Remember, Remember

Approaching as we are, November 5th, my mind has turned to plots.

Not to blow up parliament you understand...though now I come to think of it...rather the plot of my next book.

You might remember from my last post that I have rather ill-advisedly agreed to sub book five by next Easter. Thus, instead of doing the naked author's dance when I signed off on book four and looking forward to a hard earned rest, I was forced to turn immedaitely to the next project and make some important decisions.

First, I settled on a structure. When I say settled, what I really mean is I dithered and tortured myself to distraction until I imposed a deadline. At that point I simply went with the structure I had on the table and refused to change. A bit like pass the parcel when the music stops. Only without the bite sized Milky Way in the middle.

I suspect Salman Rushdie doesn't use this method.

Hey ho, with my structure in the bag, I moved to my plot.

What was actually going to happen in this book of mine?

I know a lot of writers just get started and let the characters find out for themselves what happens. I read of authors being startled by twists and turns that unveil themselves like delightful belly dancers. Sadly, for me, it doesn't work like this. I find my dancers stubborn, fat and unengaging if I don't actively tell them not to be. Left to their own devices they won't find murders to solve or long lost lovers to bed. No, they will have a bit of a natter and go down the pub for a half.

So, I've been planning.

For me, this means many many bits of paper. Al Gore would not be pleased.

I literally take a seperate sheet of paper for each scene. I number each one. Then I write on it the salient points. Most important being whose POV the scene is from, where the scene is set, what happens and how the scene moves the story on. I'll include any interesting detail that I can already picture, or a snipet of dialogue.

Sometimes I fill the whole page and when I come to writing the thing, it will be little more than a typing exercise. Sometimes the page will be utterly blank. I instinctively know something is needed, but am buggared if I know what it is. Perhaps, I'll write an encouraging note to myself. Something like...FFS.

So, I hear you cry, how is the current plan coming along?

Wellllllll.........I'd be lying if I said I was there. That there wasn't work still to do.

So I'm setting another deadline. By close of play today, I will finish my plan. The music will stop and whatever I have on those scraps of paper will be the basis of book five.

Maybe I'll start a new trend. Writing as a children's party game.