Writing Wednesday: 3 Steps to Planning a Novel

Stay tuned every Wednesday for tips on writing, social media, and the publishing industry.  If I can't get around to a video, there will generally be a written blog on a new exciting subject!

I know some authors eschew the thought of video, so for those of you interested in reading the transcript rather than watch the video, read on!

"Hi everyone, I'm Trevor Schmidt, science fiction writer and general geek (General Geek). Today's show is going to help you plan that novel you've been thinking about writing. So, break out that pen and paper and let's get started.

These days it seems like everyone is writing a novel, but what sets apart the good from the bad? I'm willing to bet it's planning. Today I've got a few tips to help you plan out that novel that will take your book to the next level. This will also have the benefit of helping to prevent writer's block.

So, let's get into it.

Step 1: The Synopsis:

The first thing I do when writing a story or novel is to write a one to two paragraph synopsis. This will help me later on as a quick reference guide. This also helps you if someone asks what your novel is about. Then you have a pre-made elevator speech ready to go.

Step 2: The Characters:

The next thing I do is write out a little bit about each character; just a short description and a little bit of backstory. This is something I often add to later because after I go through a novel I'll be adding extra characteristics and then I'll put it into that character description sheet so I can refer to it later on. Once you have your cast of characters sorted out it's on to...

Step 3: The Breakdown:

One thing I've learned from experience is that I like to write about thirty chapters, give or take a few. For everyone else that might be a little different. One thing you can do is look at your favorite books or authors and see about how many chapters they write. Finding what's right for you will be a little bit of a learning process. You don't have to know exactly how many chapters you're going to end up with, because this is just a starting point.

What I like to do with this is to write a paragraph for each chapter, and it's just what happens. None of the technical details. The reason I do this is then I have a reference guide for when I write. Every day when I start writing, I can look back at where I left off and where I'm going. Having this quick reference guide is really helpful when you write yourself into a corner.

It is worth noting that I have never made it through a novel without changing this chapter breakdown. It is just a starting point. Sometimes not even this quick reference guide will help you. Sometimes you just have to write something sub-par and come back to it later with fresh eyes. That's what the editing process is for. I've started every novel with these three steps and I'm currently on my sixth one.

Regardless of whether you want to use these reference guides later on, it's a great exercise to help you really understand what your story is about and where you want to go with your novel. Sometimes just creating this reference guide is enough to give me insight into where I need to deviate from the plot in order to create a good twist.

I hope this short guide will help you as you plan out your novel. Subscribe to my channel for more videos in which I break down writing, social media, and that pesky publishing industry. I put out new videos every Wednesday so stay tuned for more tips."

(Watch the end of the video for a special appearance by my cat, cringer. He's a little shy).