A plan! A plan!
I stumbled on The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing, written by agent and author, Evan Marshall:
“By following this 16-step program, any writer can fulfill the dream of completing a novel that is ready to submit to agents and editors. No matter what type of novel the reader wants to write — western to romance to literary to fantasy — this program will work. It breaks down the novel-writing process into small, manageable tasks that even the most inexperienced writers can achieve. Readers will learn how to find a hook, create a conflict, develop a protagonist and set her into motion.”
After reading that, I had to investigate further. Could it be true? What made me think I needed to get an MFA to learn this?
just a basic formula
Well, the book gives only the rudimentary basics on how to create a compelling narrative, intelligent dialogue, believable characters. You have to add a sense of place, lyrical moments, and insert backstory. You’re pretty much on your own when it comes to the bulk of writing (which is fortunate, I suppose, because we can’t ALL be published authors).
What The Marshall Formula does is break a novel into a prescribed number of sections, or scenes, based on the length of your story. Each section has a character action or reaction based on a goal, the conflict, outcome, and then the new goal. The book has a blank form that you can copy for each section. As an example, a 100,000 word novel is a total of 80 sections, 20 for the beginning, 40 for the middle, and 20 for the end. So I’d have to make 80 copies… and plan 80 scenes before I actually started writing.
There are also other considerations at certain story points, such as the worst failure, the point of hopelessness, and the saving act.
I suppose this plan is only as formulaic as you make it, but for me, it’s overly extensive. I’m more of an organic writer, perhaps, and I fear this would take the fun or discovery out of writing. It would likely give me a whopper headache, too.
On the other hand, nothing is fun when you’ve stalled out, either! Which makes the Marshall Plan at least worth considering.
Outlining
I asked a number of writers if they outline. YA writer Heather McCorkle says she never used to be an outline kind of writer, but a retreat workshop changed her mind. Now she diligently outlines.
In fact, she tweeted the other day “My outline is at least a third of the way finished & I’ll be writing soon!” She says “I write down what I want each chapter to be about then list bullet points of things I want to cover in it. It sounds like a lot but it’s pretty vague and leaves me a lot of room to expand, & it’s in pencil!”
Yes, pencil is a good idea.
Don’t be a slave
If you use the Marshall Plan, or any other, it’s not constructive to slavishly adhere to an outline, but it seems most writers make at least a loose outline.
Writer Shannon Mayer (who humorously tweets “Sometimes I’m glad I became a writer. Other times I wish I’d simply become a ninja.” I empathize!) creates outlines that start with the bare bones of a few scenes and an ending. Then she goes back and fleshes it out. She doesn’t plot out anything extensive, but just enough to keep her writing and not stuck in “Block City.”
Writer Will Carver says he plans the beginning and the end, and then makes up the middle. “Plotting seems like extra work. I don’t always write it in order. If I have an idea for a later chapter I’ll write that. Gets me going again.”
That is something I really enjoy as well—writing scenes just because they’re playing around in my head. To me, this is the joy of writing. Right now, I have a few ideas, a host of characters, and only a vague idea of how to get them from A to Z, and what’s going to happen in between. I don’t think it’s the characters that are holding me back; it’s the lack of design or structure for them to run around in. I intend to spend a few days working up a rudimentary outline that makes sense, plot-wise, and then I believe I will be able to move on to doing what I love best.
Linda K. Sienkiewicz is the author of the award-winning novel In the Context of Love, about one woman’s need to tell the truth without shame.
Angelica must find the strength to make her life her own after a devastating family secret, heartbreak, betrayal and bad decisions turn her world upside down.
Sarton Women’s Fiction Finalist
Eric Hoffer Book Award Finalist
Readers’ Favorite Finalist
USA Book News Best Book Finalist
New Apple Book Awards Official Selection
“…at once a love story, a cautionary tale, and an inspirational journey.” ~ Bonnie Jo Campbell, author of National Book Award Finalist, American Salvage, and critically acclaimed Once Upon a River,and Mothers, Tell Your Daughters
“With tenderness, but without blinking, Linda K. Sienkiewicz turns her eye on the predator-prey savannah of the young and still somehow hopeful.” ~ Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of the #1 NY Times Bestseller, Deep End of the Ocean
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Good food for thought. Do you think the book is applicable to screenwriting?
Oh dear, Aaliyah, I don’t think I can answer that question! Sorry. Maybe someone else can…? Any thoughts, readers?
Hi Linda,
Another thought provoking post. I remember reading the Frey book on writing a novel and I tried to outline my first big project. It helped me, but only in the sense that I couldn’t finish the outline very well because I hadn’t made some decisions yet about plot progression. I hadn’t “stewed” the story long enough.
But with my new project, I chugged along for 4 chapters and then realized I had to have more structure and certainty for the last half of the story, and I did lots of thinking, and plotted out a progression of events and situations that would lead my story to its conclusion. When I did this, I felt much more grounded in the story as a whole. And while some minor aspects around character actions may shift as I write the rest, I now know my destination in a more concrete way.
So, outlining for me works best only after I have entered the
story and gotten to know my characters fairly well. Its much easier to construct plot sequence when I already have a notion of how a character is going to respond to events. I also like the simple example of desire, obstacle, resolution for story-making.
You bring up an excellent point, Mihku. For me, it would be impossible to outline a story from the very beginning, especially if you didn’t understand your characters yet. To that end, Marshal addresses characters in the beginning of his book, but I still think it would be problematic.
Greast post, your sources are particularly insightful 😉
Thanks, Shannon. I thought the sources were terrific, too. And thank you also for your comments, before and after.
Great post, Linda! It gave me a lot to think about.
It’s almost a little too much to think about, Diana! Thanks for stopping by!
Great post, Linda. I have been stuck for two years, since graduating from the mfa program, because I have all these scenes buzzing in my head, but don’t write them because I don’t know where they belong in the novel (in what order). So even though I resist (strongly) the notion of outlining, I think I will write a “chunk” at a time and save it as a separate document. Later, I can re-read the scenes and shuffle them into an order that feels right to me.
Kate Cone
Yeah! Write those scenes! I’m sure, somewhere, in the back of your mind there’s a plot lurking around, too. There’s certainly nothing lost by writing scenes as they come to you. It’s better than not writing.
Also, there’s a public Facebook event started by
Darcy Pattison called “30 Days to a Stronger Scene” here: http://on.fb.me/bOoTXu
The event:
November is hereby declared the 30 Days to a Stronger Scene Month
1) Write: write a scene of a story. Those doing NaNoWriMo can do this day in and day out and report on their progress here.
2) Think: think about scenes and how they work in fiction. Write a blog post about it and post the link here. Talk about scenes, read how-tos about scenes, and stretch your understanding.
3) Read: I’ll be posting daily in a series, 30 Days to a Stronger Scene, at Fiction Notes (www. darcypattison.com) Come read and comment and talk.
4) Discuss: With your personal experience, thinking and reading, let’s talk. What works with scenes? How can we build stronger scenes? Examples of well done scenes?