So, it doesn’t matter whether you plan at the start or go back and make sure you got everything in at the end. Sooner of later you’re going to go through the structure of your book to see if it fits with the character you created when he suddenly takes off for six months without telling anyone. Or, suddenly appears as a new man with a new purpose. You might want to shock your reader, but is what you’ve done in any sort of integrity with what you’ve presented as a character? Ditto for your description of places, subplots, and all the other things we create when we write.
Over the years, I’ve made tables and charts to check my character arcs from Point A to Point B. I’ve plotted subplots across time to view the riding and falling action. Recently, I’m using colored markers to highlight exposition, dialogue, description. And, honestly, I probably always will.
But – a few weeks ago someone mentioned Plottr. I’m sure you’ll be hearing about it, too, because it’s amazing. I’m putting my affiliate link here because I hope you’ll consider using this if you decide to purchase Plottr.
The big deal is that Plottr gets all the “stuff” out of your head and into a graphical inteface without you having to draw virtual lines to virtual blocks and get the things to line up – if you’ve tried this, you know what I mean.
Instead, you can click a button to:
- use different templates for different types of stories
- use a blank template and do your thing your way
- plan out chapters all at once or as you go
- keep track of the incidents you want to include
- create an outline or have Plottr generate your outline
- put in info for Characters and Places
- create Notes and Tags
- track everything across a series
- work on more than one project at a time
There’s a lot more to Plottr, but it’s Thanksgiving, so I’ll spare you and do a fuller post with screen shots next week.
Happy Writing!