A week into the New Year it’s perhaps rash to make bold assertions but I think I’m off to a reasonable start: I’ve completed the first draft of the short story I mentioned in my last post and have the beginnings of a plan.

If you recall I was testing a new way of working…

It was strange. I quite enjoyed the planning stage which was a big of a surprise. During writing, I was worried that it would kill my enjoyment but after the second session it actually became easier to pick and I was able to spot cul-de-sacs as they occurred rather than get to the end first.

The initial read through seems more coherent than a lot of my first drafts though I didn’t stick to the plan as rigidly as I thought I might. The major beats are all there but the plotting fell slightly differently in the writing which is, I think, as it should be. I’ll need to do a second draft soon before passing it onto someone to read.

Coming up, I’m pretty much working on planning for the next novel. I have a working title, blurb (my technique for making decisions on projects) and some rudimentary world-building notes. This project will use mystery/crime based framework and so plotting will actually be critical to a coherent draft. That’s this week’s task.

From there I will revisit my world building to make sure I have enough depth for the plot and characters to stand on.

And then I write. 🙂

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