Resources to Help you Plan a Novel

Dianna Gunn is one of NHT!'s rotating troupe of teen bloggers.You can visit her own blog at diannaswritingden.com

BY: DIANNA GUNN

Last week I talked about the differences between writing a novel and a short story. I said that the biggest difference between writing the two forms is the amount of planning you need to create a workable story. While there are still dedicated Pantsers (as in, by-the-seat-of-your-) who never plot out their novels, most of us need an outline to help us structure our novel properly. 

But how do you plan a novel? Well, there are several ways to plan a novel, and they're all worth a try — after all, if you don't try more than one method, how can you be sure that the method you're using is really the best one for you? There's a difference between an outline method that works for you and the best outline method for you. You might not believe me now, but you'll know the difference once you find the outlining method that's best for you. 

To help you in your quest to find the best outline method for you, I've pulled together a few resources designed for would-be novelists. Read all about them after the jump! 

1. The Phase Outline — Created by Lazette Gifford, one of the great minds behind the Forward Motion Writers' community, the Phase Outline is one of the most detailed outlining methods out there. Each phase is a key phrase to tell you what's going to happen in the next scene. These outlines are very detailed and often run into a high word count all on their own, and while it's not for me, it might just be helpful to you. 

2. The Snowflake Method — This is a method which has the potential to become extremely detailed but doesn't have to be. You start by writing a paragraph about your story which includes all the main events, and then you branch out and turn each sentence or main event into its own paragraph and so on and so forth. I've found this method of outlining to be too structured for me — I'm fairly close to being a pantser, with most of my notes being about the characters and setting rather than the plot — but many of my friends love this method. 

3. Create Your Own Professional Plot Outline — This is a mini-course from Holly Lisle, the other great mind between Forward Motion who has now moved on to other, potentially bigger and better, things. This mini-course will help you complete a detailed plot outline, and while I plan a novel very differently from the way Holly does it, her advice is invaluable. You can also check out her main website, which has loads of other advice for writers. 

4. How I Planned My First Novel — This is an article written by Joanna Cravit for Forward Motion which contains some pretty simple exercises to help you plan a novel. This is probably the least detailed of all the outlining methods I've mentioned so far, with just a few simple steps. 

There are hundreds, probably thousands now that I think about it, of resources for writers online. You can find anything from outline templates to character sheets to writing challenges to editing advice. These are just a few of the possibilities. And really, if you never find anything online that you like and you end up doing something completely different, that's okay too. There are as many ways to plan and write a novel as there are writers to create novels.