• One-sentence summary of novel
    • 'the character with the most to lose, and what they want to win'
  • One-paragraph summary of novel
    • One sentence each for setup, a few major plot points, resolution.
  • One-sentence summary of each major character's personal storyline
  • One-page summary for each major character
    • Abstract motivation, concrete goals, conflicts/hurdles, revelations, changes
  • One-paragraph summary of personal storyline for each major character
  • Expand each sentence from step 2 into a paragraph
  • One-page 'character synopsis' for each major character and half-page synopsis for each medium-sized character
    • 'tell the story from each character's point of view'
    • in doing so, describe the character
  • Expand each paragraph from step 6 into a full page
  • Expand character descriptions into biographies, detailing pretty much everything you know about them
    • And here is where we reach for the lists in 'character prompts'
    • Continue to focus on how the character changes over the novel
  • Make a spreadsheet listing each individual scene
    • Who it revolves around, what happens
  • Write a description for each scene (a few paragraphs)
  • Optionally, first go through and write a couple-sentence description of each scene, then make another pass and write a multi-paragraph description
  • write hte book
oct 15 2014 ∞
oct 15 2014 +