I worked on structuring my book on Days Thirty-Eight and Thirty-Nine. I’ve figured out that I need to work out the sequencing in my book and that I don’t need to generate new words. I decided to go through the whole book – using my handwritten precis of the story and my other notes on the scenes I’ve written – and answer ten questions about how they use cause and effect, and how they move the plot forwards. I’ve written about it in a blog post here. I call these my ‘ten questions’.
This was a real break-through for me, and one of my key learning points from the summer holidays, with their disruption, and noise; namely, I need to focus, and to bring structure to what I have already written. Here is my answer: describe each scene step-by-step, for the whole book. I do not usually do this level of planning. I know why. I’m addicted to the flow state. I’d rather be in the flow state (which takes focus – not necessarily silence, but definitely no drilling) than I would be in a planning state! But planning – and this specific kind of planning – was what I needed. It’s the antidote I’ve been craving. The ‘story’ I’ve been searching for. Not storytelling or planning generally, but rather a tool to enable me to sequence my ideas.
The building work finally finished today. Here’s what it looks like:
