Plotting and Pacing: how to plot your novel to keep readers turning the pages

Plotting and Pacing:
How to Plot Your Novel to Keep Readers Turning the Pages

Kayla Perrin’s ‘hands on’ workshop, ‘Plotting and Pacing: How to Plot Your Novel to Keep Readers turning the Pages,’ kept HODRW members turning the pages of their notebooks!

Throughout her presentation, Kayla stressed that the keys to plotting an exciting and well-paced novel aren’t as difficult as one might imagine. Honest! The secret lies in answering a few critical questions before one heads to the old drawing board, I mean, keyboard.

For starters, Kayla suggests penning a good hook. Without a catchy idea, your book is sure to fizzle. With your hook in mind, the next step is figuring out exactly what type of story you’re going to write.

Will it be a Paranormal? Romantic Suspense? Tackling this before you begin your novel can help you avoid those brain-splitting ‘I Can’t Write This’ headaches we all dread. The next step is refining your initial idea. Kayla stressed the importance of knowing what the situation is and who the characters are. After the who and the what are figured out, Kayla recommends writing the first scene. This gets the action going and lets you build off that great hook that is sure to catch an editor’s eye.

Kayla provided the following hook: "A woman is packing her things in the middle of the night..."

From this catchy opening, small groups brainstormed until they wound up with stories ranging from suspense to a light hearted romantic comedy.

Next, flip those mental pages, and outline your story’s ‘black moment’. As Kayla convincingly argued, knowing the black moment before the story is written provides you with a road map which, in turn, helps you figure out the pace of your novel.

At this point, you’ll probably have an idea about the ending of your novel too, especially if you’re writing Romantic Suspense. Okay, you have a groovy idea, an awesome hero and an unsinkable heroine, possibly a villain, an opening scene, and a black moment. Now it’s time to figure out four major plot pivots -- ‘shifts in the action of the story’.

She recommends outlining four major plot pivots, and approximately ten minor or smaller ones. By the time you have these fourteen action points figured out and know where you to place them in your story, the real work begins...filling in the gaps. With these awesome tips from HODRW’s own Kayla Perrin, you can’t lose!

Now, belly up to the computer and write, write, write!