The Big Question, Part 17

NOTE:  This is the final post in "The Big Question" workshop.  Yeah!  If you have other subjects you would like me to cover, please contact me via this website or my .io group.  

USING INDEX CARDS TO PLOT A NOVEL

Now that you've completed all your worksheets and have a good general idea of what your novel is about and who your characters are, you are ready to start outlining your novel.  By outlining, I mean having all your major scenes and subplots in general order.  

Some writers use jotted notes to outline, but I suggest index cards because they allow you to change the order of events, etc., without a major hassle, and the visual quality of index cards helps many of us.

Choose whatever size note card you want.  If you're a serious note taker or fear you'll forget minor points if you don't write them down, a large one will work best, but for most of us, the 3X5 inch works just fine.

On Worksheet 4 you listed the major plot or plots and subplots as well as important events which thwarted the main character's plans.  These will help you fill out your note cards.

On each note card, put down a major scene or turning point in the central plot of the novel. Each of these scenes gives several important pieces of information on plot or character as well as moving the novel forward by causing change. Some of these scenes are obvious. The meeting of the hero and heroine, for example.

For STAR-CROSSED, my note card said, 

Mara tracks down Tristan at hospital. She is shocked at his injuries yet attracted by his unfamiliar maleness. The nurse tries to throw her out. Tristan drags himself out of his coma-like state in reaction to her. Her kindness as well as her attraction to him makes her decide that she will fight the government to keep him alive and out of the harem, whatever the cost.

After you finish the major scene and turning point cards, add cards of events that have to happen between these very important moments.  Most of these events move the plot forward by giving the reader and the character information. 

Now write the index cards for each subplot story line in the same manner. 

In STAR-CROSSED, I wanted Dorian to realize Tristan wasn't dead and to figure out that slavers attacked his ship and brought him to Arden.

Since no one outside of Arden knows what is happening, I realized that my heroine Mara would have to let Dorian know the truth in a clever manner.  

To set up this scenario, I had to give the reader a number of scenes that lead up to Dorian's decision to go to Arden to rescue Tristan.

First, Mara would have to find out that Tristan has been reported as dead to his family.  My note card said, “Mara receives an off-world scientific journal and finds Tristan's obituary.  It was written by Tristan's friend Dorian.  Mara realizes that her plan to use Tristan's fame to save him has been ruined.  She wants to tell his parents the truth but doesn't know how she can.”

The next logical scene in this chain of events is that Mara decides to plagiarize Tristan's current scientific notes and send them to Dorian under the guise of asking her scientific opinion on them.  She believes that Dorian will recognize the notes and will tell his parents.  

In other scenes which are part of the Dorian subplot, Dorian will receive the notes, research the number of ships lost near Arden, and talk to a space smuggler friend of Tristan about space slavers.  She will realize most of the truth, but she'll not realize that Mara is a good guy.

I placed these cards at logical points in the Tristan/Mara plot line.

Plotting a novel is as much a logic puzzle as it is inspiration and storytelling.  The various elements must make sense by themselves as well as in relationship with the rest of the novel.  Most will be decisions in plot logic. Some will be decisions about pace.

For example, just after the scene where Tristan and Mara finally admit their emotional attraction and hope for a true future between them, I put the scene where Dorian decides to rescue Tristan and declares her determination to marry him. This scene adds tension, not only because Tristan may be rescued from the evil harem (a good thing), but also because Dorian will destroy the heroine's hopes for happiness (a bad thing).

Normally, I write the first three chapters at this point. Here, I learn even more about my characters and plot, and I discover holes in my plot logic and have to change my note card order. After these chapters, I type out a plot summary from the compiled note cards. I find even more plot holes which I correct.

The most important thing to remember is that the note cards and plot summary aren't carved in stone. The book will change as you write it. You must decide if that change is viable to your overall concept of the book and its Big Question.

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FINAL COMMENTS:

The most important thing to remember is to write, and if you love your story, keep writing until you finish it.  

Writing is a rough career where few of us make a living, but the profession is worth most of the grief if we love what we are doing.  Without that love, we'd be better off working at Wendy's or watching TV.

 

If this workshop didn't light that bulb above your head about creating a novel, please don't be discouraged.  Keep trying different methods with teachers or books on writing, and one day that light bulb will go off.  I know I read a lot of books on writing before my own light bulb lit up, and I suddenly understood how to create a novel with plot and characters working together.  

At the same time, you have to really work at the process of creation.  No teacher and no book can give you a magic word that will make a novel suddenly appear in your head.  You have to work at whatever creative process suits you.