If Only I Could Outline My Life As Easily As I Can A Book...

May 1 is quickly approaching. Is anyone else sorta like, "Where did April go?" Because I am.

It's mostly because May has been the month of insanity (read: INSANITY) for me that I've known was coming since last year. And now it's here. I'm not sure if I'm ready, but the world does not wait for readiness. And I like to be ready.

I'm a plotter.

I started out as a pantser, but over the years that I've been writing, I've learned that I write better and quicker with outlines. They started out basic, and now they've developed into pages and pages of story before I write an actual word. Well, for some of the books. Each book is different, but I always now know what I'm going to write before I start working on it. The more I know, the better because otherwise I flounder and second-guess and get really frustrated when I don't know what's happening. I hate not knowing what's going to happen.

I hate that so much that when I was a kid (or from the time I was a kid until college *hides*) I used to read the end of a book first. The last paragraph. If I didn't like that then I wouldn't buy it. I wouldn't even finish it if I'd already started. Then, one day in college, my fiction writing class learned of my secret sin and very vocally judged me for that. They all asked why I did that and I used to say it was because I wanted the end to be worth it, and because I really liked to write endings first. (I knew all the endings before the beginnings!) But my professor said I did it because I "hated not being in control and by reading the end, it gave me back some of that control. But you can't be in control and be a reader." I stopped reading endings after that -- and I've never forgotten it because it's so true.

I'm a plotter in writing, but not in life.

Life has too many factors, too many variables, too many other people who impact where I end up.  In life, I don't know the ending. No one does. I don't know what will happen next or where each decision will lead me, and most days I feel like I'm floundering. Like things are moving and sometimes I'm standing there in traffic with my thumb out and no one stops. Other times I'm jumping on to whatever car is zooming by and hanging on for dear life and praying I don't fall off. Even more times, I'm too afraid to cross the street because I don't know if I can make it before that semi comes and smooshes me.

I often think back to what my professor told me in class and how much that lesson applies to life as well as writing. I can't read the ending of my life. I don't know if the things I'm pouring my life into, the dreams and passions that drive me and keep my schedule (and brain) in this constant state of insanity, will achieve the level of success I hope for. I move around a lot. I try to find my place. I move when the wind blows me and the moment feels right, and all that is because I don't know anything. I have no control of my future (and some days my present) -- and that's so incredibly hard for me.

I firmly believe it's because I don't have an outline. I also believe that's why I write from an outline -- because I do have to know what's happening. I thrive on control, because every writer knows that once the story is out there, we control nothing else. (Publishing is the worst industry for control-freaks, which is why I think a lot of authors are a little ADD and neurotic.)

Sometimes I think that life would be so much easier if I could plot it out like a book. If I could turn to the last page and know the ending. But then so much of that ending is the journey I get to experience in getting there.

As crazy as that journey is sometimes, as fast as those cars are when they zoom around me and as much as fingers hurt from trying to hold on, I don't know that I would trade any of that for a perfect ending. At least not today. (Ask me again if I survive May.)

Tangled Up in Conflict!

Let’s talk about conflict—those tangly, knotty plot threads that screw up your main character’s life and give us a story instead of a straight line. We don’t want to make things easy for your characters—that would be boring. But spending the whole book focused on just one conflict? That’s letting them off too easy, if you ask me. We want them to suffer for your art, despair and wail and feel hopeless before slowly, things start to fall into place, one by one.

I believe for a richly layered story, you can balance three types of conflict for maximum heartache: internal conflict, interpersonal conflict, and global conflict. Regardless of your story’s genre, if you can slot at least one conflict into each of these categories, I think you’ll be pleased with the results, and never tire of ways to torment your character on their journey to the end.

Internal Conflict. This is where you really dig into who your main character is and who he or she wants to be. Whether they are consciously pushing toward these goals or not, that doubt and determination will add interest to your character’s internal life (especially if you’re writing in first person). Does your psychic feel guilt over the harmful nature of her superpower? Does your star quarterback regret that he never made time for his secret love of painting? Does your princess question whether finding a wealthy husband is really all she wants from life? Make them question their identity, or yearn to reconcile their internal wants with the way they’ve constructed their life.

