I'm serious, actually

[mmegaera]

Just out of curiosity -- is there such a thing as a book plotting method that doesn't start with "brainstorm as many scenes as you can come up with, then juggle them till they're in the right order"? Everything I've been able to find in the last twenty years of writing seems to boil down to that, and that's not the way my brain works. I would love to do more planning so I don't waste so much time, but that's not the way for me to go, thanks.

After four novels, I really want my writing time to be more efficient, but this isn't helping...

Comments

[mmegaera]

It is. If not any help [wry g].

My normal method is to plot till I reach what Lois Bujold calls the event horizon, which is basically the "I have no clue what happens after this" point, then write up to that point, by which point I hopefully have enough in my head to plot to the next event horizon, and can lather, rinse, repeat till I have a finished book.

But it's a slow process for me working that way, and if I want to put out more than one or two books a year, I need to figure out a way to plot the whole damn thing at once.

And not by just brainstorming scenes and then shuffling them.

[annathepiper]

That sounds kind of similar to what I do, with cycling between writing actual chapters and then adding notes to the outline. Mostly though it's a lot of "let the characters roleplay this out in my head".

Although I DO start with a rough synopsis, enough to give me at least a sketchy idea of where the plot should go. Sometimes I even wind up sticking to the synopsis. :D

[mmegaera]

I have never been able to plot or outline or synopsize to the end of the book before I get there. I would give my eyeteeth to be able to plot or outline or synopsize to the end of the book from the beginning. I usually have a last line or scene that I'm aiming for, but that's it. It's incredibly frustrating.

[annathepiper]

I forget if you've tried the trick of building a synopsis by starting with a blurb?

They taught us this at one of the Writer's Weekend workshops back when those were still happening. The idea being that you start with a single sentence, then expand that out a paragraph, and then expand each sentence in the paragraph out into its own paragraph. Eventually you wind up with a synopsis.

[mmegaera]

How on earth would that work? The blurb is supposed to be a teaser, not about the entire book. Most of my blurbs only cover the first few chapters of the book. Which is sort of my main issue. I have no problems plotting the first few chapters -- it's this repeatedly hitting the event horizon thing that slows me down.

Do you know of any readily accessible resources for this method? Do they discuss this part of the issue or do they just assume your blurb covers the entire plot?

[annathepiper]

You do have to adjust the thinking about the blurb being a teaser in order for this to work, yeah. If you start with the same one-line pitch for the story, you can either take it in a blurb direction, or take it in a synopsis direction.

Taking it in a synopsis direction is the tricky part, since you do have to actually put some thought into what the ending should be, so you can actually write about it.

Re: online resources for it--here's a post my fellow author Tia Nevitt did about the technique, including an infographic:

http://tianevitt.com/2013/03/06/six-paragraph-synopsis-method-the-infographic/

[mmegaera]

Thanks. I'll take a look at it.

Maybe not today, though. Feeling a bit defeatist at the moment.

(as in, all I can think is, well, yes, synopsis -- that thing I've never been able to write until the book is finished)

[annathepiper]

No problem, and you're welcome!