Writing a Book - Plotting & Scheduling
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- Опубликовано: 11 июн 2024
- Do you want to write a book? It may take some plotting before you get started, which can be daunting if you've never done it before. First you need a story seed, and then you can choose which route you want to take. I suggest Brandon Sanderson's plotting method for beginners over strict plot structures like The Hero's Journey. Once you're done plotting, you'll want to develop a writing schedule to keep yourself honest. Then, write! Hopefully, all these tips on how to write a book will help you finish your first draft!
Writing Schedule Google Sheet:
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Part 1:
• Preparing to Write a B...
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-Video Chapters-
00:00 - Introduction
00:47 - Phase 3: Planning
04:24 - Plotting Methods
08:27 - Phase 4: Write
11:43 - In Review
@11:30 "Your story will fade." Tell that to my story remaining in my mind for my 5-year hiatus called college.
By "fade" I more of meant your writing momentum. When you're writing a story consistently, it stays on your mind all the time, and you're more in tune with the characters. If you take a break, that sense of connection can go away and the next time you come back it, you'll have to rebuild that momentum. It's not impossible to do, and I take breaks all the time. It's just nice to keep the story on your mind by working on it regularly
Man, I just want to say, this video is great. I am an AuDHD writer, and story structure and writing have been some of my main special interests for the past decade. I've probably consumed some sort of video, podcast, or save-the-cat-esque book every single day for the last 10 years. But my ND brain gets so damn confused, and it's so hard to hold all the information at once. As soon as I grab one thing, the rest of it gets swept up in a thought tornado and I can't see anything. But having a video like this which breaks things down into simple phases, that's really helpful, and I don't think I've seen it explained so simply before. Props to you.
Totally LOVED all the 80s references especially the synth pop beat at the beginning... Yes please!
2 sentences? In a week? Geeze Levi, you expect too much from me. XD
This was very helpful and I hope new writers find these guide lines helpful too
Alright, ONE SENTENCE, but that's the lowest I can go
Fantastic video!!! DING! I appreciate the 80s montage at the end. Particularly the banana. (I could hear "The Final Countdown" in my head.) Wanted more!
I bought the props, so they're bound to return 😂
Maintaining a regular writing schedule has been the toughest thing for me to do. You had some great tips through that I plan to use. Thanks! And DING!
I feel you! I am a creature of habit, so I know if I don't take active steps to make time for something, it won't get done. And thanks for the DING 😂
My inner writer shivered when I heard him whisper write. I'M NOT READY.
you will be
@@MikaelWallentin. I was. I finished my first draft in October. Starting revisions this month. Thank you Campfire team!
Usually music under video is very distracting and frustrating, but you do it so well! Thanks for the vid, working on my first YA novel.
ive been issued with my fantasy novel for the last 7 months, and finding your channel has changed everything for me the past 2 weeks. It’s a story i genuinely believe can be a massively loved one if I could get it finished, and your tips and notes have completely recharged my engine towards finishing this. I’m as excited now as I was when I began worldbuilding
advice to other intps: you're not lazy because you don't follow strict schedules, turns out it's much more effective to use to do lists rather that rigid schedules, more so if you create said schedule yourself
"If you haven't written in two weeks" *Glares at my untouched google doc*
👀👀👀
Sometimes being aware of how much you *need* to write, word count wise, can stifle you. I would suggest simply beginning with TIME rather than word count. Give yourself an hour, for example. Then gradually increasing. Regardless of the word count from that first time, it will also increase with the time spent.
Totally agree! It will differ from person to person. I am motivated by milestones, but some people may have other types of motivation where wordcount milestones may be discouraging. Thanks for mentioning that. I wish I had mentioned that in the video!
A good point. When you're working on a first draft, word count can be really helpful imo, because my goal is to vomit ideas onto the page. Once I start editing, then time goals are much more helpful.
Thanks for this series, very useful and timely. My biggest problem is with plotting, I keep worrying that I’m making too much of a big deal about story events or that they’re simply not relevant. I especially feel this way about my story’s turning points. I’m always hoping that it’s just a case of nerves, first time novel writing jitters. 😅
It's hard to tell you anything concrete without knowing your story, but when evaluating your plot points, there are some things you can consider:
Does this plot point make progress on one of my active conflicts? If there answer is no, then it might be superflous. Granted, everything that happens in your story doesn't have to make progress. Depending on your story, you might spend a little time exploring the world or a character to set up future events!
If your worried about an entire minor conflict, you can ask yourself a similar question. Does this arc make progress on my main conflict? The result of the arcs should have some kind of impact on where your story is going. Otherwise, it might feel like a detour and therefore a waste. Note, the results of arcs can be impactful to a story in a lot of ways though. Even if they aren't making active progress, maybe they give the main character new experiences and change them in a way that's important for the ending. It can be a fun surprise for the reader when something that seems innate ends up being important later on!
Most of all though, I wouldn't overthink it too much. Especially in the context of this video, I would focus on getting the story on the page first. Ideally, you want your outline to be coherent, but if parts are boring or not relevant, that can be fixed later. Those are incredibly relative concepts which are both up to personal taste and hard to gauge in your own work. This is why people use beta readers. They will tell you "I didn't like this arc" or "I got bored here."
