Hello All!

[Daeus]

@that_writer_girl_99 Howdy! Or, “Welcome to the bestistest place on the internet” as we like to say.

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[Elizabeth]

Hello!
I’ve already heard that several times haha. It’s rather funny.
Do you mind if I ask you a question? I’m trying to plan out my book I’m working on and I’ve hit a snag…

Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.

[Elizabeth]

@Daeus

Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.

[Daeus]

@that_writer_girl_99 Sure, so is the question how to plot, or something else?

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[Josiah DeGraaf]

Welcome to the site @that_writer_girl_99! Have you read Batson’s Sword in the Stars series? That’s my favorite series he’s done and, in my opinion, probably one of the best works of Christian fantasy out there. What type of science-fiction do you like to write?

Editor-in-Chief Emeritus. Guiding authors at Story Embers.

[Kina Lamb]

@that_writer_girl_99 hi! Welcome to Kingdom Pen! I’m pretty new myself. 😀 What are your favorite books? What do you like to write?

[Elizabeth]

Erm, yes, I was wondering how you plan out your chapters?

Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.

[Elizabeth]

Hello Josiah!

@aratrea
I read the first book in the Sword in the Stars series a few years ago, but didn’t like it as much as the Door Within books. My copy of the Sword in the Stars is actually signed by Batson…I met him at a homeschool convention in Orlando four years ago.

Regarding your second question, I’m not exactly sure what to classify my sci-fi works as…the idea I’m planning out now is sort of a dystopian type world, with people who have enhanced abilities.

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by Elizabeth.

Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.

[Elizabeth]

@Daeus to clarify, the question about planning/outlining your chapters is for you…

Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.

[Emma Flournoy]

@That_Writer_Girl_99 I haven’t read any of those books, but I’ve heard good things about ’em. 🙂

[Elizabeth]

Both series are pretty good.

Most of the books I read aren’t faith-based, do you have any favorites in the realm of Christian fiction?

@emma-flournoy

Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.

[Ethryndal]

@that_writer_girl_99 Welcome, welcome, and thrice again, welcome! I’m the local elf, so if I ever accidentally dissolve into glitter or creepy poetry, just give me a poke, and I’ll snap out of it. 😉

Ooh, you got to meet Wayne Thomas Batson? How fun! My cousin met him once at a library book signing (’cause he only lives about an hour away from us, which I think is too cool for words). Have you read his Dream Treaders Trilogy?
Who’s your favorite superhero? Ever attempted reading the Lord of the Rings?

INTJ ➸Your friendly neighborhood mastermind. ➸https://thesarcasticelf.wordpress.com/

[Elizabeth]

Hello! @ethryndal

I absolutely love the Dream Treaders books. The concept is so cool!

I’d say my favorite superhero has to be Captain America. There are a lot to choose from, but Captain America was my first introduction into the Marvel universe. He’s definitely my favorite.

Ah, Lord of the Rings…I’ve seen the movies, and read a handful of the books, but I can’t say that they’re my favorite. I must applaud Tolkien for his writing skills, though.

Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.

[Daeus]

@that_writer_girl_99 Ok, well long answers are good answers, so here we go.

It starts for me with knowing my ending. The ending is normally the first or second thing I get down when planning a book. It’s the most important part of the story from a plotting perspective and it gives me a lot of guidance in planning out the rest of my story, just like knowing I want to go to Washington state instead of Texas will help me plan my route in the most efficient way.

When I know my ending and have a few other major points of my story down, it will help me know what type of story I’m writing. I should be able to identify the main conflict that my story is going to have as well as what my theme is going to be and what types of characters and setting I’m dealing with.

From there I can develop a basic outline for my story. All stories follow a similar structure. This doesn’t mean they’re all the same, but they all develop according to similar principles. For instance, about halfway through any good novel, you can expect there to be a major turning point in the story. An excellent book on the subject of story structure is K.M.Wieland’s “How To Structure Your Novel.” I highly recommend it. I used that system for plotting my current novel. In my next one, I plan to do the same thing, only I’ll also be following some of the outlining principles taught in our (KP’s) course “Theme Mastery: Writing Christian Literature That Captivates” (that course isn’t out yet, but we’ll be releasing it soon).

Once I know the major events in my story, it’s easier to fill in the gaps. Thinking ahead helps with figuring out all the technical details I need to present in a chapter.

Now when I actually sit down to write and I have a basic idea of where I want to go, here’s how I fill in the details (not necessarily in order of importance):
1. Consider where you’re starting in a scene. Suppose a child is kidnapped. If I start with the child making cookies for their mom, the kidnapping could be really sad and maybe a bit creepy too. If I start at the kidnapping, I have immediate action. If I start after the kidnapping, I create mystery. There’s the question of, “What in the world?!?! What’s Tommy doing in this hoodlum’s pick up truck?” Actually, any of those could be pretty good options, but normally some will be great, some good, and some not so good and you’ll have to choose the best one. Now, say if Tommy had been making mud pies before he got kidnapped, that doesn’t create as much empathy as if he were making cookies, so timing as well as what is going on at the opening are both very important. That leads me to another point.
2. Look for contrast. That makes things stand out more. Always. Like the selfish hoodlum and the generous little boy.
3. Related to this, you need to ask whose POV is it best to tell the scene from. Do we want to talk about Tommy’s kidnapping from Tommy’s POV, the hoodlum’s, or from a neighbor’s who saw it all from their window? It matters.
4. Your character needs a scene goal. Characters who wander around waiting for change to meet them aren’t very interesting. Characters need to have goals–meaning goals that they actively pursue. On top of this you need conflict, which means an opposition to the character’s goal. The conflict should lead to something going wrong leading to your character’s reaction–the adjustment in how they’re going to approach the situation now that they’ve met this disaster.
5. Try to develop character relationships. No man is an island. Even in books.
6. If I remember any more, I’ll tell you. I think there’s more, but they’re not coming to me right now.

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[Elizabeth]

@Daeus
This definitely helps, thank you!

Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.

[Author]

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