Help Please! Plotting tools

[SarahC]

Hi all,

I've been away for a bit, had to turn off the internet for a couple of months for reasons of sanity. Starting back at my writing today but feeling like I've literally lost the plot, 60k words in. It's not so much that the plot doesn't make sense (although it is quite likely that is also the case), more that I'm losing track of the different threads.

Does anyone have any recommendations for online tools or any techniques that can help bring order to chaos?

Grazie!

Sarah

 

[Hannah F]

Save the Cat Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody. There's lots of save the cat stuff on-line e.g. the beat sheets.

Also, check out this months Craft Chat thread which deals with beginnings, middles and endings.

And welcome back.

 

[Julie]

Hi Sarah,
Welcome back. Hannah's given you some good ideas. There's also Janice Hardy's fiction university website.

I've been in a similar position. I recommend printing off a rough hard copy; get a nice mug of tea and re-read your MS. If you already have, or after, get a few colour pens and mark or highlight mentions of your story-threads in different colours, just so you can see how often they crop up/ if there's too many/ fizzle out, etc.

Then consider what each thread is contributing to your main plot. What are they doing? Are they enhancing your narrative? Are they sub-plots? Are they all necessary?

I'm pretty rubbish with excel sheets so I use a combination of pen and paper (in the manner of JK Rowling's outlining), and index cards to get a handle on where a thread best sits as well as its arc.

Finally, accept the chaos. Eventually, bit at a time, you'll sculpt it into shape.

 

[Barbara]

When I get stuck like that, I write the major plot points (2-3 sentence fragments each max) onto small cards then lay them out in the current order of the book on the floor. It's a good way of overlooking the entire thing without having to flick through pages. Then I sit and drink G&T ponder, check it makes sense, check if it's right for the genre, if it builds. Then I make a note of how my MC feels at each point which will help me check character arc. Then I think of stuff I could add to improve the weak spots, write them on fresh cards and slot them in. You should be able to see a story arc this way. You can move the cards / plot around if you have to.

And write a synopsis. Then see how it scans.

Which genre are you writing?

 

[Hannah F]

Writing a synopsis (1 page) is a great way to get to the kernel of your story.

 

[SarahC]

Thanks all. I actually have a copy of the Save the Cat book, thanks @Hannah F for reminding me! Dusted it off this afternoon and got stuck in. I also got a free trial of Scrivener and sorted all my chapters in there as per the beats, which may be a game changer. I think what was getting to me was the million different word documents and endless scrolling.

It was also a clear way of seeing that I had lots of potentially unnecessary scenes, especially in that Fun and Games beat. So I was able to do some streamlining and chopping and also set out a Plan for the final act.

Feeling productive even though I am now about 5k words lighter

@Barbara - genre-wise, who knows. Magic realism, older YA type vibe. If I ever finish the thing, I'll tackle that problem

 

[Josephine]

How would the wolves do it? (Not being entirely facetious...)

 

[izi 出久]

I love the outline tool in scrivener for building and reviewing my plot.

 

[izi 出久]

Oh, and welcome back, Sara. We missed you.

 

[Peyton Stafford]

Glad you are back. When you disappeared I worried. Aside from online tools, have you read your ms from beginning to end? That could get it back into your mind so you can work on it.

 

[Peyton Stafford]

Thanks all. I actually have a copy of the Save the Cat book, thanks @Hannah F for reminding me! Dusted it off this afternoon and got stuck in. I also got a free trial of Scrivener and sorted all my chapters in there as per the beats, which may be a game changer. I think what was getting to me was the million different word documents and endless scrolling.

It was also a clear way of seeing that I had lots of potentially unnecessary scenes, especially in that Fun and Games beat. So I was able to do some streamlining and chopping and also set out a Plan for the final act.

Feeling productive even though I am now about 5k words lighter

@Barbara - genre-wise, who knows. Magic realism, older YA type vibe. If I ever finish the thing, I'll tackle that problem

Scrivener is great for that. You can also add a synopsis of each scene, and then view them as index cards. Makes rearranging scenes easy.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Looks like you're sorted already, but to toss my two cents into the ring (which I can't really do anymore in NZ, since we don't have any coins worth less than 10 cents, but...), in addition to what everyone else has mentioned, I also create great big flow charts of my plots. I have a giant roll of newsprint I use for them, and I stick them on my wall for the duration of first draft writing. The digital tools in Scrivener are great, too, but I'm a tactile person, so I enjoy writing on the physical flow chart.

 

[BarbaraUS]

@Barbara - genre-wise, who knows. Magic realism, older YA type vibe. If I ever finish the thing, I'll tackle that problem

Hi Sarah, In my humble opinion, I think you need to decide on your genre now. It will dictate the conventions that most readers of such a genre expect to find. And hopefully save you some time. As a fellow pantser though, I understand the urge to just go with it.

Save the Cat may have this info too, but I'm more familiar with Story Grid which emphasizes this concept and provides specifics on various genres.

Good luck!

Barbara

 

[RK Wallis]

Sorry I'm late to the party. Welcome back!

All great advice above, so great what I do is combine a lot of it. Every book is different.

First book I pantsed (I won't even look).
Second book I pantsed (that's a memoir, can't look, too upsetting).
Third book was a practise book I deleted and rewrote about 5 times. I ended up using the Story Genius by Lisa Kron method and Save the Cat beats and the JK Rowling type excel spreadsheet I've created. Then the Story Grid excel spreadsheet I've created.
For the thriller I half-wrote (before realising fantasy was my jam), I used the JKR spreadsheet.
This latest book I used the same as my last book, but this time I've tweaked the genre conventions mentioned by @BarbaraUS and done the index cards in Scrivener. The only thing I can't do anymore is the tactile stuff, but when I could I'd use index cards.
I'm learning more ways with Scrivener too i.e. templates, so I look forward to my next book.

 

[SarahC]

Thanks all for your suggestions. I definitely need to learn more about how to use some of the different tools in Scrivener. I find I prefer digital to pen and paper as I can't cope with clutter!

 

[Pamela Jo]

Thanks all for your suggestions. I definitely need to learn more about how to use some of the different tools in Scrivener. I find I prefer digital to pen and paper as I can't cope with clutter!

Same here. Especially for rewriting, but I have to learn to delete old copies as they clutter. I'm using this now, if it is of any use.

 

[Rachel Caldecott]

"I recommend printing off a rough hard copy; get a nice mug of tea and re-read your MS. If you already have, or after, get a few colour pens and mark or highlight mentions of your story-threads in different colours, just so you can see how often they crop up/ if there's too many/ fizzle out, etc.

Then consider what each thread is contributing to your main plot. What are they doing? Are they enhancing your narrative? Are they sub-plots? Are they all necessary?

I'm pretty rubbish with excel sheets so I use a combination of pen and paper (in the manner of JK Rowling's outlining), and index cards to get a handle on where a thread best sits as well as its arc."

I have to do that for the same reason.

 

[SarahC]

Same here. Especially for rewriting, but I have to learn to delete old copies as they clutter. I'm using this now, if it is of any use.

I've seen that checklist on here before and thought it looked great. Have it dutifully saved as a shortcut in the event that the stars will one day sufficiently align for me to finish a manuscript.