Interpersonal Conflict. Here we learn how your main character ties into the people around him or her. These people can, in turns, help or hinder your character’s other conflicts, or this conflict can be the crux of the story. She could be really close to her dad, and be devastated when he’s diagnosed with cancer. Maybe he is trying to win the eye of the talented sorceress, but she rebukes him at every turn. Whether these interpersonal conflicts form the crux of your story (like in a contemporary romance) or add depth to another conflict, the question of who is or isn’t an ally adds a great sense of tension and drama.

Global Conflict. Now the fate of the universe hangs in the balance! …Or even just the outcome of the Prom Queen vote. The “global” conflict doesn’t have to be a matter of life or death, but it should be something hanging over most if not all of your main players. College entrance exams, a war summit, an impending space shuttle crash, or the beach party to end all beach parties—everyone stands to lose or gain something, and often no one does so more than your main character.

You can weight these three levels of conflict however you like, depending on the sort of story you want to tell. Generally, I would expect different genres to emphasize different levels—an introspective and emotional contemporary may focus on internal conflicts while a high-concept sci-fi might focus on a global conflict—but a strong story will incorporate all three.

What conflicts on each level occur in your favorite books? How do you incorporate all three levels into your writing?

Finishing, Waiting, Moving On

Last week, if you were around, I wrote this post about making choices. In it, I said I had no job (still don't) and was going to use all of last week to write. My goal was to finish the book--and it was a realistic yet challenging goal. Accomplishing it would take discipline.

After cranking out a day of 3k, a day of 4k, a day of 2k, a day of 10k and spending Friday writing the last 5k---I finished my first draft!!!!  (I also completed the manuscript I was editing on that 2k day in one sitting. Brain death.) BUT I DID IT!!!!!!

HAPPY DANCING ALL AROUND!!! 

I've written books before, but Hotboyalicious (not real title) was so hard for me. It was mostly a mental thing. This was scary because it was a lighter, actiony, sassier story and I'm more dark and twisty. I started and restarted twice. I lost a lot of great scenes. My character's motivation changed (or was fixed rather) and the pacing had to be adjusted in each re-start. It was a frustrating book and for many, many months I just HATED it because it was so annoying. But I kept writing because I wanted to tell the story.

When I wrote that last line, I called Cindy and I cried a little. I've never cried before upon finishing (even after two years and seven drafts of my last book.) But it was SO MUCH of what I hoped it would be when I started and felt like I could never achieve. BUT I DID. :) 

Now the story is finished, and I spent the weekend reading through it, fleshing out some areas that needed it, fixed some errors, made some more connections in the beginning to things that happened at the end. My fantastic CPs (three of whom are my blogmates!), an author friend, a writer friend and Patricia's sister (who NEVER reads anything) all have Hotboyalicious. I can't wait for the feedback and to jump in for revisions. 

Since I'm waiting, I'm faced with the NOW WHAT? dilemma. Well, yesterday I caught up on most of the editing stuff I have to do with Spencer Hill. I'll be working on that throughout the week. And this morning, I plotted a new book.

YES. I *do* know this is crazy. AH! 

I'm really excited about the new story--which does not yet have a working title or secret title. Remember when I said Hotboyalicious was scary because it was so different? This is even scarier. A tense I've never written in and POV that I have never worked with, (Two POVs actually!), and topics I don't know much about! Needless to say, I have a lot of character development ahead and even more research...

But this is the joy of writing. You get to try new things and you get to grow. I think it's supposed to be scary!! And just know that you are not alone.

The Story Makes Sense Now!!! ....Goodbye Hot Gypsy Boy's Sister Who's a Half-Dragon Viking Princess in Love with a Fire-Breathing Pirate

Last week, Patricia told us the story of the time-traveling viking pirate and the last shape-shifting dragon's daughter. It started out as this simple idea: a young girl’s journey to discover the parents that abandoned her when she was a baby. And then it morphed and escalated into this mess of wibbly wobbly timey-wimey overplotting!  By the end of her story, the whole idea was overcrowded and lost in the unneeded subplots.

So what do you do when you are faced with wibbly wobbly overplotting? You have to unravel it. My plan in this post is to show you how to do that. Hopefully, by the end, you'll be able to tell when you've over-plotted and have an idea on how to figure out the important stuff. This will keep you from doing it again--or at least being aware of it. (Note: This is just my opinion and one approach so it may not work for everyone, but Patricia's one my CPs so we do this all the time!)

