Writing Book Ten: Part Seven - Building On The Basics

I'm keeping a diary of the writing process of Book 10, from the first words to publication.

Before I started writing Book 10, I bought a book to help me with plotting and structuring novels (you can see my post about it here), which has been a huge help. I love that I have the whole plot in front of me, so if I get stuck, I can refer back to it and know where I need to go to keep the story moving. Some people don't like working this way and prefer to see where the book and characters take them, keeping that first draft fresh and exciting, which I understand even if I can't work that way (I've tried, but I'm definitely a plotter). 

But the great thing about working to a plot is there is still room for your characters to lead the way, even if they are on a certain track (and those tracks are never set in stone anyway and can be moved around or chucked out altogether). Lots of things have been happening that weren't plotted as I've been writing this week. Yes, they're following the main framework, but the characters are definitely taking on a life of their own and nudging things along in their own way. The next section of my plan is pretty vague, but I like that I've got to know the characters by now so I can fill in those gaps much easier than I could in the plotting stages.

One of the unexpected scenes this week involved three newborn kittens (I know, adorable, right?) so I've been watching YouTube videos as 'research', which was clearly VERY TAXING. I haven't named the kittens yet (other than Kitten1, Kitten2 and Kitten3 in the manuscript) as I'll be asking for help to do this on my Facebook page soon.

This week on Facebook, we've named Claude the sheep and there will be a new animal to name tomorrow. If you'd like to take part, pop over to my Facebook page and see the pinned post (from Friday). Whoever's suggestion is used will have their name put into the acknowledgements when the book is published!

You can see a list of all the names that have been chosen so far by clicking here

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