Hello there, as promised here is my mini on plotting...
What you see before you is the plot sheet that the ingenious J.K. used for Order of the Phoenix, if you have been writing a while, you will probably have seen it a million times. If you are new, this might be a big moment for you... I know it was for me when I first saw it.
I had no idea how anyone recorded a novel that has several subplots, made sure everything tied in and nothing got forgotten.
Until I saw this!
I add my own columns to it (e.g. 'weather' is normally something I struggle to keep consistent), but the general idea is the same.
Being a visual person, I normally do this on flip chart sheets (Bigger! I'm not as concise as J.K.) and use my beloved sharpies for colour scheming and once it is finished I stick it all on the back of a door and I stick any additional idea's on with post-it's.
That way I can step back and see my entire plot. Then I work through the novel, putting stickers on or colouring in the chapter numbers as I go (it's very rewarding to see the stickers mount up).
It can take a couple of goes to get it right, some scissors and glue (occasionally a few tears and/or beers). I can do this a couple of times through the novel writing process, trimming down and tightening up the story a little each time.
Righto, I think that's about it it for this week's bite-sized blog.
Until next Thursday,
Yours,
The Inkyscribe x
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