HOW TO KNOW WHEN YOU'VE OVER-PLOTTED

There are some tell-tale signs that you've over-plotted your WIP.  The biggest way you can tell if you've over plotted: start writing. If you find yourself frequently stuck, due to being overwhelmed by complexity, that's usually a good sign. I mean, if your story looks something like this in your head---How would you even know where to start? Over-plotting 101.

Ways to combat over-plotting:

Talk it out.

This is the most accurate way to tell:  Finding another real-life person to talk to about it is best--because they'll usually tell you when they're lost. Either it will be a glazed over look in their eye, a fidgeting, or a point-blank "I'm so confused" to let you know it's too much. If you don't have a real-life person, you could always record yourself talking about your story. I bet when you're listening to it, you'll be able to see a little more easily that there's too much going on.

Write it out.

Not in story form, just in notes. Grab a piece of notebook paper and write out the story from beginning to end, with a new thing on each line. This will allow you to see the whole story plan and avoid a mess like the one above. Plus, at later suggestions, you can refer to this plot list. You could also use index cards, if you'd rather have those than a single paper. In fact, if you wanna go really crazy---do both. Seeing everything laid out will allow you to re-group things as you start cutting subplot points.  

Draw it out. 
Some people are really artsy (or just like markers!) and if you're one of those people, you can draw out your story. Think flow charts or stick people or cut outs from magazines or lots of really colorful words. It doesn't matter what "draw" means to you. Just make your own chart. Get a really big piece of paper and go to town. if it starts looking like above, then it's too much.

HOW TO FIGURE OUT THE BASIC PLOT

What the character wants and what stands in the way of him/her getting it.
I once saw a tweet, way back when I first started reading agent blogs, that said: Every query would be more successful if it told me who the protagonist is, what she wants and what stands in the way of her getting it.

Since that day, I always think about this exact thing. Before any project is started--and especially when you're trying to figure out the plot of a novel--you must know these three things. Who is the MC? What does the MC want? What stands in her way?

In our example: MC is Girl (we'll call her Sam). Sam wants to find her birth parents and learn why they abandoned her as a baby. So far, so good. But then we get to question three: What stands in her way? Everything! Vikings, pirates, dragons, long-lost cousins five times removed who breath fire and have tea with pirates.

Ridiculous. That's the part you have to fix. Once you know these three basic elements of the story, you can move on to the next one. 

Elevator Pitch. (aka. one sentence)
Ah, this is a term we love to toss around in the publishing industry--and basically speaking (if you don't know) it's a sentence. It's a single sentence that encompasses your book. The theory is you meet someone in elevator and you have only the distance of a few floors to tell them about your book in an intriguing way. This is the elevator pitch--the one single line that is your story. I know, it seems ridiculous that this is an expectation, but the elevator pitch is very important for agents, readers and even, when you're an over-plotter, your story.

How so?

Well, this is the story at its most basic, most simple and intrinsic point in time. So, especially when you've identified the other two steps here, it will continue to give you focus. If the story trails away from this sentence as the "theme" of the story (meaning the overarching and unending motivation of the story) then you will know. But you have to know this sentence.

(Note: Motivation can change within a story. Example: Girl can now want more answers about hot boy's life, but they have to stem from her original motivation (finding her family) and/or add to her overarching story--otherwise, you are telling a different story. Each motivation presented must be supported and reached in some way before moving on to another. *Think of a series, where each motivation is a new book but there's something in common happening in each book. The Hunger Games is a great example of this idea*)

Query letter summary
Okay. This is my favorite. (I'm sick.) A query is basically a simplified version of a book jacket. There are usually no sub-plots mentioned--and if there is then it's only a hint. It's the three things we just talked about, only with more emphasis on the second and third part. it clearly sets the conflict, the goal and the obstacles in two or three paragraphs. Seriously. Go pick a couple of your favorite books and study the book jacket. I'll wait....

Now. Write your own.

This isn't something you'll query---do not do that! But it is something that can guide you. If you already know who the MC is, what she wants and what stands in her way, then it should be no problem to start developing a bigger story. The purpose of this early "query" is to create a structure that will keep you on track. Then, when you're writing later, you can make sure it's all still working together.

