It’s about the only piece of “software” that I use, and it’s just an Excel spreadsheet that I’ve modified to my needs. So to better see the patterns that the story is taking and head off any potential problems, I have come up with a character grid. Variety keeps the reader interested and the story moving. My rule is no more than one scene shift per chapter, and try not to stay in any one place for more than two consecutive chapters. I don’t want to spend too much time in the church, or be moving from place to place in any given chapter. Today I’m going to begin to break this up into clear chapters so I can better balance the entire work as to pacing, place, and characters. My one page synopsis turned into a 13 page synopsis, casually broken into maybe-chapters. It made a much more tidy story and I was able to dig deeper into the relationships instead of skimming over them. Yesterday I rewrote my plot to take out the demon plotline and expand two others of crime and love. This is what I’ve come up with over the last ten years or so, and what works for me. Disclaimer:everyone writes differently, there’s no wrong way to do it. Though a lot of my plotting methods have changed through the years, I still use and keep my character grids for future reference.įor those of you who haven’t been to the drama box in a few days, I’m taking the opportunity of NaNoWriMo and me just starting rough draft to detail out my plotting process. The post below is from 2009, but it’s still accurate. It’s invaluable in a rewrite when I have to insert a snippet of information and am not sure where to logically do it. It’s basically a spread sheet that lets me see the entire book at a glance and helps me organize my thoughts. Today, I’m at day three of my process, which is where my character grid comes into play. As I begin work on the next Hollows book, THE RULE, I’m sharing my plotting methods.

Character grids