How I Plot My Novels

A friend requested I do a blog post outlining how I plot my novels and write synopsises. This is not a ‘how to’, rather just an explanation of what I do, which may or may not be practical for everyone else.

First, I should note, I have two slightly different processes, depending on if it is a co-authored novel or a solo novel. I will outline my solo novel process first, then explain how I plan co-authored novels second, as the latter is the more nonsensical, confusing method of the two. As co-authoring requires a lot of organic development of plot and characters, whereas when I work solo I prefer logic and structure.

Solo Book Plotting:

Firstly, I come up with the very barebone plot idea. One or two sentences that encompass the story in the broadest sense. For example, Lifesphere: Acquisition was something like: ‘People bond with a creature/monster and compete in an arena.’

Usually, mentally, I will have a much greater idea of what I want to do, who the characters are and what will happen. I don’t normally start writing anything until the idea is mature in my mind. However sometimes idea come to me in an instant—an entire world, all the characters and the entire plot, in a few minutes. They hit hard and fast and often leave me with a blinding headache, during which I try and write as much down about it as I can. More often, ideas form and build slowly, developing over weeks and months until I decide they are formed enough to start working on.

After I have the basic premise written down, I write the genre, target audience and an estimated word count goal, alone with the number of chapters I want and how long I want those chapters to be. This is just a guideline, but it’s a guideline I like to have in place, as it helps with the development of the plot.

If you know how long the book is and how many chapters it will have, you can get a rough idea of how many scenes you will need. For Lifesphere, I had 1-2 scenes per chapter and 4-7 plot points per chapter, so I could see that everything was moving along at a nice pace and there weren’t any areas the story lagged.

Once I have the basic premise and the word and chapter count, I make a note of the major character roles. In Lifesphere, it was Eli, Squall, both of their meka, Aquillis, Kalex and Aeryn. They didn’t have names yet, just roles. Main character, villain, etc. I made some notes about them, such as that Eli lived in a shanty on a rubbish tip and Squall was in a wheelchair. I gave them all things they wanted most in the world, things they were willing to fight and die for. I usually name them at this stage, though often the names are placeholder names.

Then I write out a list of things and scenes that I want to happen in no particular order. All the possible scenes I have in my head, good, bad, confusing. I just write them all in bullet points. I keep going until I have no more ideas for scenes, however often writing one will lead to ideas for more. So, I may end up with between 20-50 scene ideas at this stage.

I then start looking for a logical order to the scenes and form them into a narrative arc. Some will be cut at this stage, as not all of them will fit. By the end of this, I should have a rough skeleton of a plot.

Usually then I go back to the character profiles and add a lot more detail and any new characters I need. I make sure everyone has descriptions so they stay consistent, last names, first names and I name their family members so I don’t have to try and think of a name while I am writing.

This is also when I tend to do world building, though when I am writing my own novels, world building might happen randomly at any stage in the process. Worlds come to me very easily and quickly and stay with me a lot longer than other elements. Because I have SO MUCH world building in my brain, it actually rarely makes it to the page. For example, I can’t remember the names of any of the characters from the first novel I ever wrote (I, Aratika), but I do remember extensive details of how they farmed quails and how male and female quails were used in separate dishes and what those dishes were and when it was appropriate to eat them. That information never even made it into the book.

Once I am happy with the character profiles, I go back to the bullet point plot. I make headings for every chapter number in a new file (or page on scrivener) and I start placing my plot points in chapters. I write in where I want cliff-hanger chapter endings and flesh out the plot and add any bridging scenes as I go. I am pretty good at estimating how many words each scene will need to be, so it’s easy for me to space the scenes between the chapters and end up with a reasonably consistent word count.

I then spend a few days fleshing out the plot, so that there is as much detail in each chapter as possible and I know everything I need to know. Then I can start writing.

Plotting Co-authored Books:

If my solo plotting method is painting with a fine brush on a canvas, my co-authored plotting method is firing paint at a wall with a cannon.

