Plotting the Plot

The hardest thing about being a writer (or trying) is the plotting. I’ve got to make sure it all links up, ties together, and fully researched. 

I have so many things to help me with it. 

On my door I have a brief plot linear taped. There I can quickly check something, or add something. 

Then I have a characters, names, places and objects notebook. I describe and research and break down those things in there. 

Then I have another book where I do a detailed plot break down with the sub plots. 

On top of that I have various coloured highlights that each have its own importance. 

I also have sticky tabs and 3 notebooks to hand write the 1st draft. 

That’s all for one book. 

Stop the World! I Want to be an Author!

I want to be an author, but you can’t be an author until you have officially been published and have one person to have read it in its final form. 

To get your book on the shelves and published, you need to promote. 

To be published you’ve got to have a finished perfect book approved by a publishing company. 

To be approved by a publishing company, you’ve got to have a good sales pitch. 

To have a good sales pitch, you have to have a finished overwritten final draft that can survive with editing. You’ve also got to have a good cover letter and even invest in a literary agent. 

To get to a literary agent, you have to have your great idea go through several stages. 

To get through those stages, it’s good to have a peer author or friend who won’t steal you ideas. 

To get chapters to your peer, you need to write it. 

To write a chapter, you need to plot it. 

To write, you need a detailed broken down plot, characters written down and fleshed out with character traits, looks and significance. You also need a subplot. 

To have a detailed plot, you need to have an outlined sketched of a brief chapter break down, that can link each chapter together. 

To link each chapter together, you need a good idea. 

To need a good idea, you need a brain. 

Or you could just do all of that yourself. 

I’ve got a long way to go. 

Will You Read This?

That’s exactly my point. Sometimes trying to be an author is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. You get just as much snooty flack as you do if you’re an actor. I know. I’ve been there, done that, got the t-shirt, hat, shoes, and butt that goes with it. 

Being an author (or trying to be) is the hardest sales pitch. Even if I didn’t want to get a publisher, I’ve got to do my own self-publishing and get people interested to. 

Question is, will you even read this post?

5 Days Until Christmas

So I will be leaving Japan in 3 days. Going to Florida for Christmas. I’m going to eat the sushi my boyfriend makes at the sushi restaurant he works at. He’s there on a business trip for several months. I’m excited to see him. We’ve been together over a year and a half. This will be our first Christmas and new year together. 
Advice from an author – never start a sentence with but or to. Never put a commar after so. 

  

6 Days Until Christmas

Got the best Christmas present ever! Flights to Florida, a big Christmas bonus, work visa extended, and 10 days holiday with my boyfriend.  

Advice from an author – not everyone will like what you write. So long as you like it, then that’s what really matters. 

 

7 Days Until Christmas

Do you have that turkey or goose yet? Normally in my house in the U.K we put on a huge spread on Christmas Eve. We invite family and friends, and we have a big party! Normally my brothers get blind drunk, and my sister tipsy. My dad can’t drink much, and me and my mum are completely sober. My auntie get so sleepy on the few glasses of Brandy. She doesn’t drink much, but you could say that Brandy was her main vice when she did have a tipple. 

We also cook a lot. Mom had me making canapés one year. That was tedious. She went off to work 

  

  

  

  

  

  and left me with a recipe for a bunch of canapés. I had to make 50 in one day. It was ridiculous! I had no help whatsoever. I also had to make the gingerbread house (which I normally do every year, as I am normally a very creative person) and a cake. That year I decided to make a 3-D snowman cake. She also had me making a low diabetic ginger ale drink.

Monty -my dog – is no help. He either guards the sausages or falls asleep in front of the oven. It means nobody can cook when he does that. 

Nobody wants everyone has arrived we eat and drink and be merry, so to speak. We normally have my cousins children come over, so after everybody has eaten I normally gets out my spinning plates and let the children play with those. For them that’s the real perk of going to this Christmas Eve party. 

This party has happened ever since I was a child. Dad calls it piri-piri night because he likes to make his famous Piri-piri chicken. He makes a normal one and a spicy one. That’s what the adults come to eat really, I guess. 

Last years party was very quiet in comparison to all the at the potties. And actuality, dad actually forgot to give out the invitations. So everybody – that is to say on our friends not including our families – didn’t actually turn up because they had made other arrangements. They thought that the party was not happening last year. 

What do you do for Christmas eve?

Advice from an author number 17 … Or it was 18? I lost count. It must be the Christmas spirit going to my head. My advice is before sending your book to the publisher, make sure you have written your plan, written a first draft, typed up your book, printed it off, proofed it, made changes, add those changes to the manuscript on the computer, make edits big and small, overwrite, ask someone to proof it for you, add in the changes that they have added, crosscheck everything with your plotted plan to make sure you have all the key points in place and all the secondary subplots in place, read through it again and make any more changes that you want and do any rewrites that you need, print of the requirements for the publisher, do any cover letters, and submit your manuscript script.

8 Days Until Christmas

With only a few days before leaving for Florida, it would seem that immigration has made a bug up of things. I don’t mean the USA. I may have to delay and spend Christmas alone with nonalcoholic wine. Merry Christmas to me.  Everybody else … get drunk for me. Or better still, please wish me a miracle with immigration. 

Advice from an author number 15 – never start a book talking about just the weather. If you want to mention weather, then do it stylistically. 

 

9 Days Until Christmas

9 days and counting. What are your plans for Christmas? Me? Thanks for asking. Hopefully, I’ll be going to Florida. 

Advice from an author number 14 … I’m loosing count. When characters are speaking in turns, always start a new line so the reader knows a conversation is happening. 

  

10 Days Until Christmas

Christmas Countdown Party! WHOO! Off to Florida for Christmas!

Advice from an author number 12 – writers block? Push through it! It’s worth it in the end.  

 

11 Days Until Christmas

The Christmas Countdown is going strong. Today I started packing. For Christmas I’m heading off to sunny climates – and maybe somewhat humid ones – to Florida. My partner is out there on a business venture. It’s going to be lovely. 

Advice from an author number … 12 … I think. 

Work to a deadline if you need too. Plot, plot, plot, and over write. Over writing is better than under writing, because it’s easier to take things out, than add things in. Also, if it’s accepted for publication, the editor will want some bits removed. You enough to have a fighting ground.