Yes, I live my life ass backward. I sleep during the day and work all
night. Why? No phones, no family, no
interruptions. It’s a lot easier to go
with the flow when the flow isn’t interrupted.
When I go back and read a chapter (or whatever), I can always tell when
I got up out of the chair. I find a
summary paragraph; guess that’s how I get back into the swing of a manuscript.
I also plot backward.
Maybe it’s a mystery thing, though I did it the same way when I was
writing for Harlequin and Random House.
I always know the ending – HEA or bad guy gets caught. It goes something like this:
- Bad guy captured
- Protagonists reveal bad guy
- Protagonists eliminate suspect #5
- Bad guy does something bad
- Protagonists get close to solution
- Blah, blah, blah – until I get to the opening.
I always know the opening, that inciting incident that
throws the characters into the story with a drop in to a scene in progress. I never start with . . . ‘When my alarm went
off . . .’ I try to put some action right up front to draw readers in. Sometimes that is easier said than done, but
I think it’s an important part of pacing and structure.
And speaking of structure (even though we aren’t speaking,
we’re reading), I’m a plotting fool. I
know everything that will happen before I write the first word. I need structure or I can’t get past the
third chapter. I know this for a fact
since I spent almost ten years as a three chapter Sally. It wasn’t until I discovered the white board
and colored post-its that I really learned how to structure a novel. I would assign a color to each facet of the
story – her, heroine, villain, setting, danger, etc. Then I’d make notes on the post-its and place
them in chapters. Then I had a
visual. I could see just from the colors
if my villain didn’t have enough time on the page, or if the danger wasn’t ratcheting
up enough. The visual really helped me focus
on my strengths and weaknesses.
Now I use plotting software.
And no, I have no financial stake in any of these programs, I just
happen to like them. My go-to software
is Power Structure. I think it costs
about $80.00 these days. It’s set-up
exactly like the white board and you can assign colors to all the plot points
and you can print it out just like the white board. It does take some getting used to and in my
case, I use the Novel format and I’ve customized it to include a timeline and a
place to put threads and descriptions so I keep myself organized. I then print out the plot points by chapter,
put them in a three ring binder and I’m off.
Sometimes I have too much, so I have to move some plot points to the
next chapter or I don’t have enough, so I add something. I do all that by hand and write the notes on
the printed plot points.
My second go-to program is WriteWayPro. About $40.00.
This is my characterization tool.
As you may have guessed, I’m a huge fan of visuals. WWP allows me to upload images for my characters. I often go to soap opera sites because they
have a vast array of ages and looks and I can usually find a green-eyed blonde
or a handsome sixty-year-old man.
Sometimes I have an actor or a model in mind, so I search fan sites and
grab a picture. For Finley, I used the
picture of the blonde actress on CSI Miami.
She was had the right look. This
part is actually fun for me. I call it
casting. Once I have my photos uploaded
I customized the template to include the things that are important for me to
know. BTW, most of this never makes it
into the book, it just so I know the character’s ins and outs so I can write
them more realistically – flaws and all.
I steal from awesome author Leanne Banks, who always asks these four
questions: (3 if it’s a mystery, 4 if it’s a romance)
- Why do this man and this woman fall in love at this point in time? (romance)
- What is protagonist’s biggest fear? (Like commitment, or snakes or whatever)
- What is the protagonist’s secret wish? (to get married, to crawl across the snakes to find the treasure – remember Indiana Jones?, or whatever – there should be a direct link between the wish and the fear)
- What is the protagonist’s super power? (No tights or capes. This is the one trait that only this character has. It can be anything. For example, I am invisible to wait staff. I practically have to dance on a table to get my check)
My third friendly organizational program is yWriter and it’s
free. While it doesn’t have all the
bells and whistles of Power Structure or WWP, it gets the job done. It has enough features to keep you on track
and help you visualize your entire manuscript.
So why use organizational software? It’s a great way to collect your thoughts and
in my humble opinion, it prevents you from writing drafts. That’s a real time saver in my mind. When I finish a book, I’m done. I don’t have to go back in and add clues or
find a way to fix a dropped thread and I’ve worked from a timeline so I make
sure Finley goes to work Monday through Friday.
And it saves on post-its. No more
ripping them off the board and replacing them as the story progresses. And it’s portable. I always have my plot and characters with me
so I can work on a plane, train, or automobile.
That comes in really handy when travelling or even sitting in a car line
waiting for a kid to finish an activity.
And yes, I’ve set up my software for plotting backward. It’s easy to do and in the end, the week or
so I spend organizing myself saves valuable time.
Happy writing,
Rhonda
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