I know, this may seem confusing. Write three sentences and then one sentence and then a couple paragraphs? Maybe it's weird, but when you're so bogged down by too much plot you need to get it simple again before you can start to repair and rebuild a story. But you definitely shouldn't do the summary step until you've figured out the main plot, because when you start tossing subplot into the mix it can all get messy. It doesn't mean the salad will taste better just because there are more ingredients,

HOW TO DECIDE WHICH SUBPLOTS ARE BEST

Ah....subplot. How do I guide in this? Well, I'll be honest. No one except you and your story can tell you what subplots to add/get rid of (aside from agent or an editor, but that's a different story.)

How do you choose when they're all so CUTE???

 The best help I can give here is a list of questions to ask yourself and your characters. Hopefully, they'll help eliminate some of the unneeded plot points. 

• Which subplots are moving the story forward? 
• Subplots run parallel to the story. You must be all be working together to get the same place or you'll never get anywhere.
  
• Which subplots are most relevant to the MC and her goal? 
• Which subplots are driven by internal conflict vs external? 
• With my last WIP, I outlined this in blue vs pink index cards. It's good to know what conflicts/subplots are being done to your character and which are being done by your character. Its a random thing, but it's important to know where the story happens more--internal or external--and which element carries varying weights.
  
• Can any of them be deleted/combined/substituted without losing an aspect of the story? 
• Say you have a character who wants to win find a treasure and the MC is in the way. And you have a character who wants to steal the MC's magical aura. And a character who wants to save everyone. Why not combine all these into the same person? Deleting/combining/subsituting scenes or characters or subplots can be all you need to save a WIP. Of course, with something like the example Patricia gave us, it's only the start.
  
• How many subplots do you need?
• This varies with each author and each story. I have a rule of thumb that only lets me plan for three. Why? I'm a pantser (usually) and when I know I need to figure out three subplots, I do. But when you write more and more things can pop up. It's good to have less to start, so if you wanted to take on one or two of these other elements, then you could. But beware, because that's how we get to where we were in the beginning.

HOW NOT TO DO IT AGAIN

1. Be aware it's a problem. Awareness is the first step to recovery. 
2. Find people who will tell you the truth.
3. Read A LOT of books. Craft books, fiction books--any and everything. Take notes. Mark the pages. Sticky note your problem areas. Use the experiences to learn.
4. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you're stuck. People love sharing opinions.

Whew!

Fixing a WIP that's been overplotted is not easy work. It requires sacrifice. But it means the difference between killing a WIP and saving one. Sometimes, like the heroine in our story will learn, it's better to say goodbye to the hot gypsy boy's sister who's a half-dragon Viking princess in love with a fire-breathing pirate...and just search for her parents who abandoned her with a ragtag team of friends on a summer vacation in Europe. Too bad for the hot boy....

Are you an over-plotter? How do you combat this? Have you lost stories to over-plotting?

My Problem with Pacing

So I have this problem with pacing. When I start a WiP I usually have at least some of it plotted out (like the beginning). And I'll write out the chapters that have been plotted all happily and feeling like I'm doing great. Then when I get to the end of those chapters, I get a little stuck.

I end up just writing, free flowing with whatever comes out, which isn't a bad thing really. Words are getting done and all that. The problem comes when I'm just adding scenes in that aren't really moving the plot forward or helping develop my characters, scenes that slow my pacing down. They're just there. Still not too bad a thing in a draft. Stuff like that can still help you flesh out and learn more about your story and characters.

The real problem with me and pacing comes in during revisions. Because those scenes I wrote (those ones that don't help my pacing, that don't really add to the story) become very dear to me. I pour my time and effort into them and love them.
I love them so much that I don't want to get rid them. I never want to let them go.


So I hold onto them simply because I like them. I don't see how they slow down my pacing, how they halt the action, how they ruin the sequence of events that need to happen.

I only see how they make me smile or tear up and the time and effort that it took me to write them. And I don't want to see that--them--just disappear.

I did this with my last MS. I knew there were scenes that I had to take out. But I didn't. I kept them through various rounds of revisions. Eventually though, I realized they weren't helping my story. That I was cheating my writing and my readers by keeping scenes that only bogged down the pacing. They didn't help.

It's still something I have to work on even though I know about it. One of my CP's told me about a technique to help maintain good pacing. It's a scene/sequel method and it's been so helpful. I'm so glad she told me about it. It's a template for chapters, using an alternating patter for 'scene chapters' then 'sequel chapters.' In short, scenes have a goal, conflict, then disaster.
Sequels show the reaction, dilemma, then resulting decision.

