is on prewriting: the planning and development of a novel. if you’re a pantser (as opposed to a planner) and it bums you out to know too much about what you’re going to write, maybe skip this. or if you’re a pantser and it’s not getting the results you’re seeking, this might be helpful. conversely, if you’re a planner and that’s not working either, maybe this method will help spark some new ideas. either way, as always, i encourage experimentation to figure out what works for you.
step 1: concept
whether you’re one of those people who has a million story ideas or gets one every once in a while, i think conceptualizing a novel is one of the hardest parts, mostly because you don’t know your own story yet, you just have this glimpse at it, a premise or conceit or hook, or maybe you just have an idea for a character or a particular dynamic. maybe even just a single image or scene you want to work toward.
because all writers begin with a different way into their story, it’s hard to give any hard and fast advice regarding how to have ideas. all i can say is this: listen. listen to all your ideas, even if they’re stupid and you want to dismiss them right away. pretend your ideas are a little kid jumping around wanting to tell you about how they saw a cool bug at the park. you wouldn’t tell that kid, “hey shut up, that’s boring and stupid.” you’d listen, because you’re not an asshole.
so let’s say you’ve come up with a concept, whether it’s just one scene you’re hellbent on writing toward, or a cool character arc, or whatever. you have something you want to write. what do you do next? how do you set that potentially static thing in time and space, so that it can move?
the first thing i ask myself and other writers is, “what’s the first thing that happens?” which is my lowkey way of saying, “what’s the conflict?” the latter is a big question. you don’t have to really think about that yet. by asking what the first thing is, most people are going to naturally convey a conflict, because conflict is just establishing some status quo and then upending it. the upending is usually the beginning of a story—it begets something to follow. here’s the example i always give:
the cat sat on the mat.
this is a statement. it’s not the beginning of a conflict because it doesn’t ask for anything to happen next.
the cat sat on the dog’s mat.
this is a conflict. the dog’s mat is the status quo; the cat comes along and sits on it. we are anticipating the dog’s reaction. based on the dog’s reaction, the conflict may escalate, or it may resolve.
so at this point, all you have to know is the first thing that happens, the thing that asks for something to happen next, and something after that, and so on. the process of plotting, whether you’re a planner or a pantser, is basically just asking yourself “what happens next?” over and over again.
this next part is hard to write about because it’s so abstract. but at this point when i’m conceptualizing, i may not be ready to write yet, even if i have a whole-ass plot down. and that’s because it’s missing what i call the Third Thing. my criticism of most things i read, well over 90% of them, is that the story needs to be elevated. it needs that Third Thing. when i give that as feedback, most people don’t know what i mean by that. i’m going to try to explain it.
many stories have velocity: speed and direction, which more or less equates to pacing and plot. when we begin a story, we’re on a path and there’s some kind of urgency or stake involved. those are two important dimensions. but most of the time, the path is too clear. i can see exactly where we’re going and there aren’t really a lot of obstacles for me as a reader to get there. but what elevates a story for me is adding something else, something that might obscure or complicate the terrain, darken the path, change our course in a way i can’t predict.
here’s the best example i can think of:
in the manhwa At the End of the Road by Haribo, we’ve got your basic bodyswap story: two guys die at the same time. guy 1 who wants to live goes into the body of guy 2 who does not. guy 1 lives guy 2’s life. that’s one dimension.
now, we elevate it a little more. guy 2 was badly bullied, guy 1 was fighty mcfightman and is willing to basically beat the shit out of anyone who looks at him the wrong way. because guy 1 has a can-do attitude, he’s invested in figuring out what the hell happened to guy 2. that’s the second dimension.
most authors stop here when they conceptualize. there’s a premise, there’s a plot, there are characters. but here’s where i’d say, “but where’s the Third Thing?” the complicating factor, the wrench in the plan.
here’s the Third Thing: guy 1, in guy 2’s body, runs into his childhood friend with whom he has bad blood. cool, cool. that’s okay, not that exciting. but then—
his friend immediately recognizes him. in someone else’s body.
now i, as a connoisseur of bodyswap stories, thought i could call basically any twist or turn i came across in this beloved trope. but at this point in the story, which i think is still episode 1 or 2, i realized the story was much bigger than me and was going in directions i couldn’t anticipate but was eager to follow. that’s the Third Thing: something that elevates the story into unforeseen territory.
sometimes the Third Thing is a setting. how does the story change if you set it in New York on September 10, 2001? sometimes the Third Thing is stylistic. what happens when you introduce fragmented sentences into your prose? sometimes the Third Thing is structural. what happens when you fold the story over on itself, so that there are two timelines happening at once?
maybe not every story needs the Third Thing. i don’t know. i just know i can’t start a story until i have it. and sometimes that means sitting on an idea for years, waiting for something to click.
step 2: scaffolding
so you’ve got a premise. if the idea is ready, you probably have some scene ideas. what do you do with discrete, unconnected scene ideas? you put them in a box.
