How to plot out a new novel is always a big question. While the query process continues for my latest novel, I very much wanted to get started on a new project. It also needed to take readers more than a thousand years away from Hypatia’s life.
A friend of mine who is an inspired reader with an incredible imagination posted a note on social media a while back about novels she’d love someone to write. One of them involved the notorious Beast of Gevaudan.
I knew a bit about the horror it inflicted upon a strange, remote portion of Southern France. However, it was at her prompting that I read everything I could get my hands on about events and those involved.
The writings about it are told as a deeply masculine story, steeped in the lust of 18th-century men to prove themselves manly enough and a country on the cusp of revolution. Not my sort of thing.
But… (there is always a but)
I’m not willing to give too much away yet.
Let’s just say I’m working on a haunted historical fantasy that takes the truth of the beast out of the hands of those men.
How to plot a new novel, Robin-style
- Read everything you can get your hands on in terms of the topic. I say that, but I mean more skim read. No one has time to read EVERYTHING. Just glean cool ideas and carry on.
- Consider the tropes of the original story. How can you turn them on their head?
- Determine the core of the story problem. Remember, no problem, no story.
- Consider the journey. What will the protagonist need to overcome to succeed? Map out the beats.
- Characters
- Start writing!
This all is very simplistic, I know. Honestly, though, it is really all about that core story problem and building from there. Without it, you have nothing more than a bunch of ideas.