Finally finished going through the parts I'd already written and on to phase II of the planning stage. That would be answering the questions I asked myself about each part of the novel. I make something like a worksheet for this. I included a quick summary of the scene/chapter/section and pinpoint problems with it, things to avoid when writing it, and of course I ask myself questions. Like "How does she feel about ______?" and "How does she react to _______?" and "Why doesn't he ask her about _______?" This helps me to figure out what I need to accomplish in the scene.
The worksheet looks like this:
and is about thirty pages long. (I don't half-ass anything when it comes to the novels.)
Before I attempt this, however, I've got a scene I probably need to get down before I forget it. I'm not even sure if I'll use it in the finished product, but that's why I need to write it. If it looks like it'll work it'll go in. If it looks like it'll suck or drag the story, it will be unceremoniously flushed.
It's a brutal business.
