From jimbutcher.livejournal.com:
“Page Two–Story Arc(h) or PLOT
I’m never sure how to spell that.
Get a BIG piece of paper. Draw a big curving arch on it. At the LEFT side of
the arch, write a brief phrase about the opening scene. At the RIGHT side,
write a brief phrase describing the climax of the book. That’s your pot of
gold at the end of the rainbow.
At the TOP of the arch, write down your BIG MIDDLE, or whatever event it is
that starts the dominoes to falling.
Then make a bunch of tick marks along the way and fill in any scenes that you
have in mind that you know you want to do. Once you’ve done that, add in some
more tick marks in between, and add in phrases describing scenes that lead
your character from one established tick mark to the next, in a logical
fashion.”
This is the stand out and interesting piece in an article on how to prepare for writing a novel. The whole combination hit a “This is WAY too much work” reaction from me, as I’ve written novels with rough bullet point outlines for the last few years – indeed, one of my easiest to write novels never had an outline at all! (Children of the Twain, which I am currently some alternative publishing arrangements for. I’ll probably have an article on that once I’ve done a bit (a ton) more research).
I figure Jim Butcher has twenty published novels, so whatever his method is, it seems to work for him 😉
And remember – it costs you very little to try new ideas, and if it breaks through a writers block or a writers apathy, you gain a LOT.
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