Back to Plot

Today I started work again on the novel's plot. A few months ago I'd taped scraps of paper to my closet door and listed every main event in the novel. I ended up with hundreds of papers, lined up and scribbled on. Here's part of what I'm looking at now:


I left this behind while working on short story projects, and it's fun to come back to, although I'm often wondering what on earth I was talking about. For instance, a slip of paper reads: "Olander builds the Enchantment Box. He puts Grandpa George's name inside to test it out." And what happens? I can't remember. I hope to find the outcome on some other scrap of paper.

In the meantime, I'm going through the plot line and kicking out anything that no longer fits, filling in plot holes. To do this, I'm using a J.K. Rowling grid technique she showed off in a 60 Minutes interview (2002): Take a piece of lined spiral notebook paper, mark three columns- one for months, one for chapter title, and one for plot strand, adding in sub plot strands on the paper's back. We'll see how this works to organize the plot pace and events.