The benefits of planning your novel

Some writers will tell you that, when they are writing a novel, they just start at the beginning and keep typing until the reach the end. They don’t plan they just write. Writers who successfully work this way usually either allow the novel to evolve as they write and let the characters to show the way forward or they hold the end in their head and keep writing until they reach it. If this works for you then fine, however for the vast majority of writers staring at a blank screen trying to work out what comes next is unproductive.

Planning your novel before writing has several benefits including:

• Increasing the likelihood of finishing your novel – if you have a good understanding of your characters and produce an outline for your novel you are less likely to get stuck half way through writing and give up
• Improving your writing speed – you always know what the next scene is so no more staring at a blank screen or wondering how your characters will react to a situation
• Reducing the likelihood of writers block – you always know what to write next
• Enabling you to notice and resolve any plot issues before you have written 65,000 words only to realise you need to go back and start rewriting from chapter three
• Identifying exactly what research you need to do for your novel – this can save hours, even weeks, of unnecessary research
• Identifying where you need to add clues or red herrings to support later scenes in your novel
• Enabling you to work out how to show character traits throughout the novel to ensure your readers find your character’s actions and decisions believable.

Try the planning method for your next, or even your current, novel. Outline your novel on a scene by scene basis; add details such as the purpose of the scene, location and characters involved. Check through carefully to ensure there are no holes in your plot and then start writing.

Happy writing.