Somethings are the same. Firstly, there is a premise. EG: ‘A figure skater and an ice hockey player fall in love and they’re TOTES GAY AS BALLS.’ Which I then have to convince my co-author to write with me. However, I usually find the words ‘gay as balls’ will entice her to write almost anything.

Secondly, I work out the character roles.

Thirdly, the character roles are assigned to myself or my co-author.

Fourth step is me plotting the first section of the book—usually the first third—with bullet points for the major scenes.

Fifth, world building. Buckets of it. If you’re going to play in the same world, you need to know what that world is like. Sometimes part of this is done verbally and with comparisons to other settings. Usually there are floating islands. I love floating islands.

That is pretty much all we do before we start writing. Which means I must do a lot of tracking and adjusting as we go. Because of the way we write, the plot course can change dramatically, so I usually reassess when we finish the first third of the plot points, then write the next third—another 20 bullet points or so—then depending how they play out, I plot the end.

Our co-authored ideas need be a lot more flexible in terms to structure and direction. Which often means a lot more editing when they’re done. However, given they only take a month or so to write and they’re usually over 100k, the extra editing time still makes them time efficient. They’re also a lot of fun to write, because we’re both constantly being surprised by the twists as we write, even though there is planning and structure in place.

So, there it is. The two, slightly insane methods I used to plot novels. Maybe this was helpful or insightful. Maybe I just look slightly crazier in your eyes now. Either way, is fine with me.

Characters: Creating A Profile

What is a character profile?

A character profile is a gathering of information about a character in your manuscript that keeps track of their vital information: appearance, behaviour and motivation. It may contain a picture if you prefer and it can be as detailed or basic as you like. Its primary purpose is a reference to keep the details of your story consistent.

So don’t over-think it.

Main characters VS secondary characters:

There is a special trick when it comes to main character profiles VS secondary character profiles:

Firstly, you should use exactly the same profile template for main characters and all other characters, even the most MINOR shop keeper or blow-through.

Secondly, while you should try and fill in all of your main character profiles before you start writing your novel, you only need to fill in secondary characters info as you put it in the story. Name them, give them some critical details, but don’t fill in the stuff that doesn’t appear in the novel. Otherwise, you would end up with hundreds of pages of profiles for characters who are only in the novel for a few sentences.

However if you make a note of how you describe them (I like to clip and paste from the manuscript text), their personality, where they appear/live and their primary goal, you can quickly reference it if your main characters meet that character again. That way you won’t have to flip back through your novel looking for that obscure scene to check if you made them very short or how long their handlebar moustache was.

What should you put in a character profile?

So what actually goes in a character profile? I like to tailor mine to the novel in question. In different settings, different information will be important. However there are a few universal things you should always cover:

The basics:

Name, age, gender, hair, eyes, skin tone, height and weight.

The expanded basics:

Parents names, siblings, any other relevant family, friends and their relationship with all those people. Where they were born, where they live, their occupation and education, their title or rank, if they live in a world that is relevant.

The stuff that actually matters:

Their personality, morality and beliefs, their habits, interests and mannerisms, their background, their character arc, their internal conflicts and their external conflicts.

Both the basics and the expanded basics are just there to help you keep facts straight. They have very little impact on the story—even though they may be important to the character, they probably hold no real interest to the reader.

However the stuff that matters is the core of your story. It’s what makes your characters engaging and real. Which is why it’s getting its own blog post next week.

Maintenance and Upkeep:

Like your timeline, your character profiles need to develop with your story.

There will be new things to keep track of, relationships, motives and developments. Your character may be injured in chapter three and you’ll want to make a note of where and how badly so that remains consistent throughout the following chapters.

You also may want to make a note about less tangible things. If you are writing a romance, for example, you may want to make notes about the way the characters develop between each scene, as that emotional arc is the focus of the story.

