Making the Writing Easier

October 15, 2007 by Chris
Filed under: Lessons Learned

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I have used several tools to help me organize my work. Using Robert Ray and Jack Remick’s The Weekend Novelist Writes A Mystery, I followed their advice of using index cards to organize my plot. Maybe a bit dated in this computer age, but I did find that moving a scene to here or there very easy. This was important for me to establish my acts, the dramatic events and the general sequence of events. More than once I flipped back and forth with my choices.

From index cards, I built a spreadsheet. Frankly, the printed word from my laser printer is a lot neater than my own writing. I created a line of main headings: Scene, Time, Characters, POV (point of view), Place, and Description. And since this is a mystery, I also wanted to keep track of what my sleuth was learning in each scene and who was he suspecting at different points in the book. I identified that main plot points and the acts. Subplots I highlighted.

For me, outlining worked. Not everyone works that way. Some prefer to immerse themselves in the creative process and follow in its path. For me, spending weeks developing my characters, plotting my mystery in the end made the writing easier. My book had direction. Next time, useful software.

Tags: mystery, outline, plot, writing

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