Melanie Anne Phillips

In the previous step you added to your cast list some characters who would not raise an eyebrow if they showed up in your story’s world. Now, let yourself go a bit (but just a bit) and list a number of characters that might seem somewhat out of place but would still be fairly easily explainable in such a story as yours. Example: In our example story of a small town in the old west, these “unusual characters” might include: A troupe of traveling acrobats Ulysses S. Grant A Prussian Duke A bird watcher You may be wondering why you’d want to have such odd characters in an otherwise normal story. The reason is to prevent your story from being  too  normal. Neither reader nor publisher will want to waste time or money on a book that is just a rehash of the same tired material they’ve read over and over again. What they are looking for is something with a unique personality – something that sets itself apart from the usual run of the mill. Adding one or two so...

In the previous step, you added characters implied by your synopsis to your potential cast list. Range a little wider now, and jot down some characters that aren't explicitly mentioned or even implied but wouldn't seem particularly out of place in such a story. Example: In the example story we’ve been using, no one would be surprised at all to encounter a saloon girl, a bartender, blacksmith, rancher, preacher, schoolteacher, etc. There is no specific limit to how many or how few “usual characters” you can or should add to your growing cast list. So just add the ones that appeal to you. Don’t be worried if any of your additions seem stereotypical of too predictable. By the time we’re through a few more steps your list will be so large we’ll need to pare it down. So for now, beef up your cast with any additional characters that would fit right in your novel as described in your synopsis. Excerpted f rom the book,  Write Your Novel Step by Step Based on  StoryWeav...

In Step 11 you made a list of all the characters explicitly named in your revised synopsis. Now list all the characters that your synopsis doesn't specifically name, but that would almost be expected in such a story. Include any additional characters you intend to employ but didn’t actually spell out in your synopsis. Again, list them by role and name if one comes to mind. Example: Suppose a story is described as the tribulations of a town Marshall trying to fend off a gang of outlaws who bleed the town dry. The only specifically called for characters are the Marshall and the gang, which you would have listed in Step 10. But, you'd also expect the gang to have a leader and the town to have a mayor. The Marshall might have a deputy. And, if the town is being bled dry, then some businessmen and shopkeepers would be in order as well. So, you would list these additional  implied  characters as: Gang Leader Mayor Deputy (John Justice) Businessmen Shopkeepers Do...

Congratulations! You’ve completed the first part of your journey toward a completed novel. It was a heck of a lot of work, but it is all about to pay off. From here on out, we’ll be drawing on material you’ve already created. What’s more, each step from this point forward is far less complicated, requires far less effort and is shorter to boot! In this step, for example, we’re going to look for characters in the material you’ve already created. You don’t have to invent anything new. In fact, it is important that you don’t! Read through your revised synopsis from Step 10 while asking yourself “who’s there?” Make a list of all the characters  explicitly  called for in your story, as it is worded. To be clear, don’t list any characters you have in mind but didn’t actually spell out in your work – just the ones who actually appear in the text. You may have given some of these characters names. Others, you may have described simply by their roles in the story, such as Me...

Smoothing Out the Bumps In Step 9 you integrated all your new material into your existing synopsis to create an all-inclusive description of your story’s world. In this step you’ll move things around and reword them so that your revised synopsis reads like butter. You’ve come a long way. And, you’ve just completed a lot of hard work messing around with intangible ideas. Time to get literary again for a refreshing break. Your job in this step is to reread your synopsis as it stands, not for content but from the standpoint of word play. For a moment, put story aside and think about  how  things are said rather than  what  is said. See if you can come up with a more interesting way to express the very same thing. Don’t feel you have to get too stylistic or come up with memorable ways of phrasing things – brilliant lines of soaring prose that sweep the reader off their mundane little feet. Nobody is going to see this final plot revision but you. The purpose is...

