Writing Tips: Laying the Groundwork for Your Novel

By Jacob Donley

The EASY (dramatic eye roll) part in the process of writing your novel is done. You’ve come up with the idea that has sparked your creative genius, but now what? Lots of writers have that spark of genius and that remarkable idea for the next best seller but stall because, they aren’t sure how to move forward. So, what is the magical solution for writing your novel? Well, I don’t know about a magical solution, but planning goes a long way. Roz Morris  writes a very informative book, NAIL YOUR NOVEL . It lays out some ways to help focus your creative information through organization and some very easy and helpful strategies.

Every writer has their own strategy when it comes to writing. Some people, also known as pantsers, just sit down with their idea and start plugging away at the keys and let the story take them where it will. Others, myself included, need a little more structure and foresight to successfully bring a novel from initial spark to joyous conclusion. Those of us who use the structured method are most often referred to as plotters. We use outlines to help us figure out where we’re going before we sit down and start writing. Using an outline helps to stave off what some refer to as writer’s block. From my own experience, and from what I’ve heard, many others say as well, writer’s block is simply the story coming to a place where it shouldn’t be. Outlines help forego this conclusion. The story is already mapped out, the writer just has to meet the milestones to get to their final location, the story’s end.

NAIL YOUR NOVEL  is a great resource that I’ve used to help myself organize my ideas into stories. Check it out for yourself, I’m sure you will get as much from it as I have.