Comments on: Planning the End or Ending the Plan? https://booksbywomen.org/planning-the-end-or-ending-the-plan-by-alison-morton/ Wed, 16 Sep 2015 13:20:27 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.3 By: Alison Morton https://booksbywomen.org/planning-the-end-or-ending-the-plan-by-alison-morton/#comment-46699 Wed, 16 Sep 2015 13:20:27 +0000 http://booksbywomen.org/?p=13336#comment-46699 In reply to Wendy.

Delighted the wireframe idea has been useful!
I’ve just finished the first draft of Book 5 and using this system, I have only found one plot hole. Relief! I often go back afterwards and double check the structure against my original ideas. Good writing is essential for any novel, but the bones have got to be there underneath.

]]> By: Wendy https://booksbywomen.org/planning-the-end-or-ending-the-plan-by-alison-morton/#comment-46698 Wed, 16 Sep 2015 12:49:23 +0000 http://booksbywomen.org/?p=13336#comment-46698 Alison, your wireframe analogy is the one I’ve been using to describe what I have for my first, and unexpected, novel. The lines that you describe showed me several missing elements/undiscovered anchor points that my story was missing, and desperately needed. Now, my mind is awhirl with possibilities and improvements. What a gift your article was this morning!

]]> By: Lindsay Complin https://booksbywomen.org/planning-the-end-or-ending-the-plan-by-alison-morton/#comment-46333 Wed, 03 Jun 2015 12:45:30 +0000 http://booksbywomen.org/?p=13336#comment-46333 I have recently finished writing my first novel and am about to embark upon my second. For me the planning comes in the months before I type my first word. When I have my initial idea which I know I am going to turn into a book I don’t know what the ending will be but as I mull it over, think about the characters and how she/he would react to the situation I have put them in, that’s when the ending magically appears. I am not sure I could start writing a book without knowing how it was going to end.

I have lots of thinking and planning time as I write in my spare time so sketching plot and characters fills my train journey to work. I blog about the challenges of writing whilst working full time here: lindsay complin.com

]]> By: Alison Morton https://booksbywomen.org/planning-the-end-or-ending-the-plan-by-alison-morton/#comment-46202 Wed, 06 May 2015 08:04:38 +0000 http://booksbywomen.org/?p=13336#comment-46202 Thanks for your insightful comment, Carol. Yes, each character must grow psychologically and that is a subject for another entire post! As I mentioned, by rewriting the last part of PERFIDITAS, I made the heroine, Carina, learn a valuable lesson and end up psychologically a little bruised but a wiser woman. If you don’t progress your characters in parallel with and woven into a strong plot, your book will not satisfy readers.

]]> By: Carol McGrath https://booksbywomen.org/planning-the-end-or-ending-the-plan-by-alison-morton/#comment-46201 Wed, 06 May 2015 07:09:53 +0000 http://booksbywomen.org/?p=13336#comment-46201 I like much of this Alison and on a plot narrative basis I can see a great framework. But and this is the big but, character growth, change and making sure there is a strong personal journey. I tend to on the plotting basis know a potential end before beginning even if it changes because of the way a character develops as the story proceeds. The ending for Elditha at the end of The Handfasted Wife was different to that planned. This said the novel ended at the point I had envisioned. So I wonder what you think about a character’s physiological growth as a result of what happens to them. Maybe an idea for a related post. This fascinates me.

]]>