Your Inspired Plot In Step 8 you made a list of all the new material you’ve created that you’d like to include in your novel to fill holes and fix inconsistencies.  In this step, you’ll weave those concepts into your existing synopsis to fashion an all-inclusive and enriched version. The first thing to do is re-read your synopsis from Step 5 to re-familiarize yourself with your novel as you originally saw it.  Then, look over your list of the new story elements to be added to the mix. Begin with the notion you’d most enjoy seeing in your story and, scanning your synopsis from top to bottom, locate the best place or places to insert it so that it will seamlessly integrate into your existing material.  When you know where it is going to show up, re-write just that section (or sections) of your synopsis to include it. After each inclusion of new material, scan over the rest of your synopsis to see if the changes conflict with any other sections.  If so, make an...

Putting It Back Together If you’ve been diligent in the last step and generated a lot of answers, you probably have a huge number of potential story points. But which ones to use? Usually, you won’t be able to select two answers for the same question, as they would conflict. What’s more, some answers for one question might conflict with several from other questions. The time has come to make some hard choices. In preparation for this, you need to get a good feel for all the potential directions your story might take depending upon which answers your choose to include. When you came up with your answers, you were probably focusing on each question, one at a time, not on your story as a whole. So, the first thing is to stand back again, read over all the questions and answers from top to bottom straight through at least once or until you have a really good sense of what this grab back has to offer. Now answer just one more essential question – how married are you to the origin...

Filling the Holes In Step 6, you found holes and inconsistencies in your story as it stands so far by looking at it as an audience would, rather than as an author, and asking questions about what was missing or didn’t make sense. In this step you’ll fill those holes and fix the inconsistencies by answering these questions to make your story more complete and to tune it up so it rings true. Recalling the “Creativity Two-Step” method you employed in Step 4, you can see that the questions you’ve just asked about your synopsis are the first part of that technique. Just as before, your task in this step is to come up with as many potential answers for each question as you can (within reason). And speaking of reason, just a reminder that the “two-step” method works because it alternates between logic and passion; between the analytical mind and the creative mind. Asking questions about your synopsis is an analytical endeavor: you are trying to make sense of the story and noting ev...

Pulling It All Apart In Step 5, you created your first comprehensive description of what your story is about – who’s in it, what happens to them, what it all means, and the  story world  in which it all takes place. In this step you’ll take a new look at this synopsis to find holes in your story – dramatic elements that are either missing or inconsistent with one another. For a moment, step out of your role as author, and put yourself in the position of your reader or audience. Read over your story synopsis from Step 5. If something doesn't make sense, is off kilter or missing, make a note of it. List each point in the form of a question, as this tends to help you focus in on exactly what is needed to fix the problem. When you have finished your novel, your audience will be unforgiving, so be harsh now! Don’t gloss over problems, but don’t try to solve them either. That comes later. For now, just ask questions about everything that bothers you about your story fro...

Pulling It All Together   In Step 2, you jotted down any and all story ideas you may have already had for your novel.  In Step 4, you probably generated a huge number of additional creative ideas for your novel.  (If not, repeat Step 4 until you do!) Problem is, the resulting collection of notions for your story from Steps 2 and 4 probably ranges far and wide, resulting in a hodgepodge of interesting concepts and schemes, all out of order and jumbled up in something of a chaotic mess. So, before we go on into future steps, we need to do a little necessary housekeeping lest things get out of hand.  Just as we boiled down your Step 2 ideas into a single log line, in this step we’ll pull together all the material you’ve created so far into a more manageable form: a  synopsis  of your novel, A synopsis is like a map of the ground your story is going to cover, noting all the landmarks and important things that happen at them.  Just as we origi...

The Creativity Two-Step In Step 3, we described methods for boiling your initial story concepts down into a  log line : a single sentence that expresses the essence of what your story is about. In this step, we’ll use your log line as a creative core in a method that will generate an expanding sphere of new ideas for your story.  In following this step, also draw upon the original story ideas you jotted down in Step 2. The concept behind this method of finding inspiration is quite simple, really: It is easier to come up with many ideas than it is to come up with one idea. Now that may sound counter-intuitive, but consider this… When you are working on a particular story and you run into a specific structural problem, you are looking for a creative inspiration in a very narrow area. But creativity isn’t something you can control like a power tool or channel onto a task. Rather, it is random, and applies itself to whatever it wants. Creative inspiration is always...