182 | TTT006 | Lost In Planning Mode
April 22, 2024
Welcome back!
Today's Topic: Lost In Planning Mode
Planning is the bomb.com
Bombs make a mess
Messes, when cleaned up, create new possibilities
// CHAPTER 1: PLANNING IS THE BOMB.COM
We've hit on this a bit already - so quick summary...
I'm a planner (or plotter). Not a pantser.
So that's where I find myself right now - in Planning Mode.
Back when I first got my Big Idea - I jumped right in and started writing. 4-5 chapters in and I wasn't sure where to go next.
Which is why, for me at least, the planning part is going to be so important.
So where am I in the process? Well - the title of this episode is probably a spoiler. Because it suggests I'm lost.
Not lost, like in the middle of a vast desert with no compass lost.
But definitely lost as in:
I'm somewhere in the middle of planning
I don't have a plan for my planning
And I have no idea how long I will be planning
So if that is what lost means - then yes - that's where I'm at with it...
It's almost as if I needed to plan out my planning.
Think about that too much and your brain will start to hurt.
Now - some of you might be saying, "Dude! You just told us about all those planning methodologies - and you said you picked Story Grid - so just use that and shut up already!"
To which I would say, "I agree - totally - it is a good direction. But it isn't that black and white."
The Story Grid is less of a prescriptive path and more of a metaverse if you will. The Story Grid Universe - where there are thousands of small little ideas and riffs on how to incorporate it into your writing.
Now don't get me wrong - there are tools. For example - I've mentioned:
The Story Grid Foolscap - a one page summary of your entire book
The Story Grid Spreadsheet - a massive spreadsheet where every scene in the book is catalogued with every detail about each scene
And these are great - I've actually got both set up and ready to go. The Foolscap mostly completed - and the spreadsheet with all the right elements, and 80 columns set to go for the 80 scenes I hope to write.
So I'm making progress - but in order to complete those fully - you have to have a story. Which means you have to think up the 80 scenes. Or at least 30-40 in order to have the waypoints in place for the entire story. Scenes that complete the 20 Skeletal Scenes, ensure the obligatory moments and conventions are in place - and possibly even adding in the key elements of the Hero's Journey.
Sounds simple - right? Yes - as long as you can picture the entire story in your mind's eye.
So maybe that's where I'm getting hung up. I'm juggling my Big Idea - which is a multi-plot story told across three separate books. But I'm needing to boil down 1/3 third of that in order to feel comfortable starting Book 1. In other words - I need to do all the things I just mentioned above - but for 1/3 of my Big Idea.
So what is 1/3 of my Big Idea?
That's the problem I'm running into. Breaking the Big Idea up into three parts.
My wife suggested to me the other day, "Then maybe you're not supposed to be writing a trilogy... Why does it have to be three books? Why can't it be two - or even one book?"
A great question. To be fair. And I've wrestled with that.
But the conclusion I came to is that most stories like this are told across multiple books. For the following reasons:
It's an Epic Adventure set in a world that is slightly different that ours. Same world - but almost as if it were a sister world in a metaverse...type thing. So that means there is world building - and that can take up a lot of words to do well
Next, it is a Multi-plot Story. Two main groups of people with a lot of back and forth between the two. But then there is a third group that gets a fair amount of time. And a fourth toward the end that picks up speed and requires a fair amount of time. So that requires a lot of space in the book(s)
And finally - it is a Sweeping Adventure - with prologue information that dates back to 4000BC and an ending that takes place well into the future. So that adds another big chunk
Meaning - I don't think there's any way to do it in one book. Possibly two. But comfortably in three.
So there you go - back to my question. "What is 1/3 of my Big Idea?"
Well - that's where I got a little stuck this week. I started creating two things:
First, I tried documenting the 4 Quadrants for Book 1
Then I worked on the 20 Skeletal Scenes for Book 1
But when I finished - I realized that my through-line (with ending payoff) was a little too aggressive. In fact - a major story line of the full story was wrapping up as the climax of the first book.
And I realized - that won't work! If that happens in one book - the entire second book falls flat. Because I don't have another large story line with a shocking climax.
Book 3 will basically write itself - as the ending is already part of the Big Idea.
But now I need another story line for Book 2 - or I need to try and spread the Book 1 story line across two books.
Both options are daunting - and have kept me stuck.
// CHAPTER 2: BOMBS MAKE A MESS
Like I said - I've been a little stuck. The planning bomb went off - and now there is a mess.
And what do you do with messes? You clean them up.
Which is where the whole "plan for my planning" comes in. I literally need to decide how I'm going to finish planning - in order to get what I need in place so I can start writing the first book.
What that looks like is this:
Before I can even continue - I need to determine what my main plot line is for each book
This is where I'm a little hung up - but it shouldn't take long
I basically need to determine how I will end Book 1 - then determine the plot and climax for Book 2
Once that is figured out...