I like using scrivener for my first drafts in particular, as it allows me to create a folder called ‘Characters’, mock up an empty profile and just duplicate it as new characters are introduced. Whenever I want to check my notes, they are right there and I can open them as a split screen while I am writing the scene. I can add photos and earlier descriptions to the file, their parent’s names and job title are all there. I don’t have to look anywhere else for the information I need. This is a great time saver and stops me becoming distracted as I either scroll through old text or have to minimize the novel to open the profile.

I also keep my character profiles in alphabetical order—particularly when dealing with a large fantasy cast.  It’s also simpler to have two sub folders, one for main characters and one for minor characters. Setting up a new project this way takes a little longer at the beginning, but makes life so much easier in the long run.

Week Two’s Exercise:

It’s time to set up a character profile template—either in word or Scrivener. Add all the things that are important to you and your storyline. You would be adding to mine, not detracting. Here’s one of mine to use as reference:

Name: (Including title EG: Ms, Dr, Prince, etc)

Gender:

Age:

Physical Description: (Eyes, hair, height, weight, skin tone)

_____________

Parents: (Names, occupations and characters relationship with them)

Siblings: (As above)

Friends/Workmates: (As Above with other important people in their life.)

Other Family: (As above with extended family)

Born/Live: (Where were they born and where do they live now.)

Education/Job:

Title/Rank: (If relevant to setting and not covered by name)

Clothes: (Style, etc)

______________

History: (Their life until the story starts)

Character Arc: (What happens to them in the story, summarised by a few sentances)

Most Desires/Most Fears: (This should be tied into their personality and conflicts)

Internal Conflicts:

External Conflicts:

Habits/Mannerisms/Hobbies: (Quirks you want to remember to make them feel real. EG: Hair pulling, nail chewing.)

Morals & Beliefs:

Personality: (Five or six personality descriptive words. EG: Happy, intelligent, thoughtful, selfish, etc)

Choosing Names In Fiction

Names. It's hard to write fiction without them, yet I seem to find a lot of names that just do not fit.

Names—for people, places and technology--should fit the genre and setting of your manuscript. If you are writing a story set in modern times this is fairly straight forward. A little bit of research on the region in which the story is set, and you will have a good idea what names are common.

If your story is set in a multicultural city you can use character names from almost any culture—as long as they fit the character. However it is not a good idea to populate an entire novel with overly eccentric names. I am sure you know a few Kalexs and Tarkans but most of your friends are probably Wills, Davids, Katies and Sarahs.

If you want more name diversity, remember people may be called by a nickname, or their last name. Both can be a strong indication of character—so make sure they give the reader the right impression. A strict school principal wouldn’t go by S.J and a housewife wouldn’t go by just Wilks if it was her last name, though she might go by Mrs Wilks.

Some people can’t think of names. There is a simple solution to this: babynames.com. Any other baby naming site will do just as well. If you don't have the internet, your local library or bookstore will have ample baby naming books.

However what if you are writing in a fantasy or sci fi setting? You can use a fantasy name generator. Google.com will find you plenty. If you are using a generator, use one that has the capacity to create a range of names in set ‘types’ so the names remain simular for each culture.

Different races and different cultures should have different styles of name. Perhaps your elves have very long names like Eler’tisali Vijtda’bei Alfaso’ina. Perhaps your intergalactic alien overloads all have hyphenated names like Had-je, Wil-tor and Abe-las. However Kal’dath’han and Buttershire probably shouldn’t come from the same village unless there is a very good reason for it. In the same thread, a very different name can mark a character as an outsider.

There are other things to keep in mind when using fantasy names. One is pronunciation. Often I find three people reading the same name will each pronounce it in a totally different way so always run a new name by a few test readers.

Another tip, regardless of genre, is to keep a file somewhere that you write down names you like. Once you build up a decent collection, your own personal name file can always be your first port of call when trying to find a new character name.


Copyright Talitha Kalago. 2003.

Edited. 2012.