![]() ![]() Each step of the process methodically expands upon the one before, filling in details until you have a complete draft. Inspired by fractal geometry (really!), Randy Ingermanson’s “snowflake method” grows an entire novel from a single sentence. Maybe you’d rather work from the top down than from the ground up. Hitting these “beats” gives your story a rhythm while leaving the details open to your imagination. Remember learning in school that all stories should have a beginning, middle, and end? This classic, logical method of storytelling takes you from your story’s initial setup and inciting incident through rising action, turning points, and resolution.Īdapted from the world of screenwriting, this popular method replaces the concept of acts with a set of milestones that commonly appear in many kinds of stories. The end product is a concise, two-sentence explanation of what your story is about. With this step-by-step guide, you’ll think about who your protagonist is, what they want, and the problems or conflicts they must overcome. Your premise is the foundation on which the entire novel is built. You can choose the one that fits your personal style. There are a lot of different ways to get there, so we’ve made templates for walking you through several of the most popular plotting methods. Templates for plotting and outlining your novelĪre you the sort of writer who wants a solid plan in place before typing “Chapter 1”/ You’ll need a roadmap that begins with a premise and culminates in an outline. You can then copy, move, rename, and edit the note to suit your needs. Power tip: To use any of the note templates mentioned in this article, click the “Get it »” link and then click “Save to Evernote.” The template will be added to your Evernote account in the notebook of your choice (we recommend setting up a new notebook just for templates). ![]() Start filling them out today they’ll keep you anchored while writing your 30-day masterpiece. Many of them include questions or prompts to get you started, but you can feel free to replace those with inventions of your own. With that in mind, we’ve created a dozen Evernote templates to help you collect and structure your thoughts. If you’re going to write a novel in November, the time to plan is now. Only you can answer those questions, but it helps to figure them out early. But as any fiction writer knows, the hardest part of any new work is figuring out what to write about in the first place: What happens next? What motivates these characters? What’s this story about, anyway? We’ve met a lot of writers who use Evernote to plan, brainstorm, and sometimes even draft their novels. Of course, we’re talking about National Novel Writing Month (also known as NaNoWriMo), and the challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to create a 50,000-word story from scratch in just 30 days, from November 1–30. Marlow Stefanik is a library assistant at York Public Library.It’s that time of year when thousands of writers around the world prepare to type faster than a speeding bullet, drink coffee more powerful than a locomotive, and leap tall deadlines in a single bound. Register for Brown’s talk and our in-person November writing workshops at /calendar. 9 at 6:30 p.m., for a virtual talk about his book “The Lowering Days.” The Boston Globe describes the book as a “graceful and compassionate debut novel … a flashlight into the heart of a small Maine community perched on the precipice of the Penobscot River, its future and its past.” We look forward to learning more about Brown’s writing process and storycraft, and hope you’ll join us. “On Writing: a Memoir of the Craft” by Stephen King “How to grow a novel: the most common mistakes writers make and how to overcome them” by Sol Stein “Reading like a writer: a guide for people who love books and for those who want to write them” by Francine Prose “Murder your darlings: and other gentle writing advice from Aristotle to Zinsser” by Roy Peter Clark and “Mastering the process: from idea to novel” by Elizabeth George.Īnother opportunity for aspiring writers: York Public Library will host author and Maine native Gregory Brown on Tuesday, Nov. Here are some books on writing to help you on your writing journey. It wouldn’t be a Shelf Life column without some book recommendations. Like all events at York Public Library, masks are required for these writing workshops. ![]() Outlines are a writer’s best friend and if you want to join in the Challenge, I recommend making one before Nov. 1st. I’m hoping this year to change that! I just started the planning stage for this year’s story by getting an outline together. I myself have participated in NaNoWriMo for a few years now and have yet to reach 50,000 words. Though this is in the spirit of NaNoWriMo, there is no need to feel pressured in keeping up with the word count to reach 50,000 words. ![]()
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