(The sound of a pen scratching.) LOGO. Hellooo everybody! A lot of newbie writers get a story idea, pull up a Word doc, and start writing! Then wonder why it all fell apart.
It’s ‘cause you didn't plan anything, ya big bag of beans!
Planning a novel quite often saves the writing experience. It's only a couple of
weeks or months of organization, and yet it could be a MAJOR factor in
getting your book done. Thus, I'm teaching you how I plan MY
novels in ten (10) easy steps! Before we get started, I am BEYOND
excited to announce that today's video is sponsored by
Milanote! Milanote is a super easy-to- use tool that allows you to
organize projects and ideas into visual boards.
It's also my newest obsession! Ever since I discovered it,
I've literally been using it every single day.
What I like about Milanote is it's supremely different from traditional
software. It's like working on a studio wall or an
endless poster board. And as a visual learner, I think it has
the perfect layout for brainstorming. It serves as a creative hub for whatever
you're working on, like your author platform or obviously -
your book. Plus, most writing software exists on a
linear document, which doesn't totally make sense because
the writing and creative process aren't linear WHATSOEVER. Milanote
allows you to take your jumble of ideas and move ‘em around in whatever order
you please. One of my boards is for the next book in
The Savior’s Series. It's been SO helpful to have my character portraits,
my outline, my thought dump, maps, to-do lists, and SO
many more pieces all in one place! I can collect
everything and organize it right here on my board.
PLUS I can share it with my critique partners if I want comments or feedback!
I also have a second board that looks VERY different from the first one,
and that's because I'm using it to organize my Youtube schedule. That's
another amazing thing about this platform - you can create a bunch of
boards that serve so many different purposes, and have
COMPLETELY different layouts! “But Jenna, what's the catch?” There is no
catch, because you can try out Milanote for free!
Seriously, zero dollars. I've got Milanote
linked below! You can try them out for free or upgrade to their premium
platform. Whatever you choose, you're gonna love it!
Speaking of novel organizations, let's talk about how
I organize MY novels in ten (10) steps. Please note I am going to be covering these
steps in the rough order in which they should
occur. However, some of these steps can and should occur simultaneously. If
you want more tips on the writing and publishing process, be sure to subscribe
to my channel and ring that bell! I post content on Wednesdays with bonus
content on Mondays, so subscribe! We have a good time here,
you'll love it! And don't forget my upcoming dark
fantasy novel The Savior’s Sister is available for pre-order right now in
ebook, paperback, and hardback! I’m also hosting an
ENORMOUS presale giveaway! Everyone who enters gets the first five
chapters of TSS as a thank you, PLUS I’m handing out over thirty-five (35) prizes, as
well as three GRAND prizes! All the information
is in the description below! On to the tips in three, two, one, go!
Number One (1): Find your inspiration. Every writer has
SOMETHING that triggers their inspiration. Find YOUR thing,
and milk it! For some writers, it's nature. For others,
it's reading or other forms of media, like TV or movies.
For me, it's music. I listen to music while I plan my novel to help the ideas
flow. I actually have several writing
playlists for the sole purpose of visualizing my characters and scenes.
In my opinion, this is the MOST important time to utilize outside resources for
inspiration, because once you have that bud of an idea,
you can rely on your own imagination and creativity in order to make it blossom
and grow. Tap into whatever art form helps
stimulate your mind, and let her loose! Number Two (2): Simplify!
Before I do any heavy lifting, I like to nail down a general idea of what my book
is going to be about. Note, I said GENERAL. We are NOT getting
into specifics like the entire cast of characters,
or the entire world you plan to create. We are just creating a generic concept
to build off of. For example, my general concept for The Savior's Champion was
a man enters a gladiatorial style tournament where he fights to stay alive
and falls in love. For The Savior's Sister, my general concept was
a queen fights to prevent her own assassination
and ALSO falls in love. These ideas are super simple,
and that's what you want. You want something that you can expand
and grow. It's a lot easier to create a detailed, layered story
when you start small and work your way up. Number Three (3):
Thought dump. This is my FAVORITE part of the planning phase, because
one: it's easy, and two: it's entirely creative.
This is your opportunity to write down any and all ideas you have
about your story. Worldbuilding, characters,
plot points, plot twists, arcs, physical descriptions, whatever! Any idea
you have, write it down! It could be streams of
dialogue, or full-on conversations, or hell,
sex scenes! Do you. It doesn't matter if the ideas suck,
nor do they have to be in sequential order. You can worry about that later!
The point is to put all of your ideas in one place so you can analyze them at a
later date. For now, ignore your inhibitions and let the
ideas flow freely my child. Number Four (4): Chronology. Remember that
later date I mentioned, where you were going to analyze your thought dump and
see if it sucked? The time is NOW! Go through your thought dump and put
your ideas in the order in which you would like them to occur in the story.
Again, the content doesn't have to be perfect, but now's the time to at least
organize that big mess of ideas. If your thought dump is relatively small,
you can organize it within the Word doc itself. Or, if you're a visual learner
like myself, you can create a board on Milanote. That
way you can arrange the ideas however you'd like.
You can color code and label them. You can highlight them.
And of course, if they suck, you can delete ‘em! The next three steps I'm
about to cover can and should be done at the same time.