I'm also working on my plotting too--on taking the time to actually flesh out a plot. It's hard because I'm more of a panster, but I think I'm slowly getting better at it. My goal for my next story is to have a full plot planned out before I start writing.

So what about you guys? Any of you have difficulty with pacing like me? Check back next week when we share ways in which we fight these problems and save our stories!

The Time-Traveling Viking Pirate and the Last Shape-Shifting Dragon's Daughter: A Love Story... I think...

So I have a new story idea* I’m going to start plotting:

via Pinterest.com

It’s a young girl’s journey to discover the parents that abandoned her when she was a baby.

And along the way a hot gypsy boy tries to rob her, but after she beats him up, he decides to join her instead.

Turns out he belongs to a band of gypsies who guard the secrets of the last pack of shape-shifting dragons.

And one of those dragons is the girl’s mother!

Also, there is another hot shape-shifting dragon boy, who has a secret gypsy girlfriend, but finds himself inexplicably attracted to our girl.

Turns out his girlfriend is our girl’s half-sister! On the shape-shifting mother dragon’s side.

So both boys set out to help our girl with her quest, hoping to win her heart in the process. Her newly discovered half-sister comes along too to keep an eye on her man.

via Pinterest.com

Along the way they are attacked by an ancient group of Viking pirates who have come back in time on their time-travelling boat.

They are held captive by the pirate captain of the boat, who looks oddly familiar. Turns out he’s come to this time period before, seventeen years earlier and is our girl’s father!

His men are planning a mutiny, so they kidnap our girl and her friends, from the place they are already kidnapped and take her to a cave.

In the cave is a dragon who is none other than our girl’s mother.

She is now the last of her kind thanks to small secret order of gypsies who betrayed her kind and have secretly been killing off the dragons and have her chained up in a magic cave.

Turns out the leader of the secret society is… the hot gypsy boy’s father! But he has fallen in love with this shape-shifting dragon and cannot bring himself to kill her or left her go.

While all of this is being discovered, the pirate Captain is closing in on finding not only his daughter, but his former mate shape-shifting dragon ex-lover. Meanwhile his shipmates are hot on his trail meaning to hunt him down.

via Pinterest.com

Turns out the band of mutinous pirates is led by none other than our girl’s half-sister’s father (Mama shape-shifting dragon got AROUND the last time the time travelling Viking pirates made an appearance apparently). 

Just as the band of time-traveling Viking pirates are closing in a dragon IDENTICAL to the mother dragon drops in and scares all the pirates away and saves our girl and her group.

Turns out that the last time the Viking pirates visited one stayed behind, became a scientist, and found a way to clone the last remaining dragon.

And THEN…

Wait… What is this story about again?!

If you haven’t guessed yet, the way I kill my WIPs is with over-plotting. I take a simple idea, something totally do-able and then I start adding subplots (often by the dozens) until my outline is so incredibly complex (and often ridiculous) that I either a) have no idea where to start or b) get so bogged down in adding complexity and inter-connections that I can’t ever get to the point where I feel ready to write.

This has killed a number of perfectly good WIP in my writing journey. The funny thing is I didn’t even notice I was doing it until I started telling Danielle about my current idea (way back when I originally had it) and she was like, “Well… it’s good… but you just told me about 8 stories in one. You’re going to need to take out some of those subplots.”

She then challenged me to tell her about my story in one sentence. To think about what it was at its core. It didn’t occur to me until I couldn’t do this easily that I had forgotten WHAT THE STORY WAS ACTUALLY ABOUT lost in the piles and piles of subplots I had created.

The subplot game is kind of like a really frustrating game of telephone, by the time I get to the end of the game the story it rarely resembles my original idea. Worse than that, sometimes the end result has taken me so far off base that I can’t even remember what my original intent was. And sometimes, I start out writing about an ordinary girl and end up getting so confused by the backstory between her time-traveling Viking pirate father and her supposedly promiscuous,  shape-shifting dragon mother that I shut the computer and don’t even know what to do.

Do any of you have this problem? How do you handle reining in your imagination when it’s time to start plotting without losing the parts of your idea? Are you ever overwhelmed by your own ideas?

*This outline is an example, not an actual WIP. I know... I'm disappointed too. ;)