Hey Penelope! So I ADORE your writing style and your plotting ideas, so I wanted to ask you how you plan your book. I know you use Pinterest a lot to get your ideas but do you have any other tips?

Penelope Douglas Hey! Thanks for the question.

I'm a planner. A big planner. I start with my storyboard, a playlist, and a notebook. I jot down ideas in no particular order about the characters, scenes I want to write, the setting, trials the characters should go through, etc. I just have fun with it. The pre-writing is really the most fun part, I think. You have a blank slate and you just get to dive into this imaginary world and fall in love, knowing you get to stay there for months.

After that, I move the ideas to notecards and get down on the floor and start placing them, trying out an order I think will work. This can change over the course of writing, but once I have the general timeline, I move the notes on the cards to a proper outline on my computer that I can reference as I write. Like I said, I have to be flexible, so things will change here and there, but I can't be a pantser and just go. Some things--how you're going to get a character from A to C need to be foreshadowed ahead of time, and I really hate rewriting, so it's best to get a good plan from the start. Also, as I told another reader, I'll almost always write the dialogue in a chapter before I write the chapter. I need to see how it's going to play out.

I will say that one size does not fit all. Your method will be just as valuable, but I do assure you, the more you use your imagination, the easier the ideas will come. Sooner or later, you'll have more ideas than you'll live long enough to write ;)

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