here’s where i find pre-determined plot structures very helpful. there’s freytag’s pyramid, which is just rising and falling action (2 boxes). the three-act play. the five turning points. the six stages. the ten…something or other. i don’t use that one, it’s too complicated.
after plotting many, many novels, i’ve come up with my own structure of four parts. it just always works for me. it might not for you, but this is what i always fall back on.
the beginning of the story to the “locking in” moment, or the point at which the characters are trapped in some type of metaphorical vehicle with a road ahead of them. not every story is going to have this. i prefer my stories to have it though because that’s what i like to read.
the “locking in” moment to the midpoint. if the story has a happy ending, the midpoint is going to be a major success or win of some kind. if a romance, this is when the characters kiss or their relationship escalates in some way. at this point, the characters have been on the road awhile and this is the first major pitstop. note that if it’s a tragedy, the midpoint would be the lowest point and lead to the highest, most hopeful point. if the story has a bittersweet or complicated ending, the midpoint would be a win/loss/sacrifice and the next point would be just some equally complicated major plot point.
the midpoint to the lowest point. here’s where the characters lose control of the wheel and the story spirals. in most books i pick up, this is where i get bored and stop reading, because you have to plant some kind of seed in the first two parts that will flourish in this third part and change the game.
the lowest point to the end. ideally, if you’ve filled in the previous 3 parts well enough, the last part should basically write itself by process of elimination. it rarely works out that way, though, unless you have a very traditional story arc, like a romance. here’s where the characters come back together and confess their love and maybe bone, if you’re into that kind of thing. if a tragedy, this is where everything falls apart. if a bittersweet or complicated ending, this is where you find your final note to end on, and sew up some or all of your conflict threads.
the point of breaking a story into parts isn’t to have a rigid formula to follow, but a place to put scene ideas. so if i have an idea for a scene where my main character is eating a sandwich and ruminating on the Plot, that would have to go in part 2. part 1 is all setup, and parts 3 and 4 are falling action. if there’s a scene with some wild, shakespearean misunderstanding, that has to go in part 3, because it’s falling action right before the characters reach their lowest point. process of elimination. that’s all the 4-part structure is about.
once you’ve got your scaffolding down, i recommend building physical or virtual spaces in which to put your ideas. for me, that means making a new folder in my gdrive and a Notes document. that way, when i have ideas at 2am while i’m three-fourths asleep, i can pull up the doc and put the idea in it before i lose it.
step 3: narrative outline & punch list
now it’s time to actually start pre-writing. out of all the outlines i’ve attempted, the narrative outline (or synopsis, or treatment) is the one i like best. it’s basically the written equivalent of sitting at a coffee shop with your friend relaying the bonkers plot of the thing you just made up. it can have a voice, it can have a style, you can connect thoughts and input motivations and when you don’t know something, you can put “i don’t know what happens here but something has to,” and then you move on.
sometimes i need to do two steps of narrative outline: the high level overview, where each paragraph is 1 of my 4 parts; followed by a more broken-down version, where each paragraph is a chapter.
once it’s written, i go through and highlight all the places where i don’t know what exactly happens and i copy that somewhere else in what i call a punch list. a punch list is an ongoing list of stuff i have to fix or stuff i don’t yet know. in gdrive, there’s an app that shows up on the right side of the screen called Tasks and i just make a different to do list for each project.
the punch list is important because it’s the “worry about this later” pile. the only way to fail in writing something is not to write it, and sometimes we stop writing things because of the unknown—we don’t know what happens next, or why what happens next happens. the punch list makes it so that when you reach these obstacles, you can pick them up and put them somewhere else so you can keep going.
once i’ve worked through the punch list for the first chapter, i put up two documents side by side: the narrative outline on the right, and a blank doc where i’ll begin writing on the left. and then i write.
interlude step: vocal gauge
some writers just always write in the same voice. i’m not one of those writers. a lot of times, it takes me a couple tries to figure out the person, tense, and general style of the writing, and i do that by writing what i call a gauge.
in knitting, a gauge is a square you knit before you begin a project to make sure you’ll end up with the dimensions you intended. that way, a sweater you meant for a grown-ass adult doesn’t become a baby sweater by accident. a gauge makes sure you’re using the right yarn and the right needles so you don’t have to unravel the whole thing and start over.
i can’t imagine any task worse than turning your present-tense story into past tense, or your third-person narrative into first. it’s just tedious.
nearly every time i start a major project, i have to write the first chapter however many times it takes me to find a voice that feels 1) sustainable for an entire book, and 2) challenging enough to keep my attention. if i don’t stylistically challenge myself, i tend to get pretty bored pretty fast and will drop the project indefinitely. so to me, the vocal gauge is very important.
that’s all for part 1. part 2 will be all about drafting! if there’s anything here that’s unclear or that you’d like me to expand on, send me an ask!