Support for Indie Authors discussion

Abram wrote: "Hi, Tephra!
I understand where you're coming from when you say you wrote your first novel in unorganized chunks of messy paragraphs. I to have the same problem at times, but I've found a work aroun..."

That isn't quit the Snowflake method. In that you start with main idea. In an organized manner you add to it, developing the theme, various plots and characters. It's worth reading the book as I does give some good ideas as does, Story Genius, the Master class by James Patterson and just about any other method you want to explore.

I've discovered you need to experiment until you find what works for you. I use a mishmash of all those above, Scrivener is a great place to store all the information and format the skeleton of a novel. If you can write in it, great. NovelWorks and yWriter all have good parts of them to help you get organized. Try the free versions and go from there.

My favorite.. . writing the original idea on a legal pad. Figure out what my character is after. Write a basic plot line. Then start filling in the blanks with other characters, plot lines. I then go to the computer and begin to fill it out in Scrivener or Novel works. I divide my screen and use word to type after formatting it for the book. Yes, I type in a fully formatted template which saves me tons of time later.

My best advice, try out different methods and see what works for you. Making it an organized procedure will save time and headaches when editing later. (Patterson does 5 to 10 rounds of editing on all his books). Stash it somewhere and come back to it after doing the first draft while working on another project. You will find a process which will work for you.

The Snowflake Method (which I have not tried) might be fun to experiment with when NaNoWri rolls around in November.