Has it actually been a WEEK since I’ve posted? Where does the time go?
I know it’s weird for me to have a blog post again involving plotting. I’ve always been such a total pantser. But, lately, I’ve gone over to the dark plotting side. I’ve done a couple of posts about all that. Susan Bischoff, AKA The Pink Hammer, has shared a lot of notes with me, helping me understand how plotting can help. It took me so long to get it into my thick head that just because I do some plotting, that doesn’t mean my characters can’t go in another direction if they want to. I always thought plotting meant I had to be rigid and not veer off the path, but after some strong talking to, I’ve been convinced that doesn’t have to be the case. The class I took at RNC with Lynn Lorenz also helped. All plotting has to do is give some structure and the basic things you need your story to do. If you think of something different, you can change your outline. Or notes. Or however you plot. I use a combination of a spreadsheet and some notes Susan has set up to ask basic questions. I don’t think I’ll ever get as detailed as Susan gets about a story, but there is a happy medium between extremely detailed plotting and pantsing. And I think I’ve discovered that happy medium.
So what does this mean for my current book? Well, I broke it down into 24 chapters (figuring a 50,000 word manuscript with a little over 2,000 words per chapter) to be adjusted if the story is longer or if there are more or fewer chapters. I went ahead and did the chapter headings with section breaks. (Doing the chapters ahead of time is a suggestion by Lynn Lorenz.) I know everyone is used to using page breaks. But you have to use section breaks for print to get the page numbers right. And when I checked my last book on the little thing they use on Amazon to see what your ebook looks like before submitting, I saw that when I use page breaks, it starts the chapter headings right after the previous chapter, but when I used section breaks, it starts a new page. But I digress. That’s not our topic here. 😛 Anyway, I was already almost halfway through my manuscript when I started plotting. So I went back and did the outline on my spreadsheet for chapters 1-10, which I had already written. Then, I did some outlining for chapters 20-24, because I know what needs to happen in the last part of the book. The challenge is going to be plotting chapters 11-19. That 3rd part of the book is always the hardest for me. I want to make sure the plot continues to move forward with no lagging parts. There has to continue to be mystery and eeriness. I think I’m going to add some extra angst to the hero, who is a very FLAWED hero, but redeemable.
Okay, this whole blog post is getting me anxious to start writing when I get home from work. I might let hubby talk me into watching Sleep Hollow before I get started. So now, lunch break is over, and it’s time to get back to my real job. Wait, writing is a real job, right? Unfortunately, this job pays more, so I need to get to work. 🙂
lauralynnelliott.com 
A mix of being a plotter and pantser works best.Good luck with writing and enjoy Sleepy Hollow.
About section breaks and page numbers – I had a nightmare preparing my book for print the past few weeks. I couldn’t figure it out.
Emma, page numbers are the hardest things to do when preparing for print. If you use page breaks, it’s just not going to work. You have to replace page breaks with section breaks. Do you leave a blank page at the end of chapters that end on an odd numbered page so that your chapters always start on the right side, or do you not even care about that? (Some do that, some don’t.) That really gets hard because you don’t really want your page numbers to show up on the white pages, so that page has to be its own section. Also, if you tell it you want all the sections to start the same, you have to take off the page number at the first page of a chapter, then they all should do that at beginning chapter pages. It’s really complicated, but you HAVE to do section breaks or it just won’t work.
I tried section breaks and the page numbers just wouldn’t cooperate. I got them kind of where I wanted in the end, but I’ll be back to square one next time I want to sort out a print book. I almost considered paying someone to do it for me! I made my chapters start on an odd page, but really it was a nightmare.
When you get that one the way you want it, use it as a template and copy/paste your next book over that one so the page numbers are still there. I learned that from Ruth Ann Nordin.
Section breaks… Why didn’t I think of that? LOL I think I know what you mean. I’m going to try it because someone pointed out that traditionally published books don’t have headers on the first page of a chapter, and I can’t do away with that if I keep using page breaks.
I also have trouble getting that 3rd part of the book in. If I outline at all, it tends to be the last few chapters. I could easily do the beginning of the book, too. But that middle part is a bear.
I’m glad to hear you’re getting your excitement back! I can’t wait to read this book, esp. with a flawed hero who has angst. 😀 I love it!
I don’t see how you can do print with page numbers without doing section breaks. It didn’t work for me with page breaks at all.
Oh, that 3rd part of the book. It’s a real bugger isn’t it. I’m halfway through, so it’s time to start that part. Ick.
I hope you’ll like it. It’s not the same kind of horror that The Gnome was, so I’m still not sure it will fit in the horror category. It will at least be suspense if not horror.
Section Breaks *slaps forehead*, why didn’t I think of that?
I’m the opposite (surprise), I usually have so many things I want to do in the middle section that I have tons and pages of notes and plot points, But my last chapters notes are usually, “Somehow get to the end”. I know how the story ends but never how I’m gonna get there in those last few chapters. Even in my first two drafts on my current WIP, I got so lost in the middle I couldn’t remeber who was where and who had what, so I just kept going back to the begining til my story worked itself out.
Good luck on yours.
The beginning and ending are so easy for me compared to the middle. Because the middle is where you have to do stuff that keeps moving forward toward the end, and you don’t want it to be lagging or boring. I know exactly what I’m going to do in the last few chapters. There is going to be action. Fighting. A creature or two….