To plot or not to plot - Diary of a procrastinating writer.

When I first started to write my novel, I knew my beginning and my ending, what I didn’t know was how to get from one to the other.  Then I had a light bulb moment, Eureka! I could move my story on by killing people off.  Five murders later my story hadn’t progressed an inch but I had the most overworked Detectives outside of Midsomer!

I knew the bare bones of my story; I just needed to pad it out - I needed to plot (another light bulb moment!).

According to my writing tutor Alex Davis, when plotting, novelists often start with a very rough sketch outline, half a page or a page describing the main ‘Beats’ of the story.  So this I did.  Writing it down gave me my plan; I know my main characters, where the action takes place and the status quo at the start of my story and of course I know what’s going to rip it all apart (The conflict).  I even know how that conflict is resolved. 

Alex also encouraged me to think of my novel as a three act drama;

1. The set up or beginning – where you will introduce your main character(s), setting and the state of affairs that will soon be torn apart by;

2. The conflict or middle – The key stage of the story

3. The Denouement or end– The resolution

So I split my outline into thirds, I now have a beginning, middle and an end and I’m killing off 70% less victims.  I have also started doing rough sketch outline of my chapters; I find it gives them more structure. 

I know this sounds time consuming and some writers prefer a more freeform way to plot, but it’s working for me.

The only issue I have now is which point of view; first or third?

Cheryll Taylor Rawling