Get an idea for the process I (usually) go through when it comes to planning a new book…

There are writers who plan, and those that don’t. I have given the latter a go in the past, and I can truthfully say it doesn’t work for me. It kinda goes against my programming. For me, planning a new book gives you an invaluable asset for the greater creative process. It serves as your log, your journal and your Bible for ideas, plot points, characters and everything else, really.

If you, as a writer, prefer to run with an idea and just see where it takes you, this post probably won’t be much use to you. But if you’re only just starting and think you could use a plan, I’ve reflected on the steps I take in planning a new book for you to follow.

1. Logline for the idea

It’s best if you know exactly what you’re writing about. Best way to get the main focus of your story is writing a logline. Essentially reducing your idea to one or two sentences. For example, You Can Hear Chopin from the Attic‘s is: A hotel manager in 1940s Germany must hide the existence of his schizophrenic wife from his Nazi Party clientele. 

2. Cast your characters

Once you know the general premise, it’s time to plan the characters who will feature in the story. You can do this as a simple bulleted list with a couple of details. Or you can write profiles for each one, building on these as you go, including things such as physical description, personality, likes and dislikes, friends enemies and relatives, so on. I find that characters are the most changeable element of a story plan. The journey I set them on at the start can end up looking very different in the end product as we come to know the characters better.

3. Pinpoint your key story points

Okay, so you’ve got the basis for your story, and you’ve got the characters. Now it’s time to map out the course your story will take. Where your main characters are going to start, where they’re going to end up, and then key points of development in between. The inciting incident that sets the plot and the character development in motion. Pivotal points at which the characters’ relationships, psychologies, philosophies, etc. intensify, switch, or whatever else you can think of. Is there going to be a twist? If so, make sure that’s pinpointed. And of course, there’s things like climax, dénouement, resolution, and so on.

The number of key story points will depend entirely on the nature and complexity of your story. If you’re only following one main protagonist, you may find you only have to map out five or six points. For more expansive literary efforts that follow a number of characters, your story will have continuing series of peaks and troughs. And, like the rest of a plan, these points can be whittled down or outright changed as you write your story. Neither of The Berylford Scandals books ended as I had originally planned them. The same will be said for You Can Hear Chopin, from which I have decided to cut a substantial chunk from the end. So the ending point for many of the characters has shifted considerably.

4. Expand into a full synopsis

From those key story points, now you need to fill in the gaps. A synopsis is a summary of the full work. So this is where you can plot the events that drive your story and character development towards those key points. Here, you can note where relationships change, how events affect your characters and their decisions, and how emotions are shifting. By the end, you should have a more-or-less full map to follow for writing your book from start to finish.

I tend to go one step further when I’m planning a new book and do my synopsis by chapter. Main reason being, I usually follow several characters, so it’s important to know whose point-of-view we’re following, whose development we’re concerned with.

Again, this synopsis is not a set-in-stone part of the document. What seemed like the most natural or sensical thing to do during the planning stage may seem completely wrong when it comes to writing it. Just be mindful that if you deviate from your plan, it may affect the direction of the rest of your story.

5. Don’t forget your research

After I’ve finished my chapter-by-chapter synopsis and my character profiles, I tend to go back through with all the notes I’ve made from my research. Better to nip any potential issues in the bud before you actually start writing the book itself. Are there any historical elements that could derail your story? Is there anything you found in your research that could be a nice touch for your antagonist, but could make some of their later actions nonsensical?

I tend to keep my research notes in my plan document alongside everything else so that it’s all there in one place.

6. Start writing… but keep your plan close. Planning a new book is an ongoing job…

I cannot work on You Can Hear Chopin without my plan document in another window. It helps keep me grounded in the direction the story is taking. I’m also somewhat forgetful when it comes to important details for plot and character. So the plan keeps me reminded that something that may seem insignificant might actually come back to bite me later on. But also, if I ever have a last-minute epiphany about a plot point or a character, it serves as the canvas to log those ideas and mess around with them later. Keep the plan on-hand at all times and update it as you work through your draft. It’s an invaluable asset.

Thank you for reading. Want to know more about my writing process? Get in touch via my Facebook and Instagram pages. Also, read further posts out more about my latest novel, and stay up to date with my podcast.

As the weary first draft battle continues on, I’ve already learnt a few things about my new book that I’ll need to address when I’m finished…

Retrospect is a cruel thing. And overthinking is even crueller. They’re both my bedfellows at the moment. Especially when it comes to this new book, You Can Hear Chopin from the Attic. As I mentioned in previous posts, including my latest update, writing my new World War II thriller has been a labour of love. At one point I considered starting the whole thing from scratch, despite reaching the 100,000-word mark.