Hope that helps! Happy writing! (also this might be a good idea for a future video, so thanks 😁)
@@AroundTheCampfire thanks so much! That’s very good advice, I’ll keep this in mind. 😊
Wow. You covered so many good points in such a short time. So many writing philosophies I believe in here. Awesome stuff! "Story" by Robert Mckee is such a good resource.
Imagine not being busy. That would be nice indeed. lol
Thanks David! Story is definitely a fantastic resource, one of the great writing staples.
My ideas come to me in the middle of the night when I’m trying to sleep and it either lurks in my mind for months on end (until I execute either of options 2-4), I write it down in my notes app, I immediately start planning and plotting everything in my head and keep myself awake even longer or I deadass just forget 💀
Awesome video ! thank you so much for sharing !
DING. Super helpful video as always. Thank you.
No problem, I'm glad that it's helpful! Thanks for watching 😁
All good, really sensible - very "doable" advice!
Wow... you just helped me a lot within just few minutes...... thanks......
Glad it helped! :)
I love that you've created some structure and infrastructure to help write a novel! My biggest criticism overall--and I'm sure this is stylistic--is this focus on word count, # of chapters/conflicts/brackets etc. When I started writing my first novel, I pantsed the shit out of it. In hindsight, I wish I had plotted it out more, because it's required a lot of rewriting. (I loved this, because my first book was like my education in writing). But the research I did on writing a novel found all kinds of "standard word count per chapter" type of stuff, and I think this really held me back. Granted, if you want to market and sell a book these days, and you're unpublished (looking at this guy), it may be easier if you conform to what is common today. But I decided that's shortsighted (for me). I want to focus on writing the best book I can. My chapters are... as long as they need to be to tell my story. And I think if I can write a great story, people will read it.
I'm an accountant by day, so I don't need all of these boxes to check when escaping into my artist world. And it was probably helpful that I started with this structure before finding what I feel works for me. All of that is to say, THANK YOU for some great structure and advice.
Thanks for the video.
For TTRPG game masters, a story seed's character could very well be your villain, since you ultimately have very little control over the party of characters your players make. Just remember to be flexible. Likewise, the predicament should be caused by this villain, specifically in a way to be in the way of the party, who wants loot and pecs and explosions.
Great Tips! I'm finally hoping to get my first novel going with the help of Campfire Blaze!!
Thanks and good luck writing!
I made a terrible brainstorming outline, I started pantsing, I changed ideas to enlargen the scope of the story, I rewrote what I wrote, many times till I got it “right” and felt satisfied with my style and grammar, but you know what? Learning to write a book taught me how to get good at skills you can practically apply anywhere of the English language. That's if you took the time to study and apply what you've learned. Now I can say I'm a half plotter and pantser, outline as I go type, but at least it's better to applying structure than none at all.
Edit: Whats your writing momentum? Also, how about “scene momentum” in the writing on the page? You may know what I'm talking about, and that's retaining reader attention and tension.
**looks shiftily at the book I've been working on for nearly nine years
Though to be fair, I have made it to 96,000 words... and we're just getting to the part where the plot starts to pick up. =]
I definitely to need to work on my consitency, though.
Hey, at least you've made it that far! A lot of people lose steam way before that, so kudos!
Thanks! I've definitely lost steam a few times, but I always manage to pick it up again eventually. I'm hoping to have a new public draft version released in the next week or so. Keep an eye out for it on the Discord. ;)
From personal experience, set your writing goal low, with a focus on frequency over totality. In other words, try to write for 15 minutes per day 5 days/week rather than 1:15 of writing on Saturday. This isn't just with writing; any habit you're trying to form, focus on frequency. And you may find that you end up writing for an hour 5 days/week.
Hear that George?
Must the story seed be placed in a specific order?
Not necessarily. It's more about having all the fundamental pieces and structure. Character wants something, but they need something else first to get what they want. That's the basic idea. Then you just have to make sure they're all connected in a logical way. Like the little wizard boy wouldn't *need* to become president to get out of his situation, or the wizard boy wouldn't just want, like, a sandwich or something. Those don't match the character or their circumstances. (Okay, he probably would want a sandwich, but who doesn't? You get what I mean, though.)
Where is the google sheets schedule?
It's linked in the video description. :)
geez, are you talking about harry potter in that first paragraph?
WHO HAS 10 CHAPTERS IN AN 80K WORD BOOK! MY POOR ADHD IS DYING
Those ranges were based off research, so I didn't want to insert my opinion based off taste, but I agree with you 100%. That's NOT ENOUGH
Lol I like that he gave such a wide range, though. One of my other comments on this video hits on how I don't think these things should be rigid. I'd rather think about a chapter as a section of the book that moves some part of the plot forward. Some chapters require more scenes, characters, and words. It can help to think of a chapter as taking ~3K words or whatever, but if you're not careful, you'll cut necessary description, char dev, or worldbuilding , or you'll fill your concise and snappy writing with bloat.
Gotta hold both POVs: 1) It's art, and 2) Devise structure in writing that helps you create that art.
I guess I’m a plantser… am I… God?