By Gary Haynes
When I started writing
I had an excellent and well-respected literary agent but my first novel remains
unpublished. So for this blog post I thought I’d concentrate on overcoming the
one factor that I believe prevented me from securing a publishing contract back
then. Here’s the culprit: a lack of structural planning. Or, simply put, not
having a plot before you start writing your novel.
When I began to
write my first (unpublished) novel I had a basic idea in mind. I had read a
book and a particular fact fascinated me. I saw this as the kernel from which
my novel would grow. Unfortunately, when I began writing I soon found myself
going off in all directions like the branches of a tree. I had no focus and
spent hundreds of hours trying to figure out the plot. As a result, the plot was
pretty lame, I have to say.
The remedy for
this is to plan out your novel as best you can before you start writing it. I
used to do a lot of mountaineering, but the thought of going into the
wilderness without a map and a clear indication of where I was going and how
I’d get there would have been unthinkable. I soon found out that it’s the same
with writing a novel.
There’s a wide
spectrum of thought on structural planning, everything from a page to a hundred
pages. One successful author plans out every paragraph. Well, I’m somewhere in
the middle. I do a summary for each chapter. Being a thriller writer, my
chapters are short and punchy, and the overall summary is about 10,000 words.
This means that for a novel of 100,000 words with 100 chapters, each chapter
summary is on average 100 words. Some are no more than a couple of lines, but
if the muse takes me, I can write half the length of the actual chapter during
this process.
The more you do
at this stage the less you have to do when you write the book. You can
concentrate on getting a scene right rather than trying to figure out how it
will fit into the plot. This doesn’t mean that you have to slavishly continue
on the planned route as you are in the writing process, but it does mean that
you only take little detours rather than full 180 degree turns. And when you do
decide to go off-road, you’ll find that you will do so with confidence, because
you are still within sight of the main highway.
So my advice is
to plan your novel before you begin to write it. It will improve your plot
simply by keeping each chapter cohesive and relevant.
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Gary Haynes studied law at Warwick University and completed his postgraduate training at
the College of Law. As a lawyer, he specializes in commercial dispute
resolution. Outside of work, he comments upon Middle East politics and keeps
fit at his local boxing gym. Gary is published worldwide by Harlequin. He writes
cinematic-style, fast-paced, action-packed political/military/spy thrillers. His current book is State of Honour. He
will be writing a series of novels based on his main character, Tom Dupree, a
special agent in the US Bureau of Diplomatic Security. His favourite quote is:
You miss one hundred percent of the shots you don't take. Author
website: http://garyhaynes.weebly.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GaryHaynesNovel
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