The key takeaway with any first draft is to just get it down on paper. Don’t look to please your beta readers or whoever you turn to for feedback. It’s highly unlikely they’re going to say it’s perfect. Your characters will be inconsistent, and your plots will have holes in them. However, it’s good to be mindful of these possible issues. Here are five from my own work-in-progress.

1. We may be following the wrong protagonist

I took you through my main characters in my new book more than once, so I won’t do it again. Least of all because the hierarchy might shift in the re-drafting process!

The main storyline in You Can Hear Chopin concerns Heinrich Oeunhausen, the owner of the hotel where most of the action takes place, and his wife Sofie. As a schizophrenia sufferer, Sofie would be considered ‘unworthy of life’, or words to that effect, under the Nazi regime. And so, to protect her, Heinrich conceals her existence from all but a few close allies, yet hides her in plain sight in his own hotel. He exploits the trust of his family friend Standartenführer Upfauer to keep the hotel’s Nazi clientele from throwing their weight around. In essence, keeping Sofie relatively safe.

However, the emotional and developmental journey I’m taking Heinrich on might not be that interesting or thrilling when told through his eyes. Like my other books, there’s more than one point-of-view character in You Can Hear Chopin. Heinrich and the other major protagonist Cordelia Knesebeck make up the bulk of them. But the one character that observes their actions and decisions the most is the concierge, Alois. A character I happen to enjoy writing a great deal. Not least because he serves as an outlet to satirise even present-day attitudes towards hospitality workers. He says and thinks all the things I would have loved to have said to customers in my hotel days! I have half a mind to rework the story and tell it all through Alois’ eyes, which will (hopefully) add more suspense and mystery. Undecided yet, but there’s a good chance I’ll give it a go.

2. This new book is too long

Can imagine looks of horror and astonishment when I say the plan for this new book is, currently, 73 pages long. That includes all the notes I made during my research, links to relevant articles and so on; a list of dishes that could potentially make up menus for the hotel, plus whatever cocktails and other drinks were available; extensive character bios, and, most notably, an in-depth treatment for plot and character for each of the 110 chapters.

Yes, you read that correctly. 110.

BUT!

I have already decided that what I considered the final quarter of the novel can be cut. Not necessarily forever. It would comprise a courtroom drama, prison turmoil for certain characters, and missing crucial evidence with a ticking clock to find it. Arguably the most thrilling part of the book. But it’d take place two years after the main action. Half the major characters wouldn’t be involved. In my opinion, it would serve just as well as a potential sequel.

3. Repetition, repetition, repetition…

As we don’t change settings all that much in the course of the story, I often find myself repeating phrases and words. Even some that, when I first used them, seemed quite fresh and clever. There’ll be three questions I’ll ask myself when I do my editing and redrafting in these cases. A) Can I shift the action elsewhere, to a different setting? B) Can I touch on another storyline in between and break this up? Or C) Can some of these scenes in the same setting be condensed down into one?

Plus, I keep a trusty list of unusual or uncommon words in my phone that’s proven useful in the past. We’ll turn to that again in due course.

4. Some characters need more attention

I came into this new book with a very clear idea of which characters are major and which are minor. But over the course of writing, some have proven much nicer to write than others. And indeed others just haven’t featured as much in the story as they should. It’ll be one of the first things I make a note of in my re-drafting process. Where could we pick these characters’ threads up earlier or more often?

5. Some characters seem familiar

This one actually came from a follower off the back of another post. A truly invaluable bit of feedback. It was pointed out that the character of Heinrich seemed to bear similarities to another character from one of my other books! Namely, George Whitlocke, butler to Lady Vyrrington in Lust & Liberty and Sin & Secrecy. And while I can’t confirm or deny whether or not it’s correct yet, it definitely had me wondering. How many of my other You Can Hear Chopin characters have the same voices and personalities as the Berylford cast? Is Standartenführer Upfauer a National Socialist analogue for Abel Stirkwhistle? Could Mrs Urmstone have been reincarnated in Cordelia Knesebeck by accident?

I like to think I’ve created enough of a disparity between them. But at the same time, on paper, maybe there are dangerous similarities! It’s something I never thought to look at before. A cracking piece of feedback, and sincerest thanks go to that follower.

Thank you for reading. Let me know what you think. And if you want to know more about my new book, leave a comment or follow my Facebook and Instagram pages. And read further posts out more about this novel.