Aspiring YA Novelists discussion

I'm just curious as to whether the other writers in this group plan or outline before writing.

Personally, I've written both ways. The first novel I wrote had zero planning beforehand, it was quite literally done entirely by going with it.

Since then, I've started outlining more. I use the ideas of Blake Synder in his book Save the Cat! The beats were written for screenplays, but I liked the way they transition to novels. I have an area on my wall (in which I labeled 'evil plotting' because I am a geek like that) and arrange the different acts, beats, and scenes in multicolored post-it notes. The result probably only makes sense to me, but I feel it better keeps me on track. Of course, the "board" changes all the time, even in the middle of writing.

Anyway, this topic is probably brought up all the time, but I was just curious to see how others do it.

I've done a little of both. I always have a basic outline in my head--I think you need to with dystopian, to know where it is going. In my first book a huge chunk of it just came to me, so I didn't outline as much and just wrote feverishly.

The first book was originally going to be two smaller ones. So the second part I outlined a bit more, since I knew I wanted to set it up for a sequel, but only outlined in my head.

The sequel I'm working on now, I knew how it was going to end, but not how I was going to get there. I played around with plots in my head over and over till I found one I liked. I'm still doing that actually. I jotted down the basic plot for the first time because my brain doesn't remember like it used to. ;) What's been really fun is watching how all the in between parts are evolving. Sometimes I'm writing and I completely come up with something awesome, that I wasn't intending.

Lisa

I've done it without planning and generally only get a few chapters in. I am good at writing scenes, not necessarily a whole plot. I did then try the Snowflake Method, which works for some but I found it quite difficult. I resorted to just writing out a plot bullet point to bullet point, but wasn't sure of the end. Eventually wrote the first draft but the characters didn't have enough depth, so any pointers on developing characters is much appreciated. The Snowflake Method is worth a look if you are looking for something.

Disclaimer: I've never actually finished a novel before.

I've tried the whole pantsing thing--many times actually, and I find that just doesn't work for me. Over the years I've slowly been building up the amount of planning and outlining I do on a novel and I find that the more I do the farther I can go with it. However, I've never completely outlined or planned a story, everything I've ever written has been somewhat or mostly 'pantsed'.

The novel I attempted to write this month for Camp NaNoWriMo was the most planning I'd ever done, however my planning was cut short when the month started and I believe this was the reason my NaNo month didn't work out. I am doing the most in-depth planning I've ever done with this novel, which is basically exploring all the possible routes I could go with this story and putting a set ending and plotting out all the major happenings and developments, and I'm finding this is working really well for me.

I've been using Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success by K.M. Weiland as my guide for my plotting/outlining and I'm loving it. It's a really great novel on the stages of outlining with some great advice and examples from the author's own outlining with her published novels. It's short, only about 180 pages and an easy read. It's the first writing book that I've ever gotten through and I'm finding it's really inspiring me and helping me in my outlining. If you're interested in outlining, I would definitely suggest taking a look at it.

My favourite tip with from the book was using the "what if" statements, I got so many new ideas that fit so well and really enhanced my book. Basically you ask the most random "what if" questions about your book, explore every single possibility and it's amazing what you can come up with. I started with one or two little generic ones, but they led to more ideas and those led to completely different ideas and so on until I had two whole pages done and a whole slew of new ideas, ideas that would enhance my novel and add new layers to my plot and characters.

I outline after I've written my first draft.

Writing is choice, and I'm terrible at making choices. I think it may actually be pathological. When I sit down to outline, I strain the plot into increasingly awkward directions - logic! Be logical! - and use all my energy just Making It Work. It feels like I'm directing my creativity to the wrong place.

I've just written a first draft of something and before I began, all I knew was how it started and what the last line would be. I knew my storyworld very well, having worked on it for the last two or three years, and had spent some time with the MC outside of the story. Once I'd decided to begin, I just launched myself off.

The great thing about not outlining this draft was that I allowed myself to be surprised: and I was. I looked forward to writing every single day because *I* wanted to know what was going to happen.

For all that I didn't outline, I did use a story schema for guidance: Christopher Vogler's Writer's Journey. It was entirely informal and now that I look back at my text I haven't quite followed the paradigm. Mostly, it helped focus my thoughts before every writing session. Loose, informal, take-it-or-leave-it.

Doesn't matter. I really like my story. It feels honest. Now that the first draft is written, I've done some major work. I thought I knew who the antagonist was when I started; now I know for sure who it is and what they want and why they do what they do. The whole thing feels natural. I'm working on the second draft, clarifying motives, adding expositionary scenes, just cleaning the whole thing up a bit and then I can leave it alone for a while.

It takes a while to discover which process works best for you, I think. Now, if I can just figure out how to best move a first draft into a second draft, I'll definitely feel like I'm making progress...

(First post to this group btw: hello everybody!)

I tried writing an outline with my latest attempt at my novel, but the plot ended up straying a lot as I began writing. So I kind of starting going on without one. ^_^;;