The plotting method that I swear by
Need a synopsis? An outline? A way to strength-test your idea? The snowflake method will cover it all, and there's not a beat sheet in sight.
Sometimes, we really don’t want to do the thing that we know will make all the difference. Take plotting a book. It’s intimidating, but more than that, it carries a lot of pressure. The book that exists in your head is perfect. Why? Because until now, it has only existed in your head. As soon as you start typing it out, or jotting it down, you’re strength testing it to see where the weak points are. And oh boy, will there be some weak points.
Every time I start a new book, I look down at my paper (I put everything down in a notebook first because it feels more non-committal) and think wowwwww that is looking far sparser than I thought. Anecdotally, authors are good at coming up with one part of a plot, but never the whole thing. A friend of mine always knows the endings of her books, but scrabbles to find the twists and turns that fill the mid-section of her plot. Another knows the locations she wants to feature but not how her characters arrive there. For me, I so far have worked from the premise of ‘A [insert character name] is bad at her [insert job] because of [reasons] but when she discovers [insert big reveal] she is temporarily forced to [insert big lifestyle change] and ends up realising [insert what was missing from her life before]. This has become too limiting for me, so I’ve reverted back to The Snowflake Method as I’ve found that I am far less likely to pin down plot points when things are more free-flowing.
Ideas aren’t easy. During a sleep deprived afternoon after a sleep deprived night, I, slightly panicking that my mush brain would never be able to write again, said to my partner: ‘I have an idea for a book. It’s about… a woman. A woman who has a… baby.’ Stop the press! Someone call The Bookseller! A six figure deal is coming my way!
So, if this post teaches you anything, I want you to go away with these two things in mind.