My plan is to get the 4 Quadrants figured out for each of the three books:
The Beginning Hook (Inciting Incident)
Middle Build 1 (Turning Point Progressive Complication)
Middle Build 2 (Crisis)
Ending Payoff (Climax & Resolution)
And within these 4 Quadrants, the 5 Commandments of Storytelling
From there I should be able to flesh out the 20 Skeletal Scenes for Book 1
In other words, the 5 Commandments of Storytelling in each of the 4 Quadrants of Book 1
But, just when I thought this would finish things up and kick off my writing journey - I remembered a couple other things...
Characters...
Something I know is very important to a story - and something I haven't plotted out as much as I need to:
This will require another large spreadsheet where I list each character, and then flesh each one out with as much detail as possible
I'll need to determine how deep I want to go on my characters - so I know when I'm done
Or I'll end up in character purgatory and get stuck there for a while...
Settings...
Or Locations:
Also an important thing
This is really a part of world building
I need to define what my world looks like, how it operates and what the differences are between our world and the world of the story
Similar to characters, I'll create a spreadsheet with each location in the book - fleshing out the area
Things like sights, sounds, smells, landmarks, what the people are like, the climate, the economy, what type of a reputation the area has, etc.
And that, my friends is the plan as to how I will complete my planning.
Because once that is in place - I think I'm good to go. Good to start writing.
// CHAPTER 3: MESSES, WHEN CLEANED UP, CREATE NEW POSSIBILITIES
This won't take long...I knew I needed to wrap things up - but didn't have any great writing advice to impart in Chapter 3.
So this will be pretty straightforward.
Right now I'm in the messy middle of the Planning Process. Planning not only the entire trilogy - but trying to get specific about Book 1.
I feel like I need to have a pretty good idea where each of the three books is going - from Inciting Incident to Ending Payoff.
But obviously - Book 1 will then go to the next level - because it will be written first.
It became messy because I didn't have a plan. The bomb went off and the mess was all the ideas swirling around - all the thoughts and ideas from everything I've ever read about Story Structure, the Hero's Journey, Writing good Characters, Narrative Drive, Point of View, World Building etc. etc.
And I got stuck trying to figure out how much I had to do for each of those things.
But now that I've thought through it all - and have a plan - the mess is getting cleaned up.
When I was younger, I was the type of kid who tried to keep his room clean - but inevitably it would get dirty in places you just couldn't get clean - like behind the dresser, in the closet, under the bed. And at some point I was done - I would literally take everything out of the room, vacuum the entire floor, clear the baseboards and then put everything back - typically in a new arrangement - one that I decided would work better for me moving forward.
I still remember that feeling. After it was all put back - everything was clean - and everything was in its place. I would just lay there on the bed - soaking in the peace and serenity that came with that level of organization.
Of course my life wasn't always that put together. But when the room was organized - I felt like I could take on the world. And apparently, it still works today.
Sometimes its my office - other times the garage. I'll spend a few hours organizing and cleaning and when I'm done - my world is back in order. I'm able to get back to my life feeling hopeful and energized.
And my guess is that this is what's going on right now with my writing. I'm feeling the stress that comes with a mess. And in order to relieve the stress - I need to do some organizing - or in this case planning.
Because I know that:
"Messes, when cleaned up, create new possibilities."
It's the new possibilities I'm after. It's being able to move to the next step in the process. From planning to writing.
Because I've done the writing thing before - and I loved it. It was a routine I easily fell into and one that seemed sustainable. So I'm eager to get back to that place.
But the problems I ran into back then all came down to Story Structure. I hadn't planned things out.
So with the plan in place - and the Story Structure loosely there - I'm hoping for the best of both worlds.
That's my "new possibility."
And it's so close I can taste it...
Let's Land the Plane:
Thanks for jumping on with me today - and thinking through the Planning Process.
The reason I'm struggling is because I've never done this before. Everything is new.
My guess is that once you've planned a novel one time - the next will come easier. Based on what you did the first time - you simply implement that same process - maybe with a few tweaks. And a few upgrades. But generally - grab the same documents - delete out all the content and start filling them back in with the new Big Idea, new Story Structure, new characters, new settings, etc.
At least that's my hope.
You can't tell me that Stephen King doesn't have a tried and true process down by now.
I know he isn't a Plotter - at least not in the traditional sense - but my guess is he has a very specific routine, and I'm sure each new project falls into place quickly.
Friends, wherever you're at in your creative process, and whatever it is you do when planning out your next Big Idea. I hope this episode helped you see that you're not alone. We're all in this together.
Our Big Ideas require us to fit a lot of pieces together. Like a 2500 piece puzzle. Daunting when you get all those little pieces laid out on the table. But as you find the edge pieces - things start to take shape. And as you start clumping similar colors together - elements in the middle come to life. And you just keep working at it until at last - the puzzle is sitting there finished on your table.
That's it for now. Have a great week everyone - and keep Transcending Human!