And the first of those three steps is Number Five (5):
Outline. An outline is the blueprint of your novel, letting you know where the
story is going. If you want to pants your story,
that's fine - you're entitled to your wrong opinion. But an outline will save
you from extensive rewrites, multiple overhauls, and of course,
writer's block. How you outline your story is completely up to you.
I have several videos about my outlining process.
You can yoink my idea, or you can do something entirely different.
Some people prefer a bare bones outline. Some like the snowflake method.
Some like the three act structure. This is where it's going to come down to research
paired with personal preference and experimentation. But ultimately the goal
is to take the chronological order you created
and fine tune it into an easy to follow outline that works for YOU
and YOUR process. Number Six (6): Character profile.
A character profile is a detailed look at each of your characters from their
physical appearance, to their backstory, to their personality.
It's kinda like a social media page, except it actually tells the truth about
them. If you're not sure where to start, I have a video all about the character
profile process. You can also find sample profiles all over the internet.
This is your opportunity to create fully fleshed out, well-rounded characters
BEFORE you start writing them, which will make the drafting process SO
much easier. The reason it's a good idea to create your character profiles
WHILE you're outlining is because your main characters and the plot have a
direct effect on one another. For example, in The Savior's Sister, the
main character kills a lot of people, so not only did I have to account for
this in my outline, I also had to account for it in her character
profile. How did she learn to fight? Why is she fighting?
How does she feel about killing people? All of these facets are
relevant to one another, which is why it's a good idea to build them side by
side. Number Seven (7): Worldbuilding. If you're
writing a contemporary story, then the odds are you'll be able to skip this
step. But if you're writing genre fiction - for
example, sci-fi, paranormal, or fantasy - the odds are this is going to be a
pivotal part of your planning process. Check out that alliteration! This is
another situation where it's going to come down to personal preference. Some
people like to spreadsheet their worlds. Other
people like to create world profiles similar to character profiles.
Again, you can find lists of world building facets here on my channel,
and again, you should also build your world alongside the character profiles
and the outline. Say one of your plot points involves traveling through a
magical forest. You're gonna have to build that bad boy
in order to make sure the scene is transportive.
Say one of your characters is a prince. You're going to need to know how
royalty works in your world, which again ties in
character profiles and worldbuilding. Number Eight (8):
Organize. It's time to take ALL of your hard work and organize it into something
that's easy to manage and reference. Once you've created multiple documents
that will dictate the course of your novel,
it helps to keep them in one organized location so they're easy to reference at
the same time. And also so you don't lose ‘em... Guess
who's lost entire documents before? This bitch! You guys already saw I'm
organizing my current work in progress on Milanote. I've got my word documents
available for safe keeping, as well as any visuals I need. My
character portraits are here. I got a list of everything I want to
make sure I don't forget. It's all available
in one board! You can organize your story however you please, just make sure your
work is all readily available in one location and is conducive to YOUR
writing and creative process. Number Nine (9): Hole check. Sounds REALLY
awkward out of context... Once you have your story outlined, your
world created, and your characters profiled, it's time to check for holes.
PLOT holes. Go through your organized plan several times and check to see if
there are any stones left unturned. I promise you, there will be. The
idea once again is to make sure the drafting process goes as smoothly as
possible. You are guaranteed to find issues
throughout the writing process, because we're all flawed creatures - let's
be real. But the goal is to have as few issues as possible. So check your
organized board once, twice, or ten (10) times. If you find a plot
hole, inconsistency, or any other hurdle, tinker
with that sucker until it's fixed. Your future self will thank you!
And Number Ten (10): WRITE! You did it! You planned an entire novel!
Now it's time to write that sucker. “But Jennaaa.” I said DO IT!
This is the part that a lot of writers struggle with. They'll think of
any excuse to stay in the planning phase forever.
I've already checked for plot holes one hundred times, what's a hundred more?
Fast forward a decade, and they're still building that world.
Because it's necessary, right? Hello? You're delaying the inevitable because
you're scared, but that fear is NEVER going to go away. At the end of
the day, you're hurting no one but yourself. You're preventing your
OWN dream from coming true. Bite the bullet, clench those butt cheeks,
and start writing! So that's all I got for you today! Thank you SO much to
Milanote for sponsoring today's video! If you are starting your next work in
progress, I CANNOT recommend them ENOUGH! I'm using it to organize the
third book in The Savior’s Series. I'm also using it to manage my Youtube
checklist. It is SO easy to use and a total
lifesaver! Best of all, you can try it out for FREE
right now! I've got it linked below! Enjoy your new
obsession! You'll thank me later. Don't forget to
subscribe to my channel! I post new videos on Wednesdays, and if you want to
be alerted as SOON as they upload, ring that bell! The Savior’s Sister is
available for pre-order in ebook, paperback, and hardback
right now! You can also enter my presale giveaway
and gain access to a TON of prizes! I have all the information listed below!
And be sure to follow me on social media! I'm on Instagram, Tumblr - and of course,
you can Tweet me @JennaMoreci! Bye! (Flippant Male Voice) Hey! Everyone! I'm Flynn! I fucking
love myself! So if you love me, and you don't mind a bit of Jenna, then why don't you press the fucking
subscribe button? You know you want to, ‘cause then you get to hear more of me!
Anyways, press that button, ding the bell, and
we'll have a great fucking time!
