Fast Fiction

A Guide to Outlining and Writing a First-Draft Novel in Thirty Days

Denise Jaden

• Publisher: New World Library
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9781608682546
• eBook ISBN:
  9781608682553
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Creative Writing
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Writers flock to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) each November because it provides a procrastination-busting deadline. But only a fraction of the participants meet their goal. Denise Jaden was part of that fraction, writing first drafts of two subsequently published novels in that tight time frame. In Fast Fiction, she shows other writers how to do what she did, step-by-step, writer to writer. To ensure success, her program begins a month before the month of drafting. During this prep period writers think through plot, theme, characters, setting, etc. Then Jaden provides day-by-day coaching for the thirty-day drafting period. After writers "race to the finish," they are not left high and dry. Jaden's "After the Draft" revision tips allow writers to determine if a draft is not just workable but compelling, so that they don't waste months or years developing it. Her camaraderie and skill allow Jaden to both instruct and inspire.

Part One

BEFORE THE DRAFT

Chapter One

THE STORY IDEA

Where do you get inspiration for story ideas? Mine come from all sorts of different sources. Sometimes I’ll be watching a movie, and in the first five minutes I start to speculate on where the movie is going and how it’ll end. Usually it moves in a completely different direction, so I’m left with a cool story idea all my own.

Sometimes I wake up in the morning with the remnants of a dream in my head. That can be the spark of a great story idea.

I also get ideas from talking with friends about things they’ve done or people they know, or events that have happened in my own life. Many authors take their story ideas straight from newspaper headlines.

Plot ideas can come from almost anywhere. The important thing is to keep your eyes and ears open. Pay attention to the people, events, settings, and stories that interest you.

If you have trouble coming up with good story ideas, don’t worry. Chances are, you have many of them already stored in the back reaches of your brain. To access these ideas, practice brainstorming. Brainstorming is a simple but effective skill that you’ll need as a writer.

Here are some guidelines for brainstorming:

1. There are no hard-and-fast rules.

2. There are no bad ideas.

3. Your instincts are more important than you usually give them credit for.

4. Dream big and wild.

5. Use free writing and writing prompts when you’re stuck.

With free writing, set a time limit for yourself — five minutes or an hour, whatever you can handle — and write without stopping. Write down whatever comes into your mind, even if it’s just “I don’t know what to write.” The process of writing will eventually get your creative juices flowing. Writing prompts, on the other hand, give you a starting place, something to springboard off of. Whether you’re free writing or using prompts, I recommend pushing yourself to keep your pen (or keyboard) in constant motion throughout the time you have set for yourself. Sometimes you’ll need to write through a few repetitive or boring ideas in order to get to the really good ideas.

When brainstorming, relax for a few minutes before you start and let your mind wander. I guarantee ideas will appear and start to spark your interest. Jot them down loosely, without trying to shape them. Does a certain type of person, job, or circumstance seem intriguing, amusing, or shocking? Write it down and launch from that into your free writing. This can be a seed from which you grow your plot.

So, your first task before fast-drafting is to spend twenty minutes brainstorming as many character, event, and story ideas as you can think of. Sometimes you may prefer to do this on a computer, but today I recommend the old-school pen (or pencil) and paper method. The motion of handwriting, as well as the time it takes to get the words down on paper, can allow your mind to really explore your creative ideas. Plus, studies suggest that the act of forming letters may help with memory, ideas, and expression.

I recommend keeping a notebook with you at all times. You never know when ideas will strike. In fact, I keep an app on my iPhone called “A Novel Idea.” It’s free, and it’s a great place to make plotting and/or character notes.

Come back to your brainstorming a day or two later and circle anything that can be formed into story ideas — that is, anything to do with characters and character relationships, their motivations and desires, or obstacles. Complete as many brainstorming sessions as you need in order to get a list of at least ten circled ideas. Write these on a separate piece of paper and add any details you can think of for each one.

For example, maybe one of your ideas is about an abusive marital relationship. Can you picture either of the spouses? Write down whatever you envision. Which one is abused? What does that character want? Which one is the abuser? What does that character want? Can you think of any obstacles that are getting in the way of what either of these characters want?

Once you’ve jotted down some notes on all your ideas, choose a few of the ones that grab you the most to craft into short one- or two-sentence premise statements. A premise is the basic central idea, circumstance, or dilemma of your story; you will build your plot from this. You could combine numerous brainstorming ideas into a single premise, but it’s good practice to trim each one into a single sentence. This is handy when you’re sharing and explaining your writing with friends, and it’s essential when it comes time to market your story to publishing professionals.

As an example, let’s look at a few premises many of you will recognize:

A young girl gets stranded in a strange new land and sets off on a dangerous journey to meet the one person who has the power to send her home.

