Should You Plan Your Novel?

I've written one full-sized novel to date. Not very impressive, I'll admit, but it is still a source of pride for me. Sure, I took it off sale once I realised it was far from ready, but I believe our biggest lessons come from the mistakes we make.

Still, I didn't want to give up on the story, so I decided to rewrite it. And in the rewrite, I realised I needed a new foundation, a new story altogether. I just didn't know where to start. I had all these ideas in my head and nowhere to put them. This is where I discovered my new favourite part of writing - the planning stage.

Not entirely sure whether you should plan ahead? Let's take a look at the benefits:

Time to think it over

Perhaps my favourite part of planning is the extra time I get to think ideas over. Am I doing too much? Does this fit with the overall theme? What else do I need?

Asking myself these questions ahead of time helps me realise if my story is going in the direction I want it to, if things will work before I spend a lot of time writing something only to scrap it. With my first attempt at writing my novel, I made it to 10 chapters (around 40,000 words) only to scrap it and start again. Restarting isn't always a bad thing, but if you want to save time, it makes planning ahead your best option.

A clearer idea of what I want

One of my biggest issues with writing is being able to make sense of everything. I might know what story I want to write, but the ideas end up jumbled in my head. I can write notes down as I go to make sure I don't forget anything, but then there's no order. It's a sort of mess that simply overwhelms me.

Writing it down and being able to put it in order, whatever that order may be, helps me to visualise the story in a way that makes sense and allows me extra creativity going forward.

A Better understanding of the 'world'

World-building is not reserved for high-fantasy or D&D. You can invest in world-building for whatever story you're writing. This could be focused just on your characters' worlds, or look at the world as a whole.

Of course, when writing in the 'real' world, you already have a basis to go from. But each individual's experience in this world is different, and you can relate to that through planning what type of world it is for them. This also gives you a clearer idea of the atmosphere, of the type of existence, your characters are surviving in.

A Better understanding of the characters

Just like world-building, planning your characters also allows you a better understanding of them.

Who are they? What do they like? What's their favourite place? Their favourite movie? Their favourite hobby? What about their phrase to live by? Life's purpose?

When you get to the nitty-gritty of what makes a person who they are, you can write more in-depth characters. You'll not only know exactly how they'll react to a certain situation but also the why. And knowing the 'why' of anything is what makes a person truly multi-layered and complicated.

Editing without the words

This might seem like a silly concept but bear with me. When you know what happens ahead of time, at least the main plot points and important scenes, you can write them with a clearer understanding of the details. That said, sometimes, the order may not work as we hoped or the situation itself falls short.

This is something you might figure out as you plan your novel. With each sticky note containing a scene or specific moment, you have the ability to rearrange the story before you put words on paper. Hell, you can continue to do this as you write your novel. If you get to a scene and realise it isn't working, you can throw the note away or move it to a later point in your novel.

Editing is a huge part of writing, so having the entire plan in front of you ready can save you time in rejigging moments, rewriting entire scenes or even the plot itself.

Not everyone is a planner and that's okay! Some work best just writing as they go. It's the same dilemma of asking whether to edit as you go or wait until you've written the whole thing. What works best for you is the option you should take.

But if you do think planning ahead is what works for you, or is something you're looking to try, there are a range of different techniques you could use.