Planning

Creative planning is the act of mapping out where you are, where you want to go, and how you are going to process today’s challenges.

Want to write a story that works? Learn how to plot your novel using the Save the Cat! Beat Sheet in this post! (Free worksheet included!) #writingtips

Writers need help building something beautiful, solid, and original—and that takes a method. The method I suggest has three concepts: Scene, Series, Theme.

As a writer, I began as a ‘pantser’. If the term isn’t familiar, its simply (and somewhat hilariously) refers to someone who writes by the seat of her pants. That’s how I do life, that’s how I started writing flash fiction and short stories, and I imagined that’s how I would write a novel. ...

I recently finished brainstorming for a new book. I had lists of ideas, pages full of "what ifs," and be...

Story has shape. We’re often told it has a two-dimensional shape — a common rise (gentle or swift) of a hill, or a scalene triangle. But I call shenanigans on that. I say utter donkeytr…

Take it from the wisdom of this byte-sized guide and start here for your book-writing journey with a Trello template for authors.

A plot planner enables you to keep the larger picture of your story in full view as you concentrate on writing individual scenes.

Author Simon K Jones demonstrates how he uses Trello with his writing projects.

An example of a beat sheet used to outline a screenplay.

If you devote some thought to how you’ll organize your writing, you’ll save time and frustration in the long run. Read on for tips on how to get your writing life organized so that you can finish that manuscript.

By popular demand, here is a thread on how I plan a novel, six books in.— Gillian McAllister (@GillianMAuthor) August 15, 2019

You wouldn’t start deadlifting or running a 10k or play football. You’d warm up first. You’d stretch. Do the same with your novel. Don’t start it just yet.

Fill this out when you're getting started, for focus throughout the creative process.

In 1665, a German Jesuit and polymath named Athanasius Kircher published an eclectic scientific treatise called Mundus Subterraneus. It included, along with a natural history of dragons and a diagr…

Hi. I’m Brandon, and I’m an app addict. (“Hi, Brandon.”)

There are lots of ways to write books. There are lots of ways to run games. I listen to a lot of actual play podcasts, well three, but it’s a lot of hours: Critical Role, The Adventure Zone, and Friends at the Table. All three of them provide such radically different models of how to run a game. To be clear, I enjoy all three of these shows very much and I think they’re all varying degrees of brilliant in different ways. That said, I’m going all in so, if you’re a huge critter or love those good good boys or just believe in interaction between good friends, then remember this is gentle crit...

(Disclaimer: NAPLO YONOMO is the protagonist of STAR WARS AFTERMATH TWO: EWOK SNUGGLEBOO. He’s a fancy gentleman Gonk Droid with a debilitating spice addiction!) Next month is National Novel …