Do you recognize this premise? I purposely made the description a little vague, to show how the same premise might fit a variety of stories, but it’s The Wizard of Oz.

Or try this one:

A suicidal family man gets a glimpse of the world as it would be if he hadn’t been born.

This is the basic premise of It’s a Wonderful Life.

Here’s one more:

An old miser is visited by three ghosts who remind him of the spirit of Christmas.

I’ll bet you guessed that this one is from A Christmas Carol.

Here is the one-line story idea I started with for my latest work-in-progress young adult novel, Tent:

Wild-child Delaney Peters attempts to punk a religious tent meeting but instead starts experiencing strange and increasingly embarrassing miracles.

We’ll come back to that premise, and I’ll show you how I expanded it to grow a fully formed novel.

Once you have a solid premise statement (if you have several, pick the one that pulls at you the most), spend some time thinking about genre, audience, and setting. Are you going to write your story for children or adults? Is it going to be a mystery or an action-adventure or have gory moments that will make even the strongest stomach turn? Will it be set in the past, present, or future? Will it have otherworldly elements or will characters live in the real world?

Whatever you decide, it is important to nail down one or two main genres that your novel will work into.

Here are some common fiction genres in professional publishing:

Contemporary

Drama

Dystopian

Erotica

Fantasy

Futuristic

Historical

Horror

Humor

Literary

Mystery

Paranormal

Realistic

Romance

Science Fiction

Western

If you approach your story like it’s something brand new that cannot be categorized, it may make you feel like a pioneer of publishing, but it could be more difficult to create a satisfying plot arc, to connect with readers who are used to established genres, and to get your story published traditionally.

Again, before you start to plot your story, I encourage you to wrangle your idea into a concise sentence. Your premise statement may change over time, of course, but the more you can harness your ideas and keep them in tight, quick-glance form, the more easily you can make use of them in your story plan.

Chapter Two

PLOT AND THE THREE-ACT STRUCTURE

What is plot? Even if you can’t explain it in concise terms, I’ll bet you know right away if it’s missing from a book or movie! How many times have you found yourself shaking your head, saying, “I don’t get it. What is this story about, anyway?”

Plot is the structure or framework on which you hang your story. Plots vary, but when planning for your fast draft, I want you to focus on imagining your story in three main parts: First, define a problem or a quest. Then, describe the obstacles that get in the way of solving the problem or continuing the quest. Finally, in some form, resolve the problem, or complete the quest, ideally in a way that involves growth and self-revelation for your main character. This always makes the most satisfying plot.

Or, to put it into one sentence: Create a plot in which a character wants something, but there are obstacles in the way, and the character has to pay a cost and/or change in some way to get what’s desired.

This three-act structure comes straight from screenwriting or movie script instruction. With script writing, the parameters are very specific in what professionals are looking for, and oddly enough, these parameters work well for novel writing, too, even down to the number of pages you spend on each stage. Though movie scripts are shorter than novel manuscripts (say, around 120 double-spaced pages for a movie compared to 300 pages for an average novel), you would be smart to work within the same proportionate guidelines — with shorter beginnings and endings and a longer middle. The middle typically includes lots of twists and turns (with several obstacles to overcome), while the beginning should have punch and the ending should quicken the momentum as the story climaxes and finishes.

Plotting a Three-Act Roller Coaster

Now, take your one-sentence premise and, using the brainstorming ideas in this chapter, spend some time expanding that with events and scenes that fit the scope of that premise. What might happen, and how might things play out? Even if you’re unsure, jot down any ideas that come to you. Do not leave any idea unwritten!

Remember my one-line premise from Tent: Wild-child Delaney Peters attempts to punk a religious tent meeting but instead starts experiencing strange and increasingly embarrassing miracles.

In this case, I started brainstorming with scenes that could happen at a tent meeting, different settings and embarrassing situations where miracles could take place, and what would drive my main character to want to punk a tent meeting in the first place.

With your premise sentence in front of you, keep coming up with as many ideas as you can and see how they might fit together. Even if certain ideas don’t end up playing a part in your fast-draft novel, ideas spring from ideas, so don’t be afraid to write anything down. Often our aha moments come not from suddenly getting “the right” idea, but from seeing connections between ideas that you hadn’t seen before.

Again, write everything down that comes to mind! You may want a separate notebook for this.

Then, to arrange your story into the three-act structure, your first section should introduce the main characters and give only the essential setting and background information. Most importantly, it should feature an “inciting incident” — that is, the first moment when things change and cannot go back to the way they were for your main character. I’ll talk about this more below.

Your middle includes subplots that help your reader get to know your characters more fully. The middle should keep your characters active and busy. Often, meeting challenges sends your main character in a whole new direction — probably the wrong direction.

Your ending is all about tying things up n...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part One: Before the Draft
• Part Two: During the Draft
• Part Three: After the Draft
• Additional Resources
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author