Novel Kicks Writing Room: Plotting and Timelines

Published April 23, 2019 | By Laura

Plotting and timelines.

I am fast realising that I am one of these writers that has to know what is happening in my story; the experiences of National Novel Writing Month has taught me this.

I have been finding this method below quite helpful in plotting my story. This is something I have featured before but thought it worth revisiting.

Grab either a pad of Post-It notes (author Julie Cohen swears by Post-It notes) or some bits of paper and write out all of the current plot points for your current work in progress; all the things you have so far (and don’t worry if you don’t have the end yet. Neither do I.)

Also, if you aren’t currently working on anything, as always, you could pick a published story.

Once you’ve written all of your plot points, lay them all out on the floor. Move them around if you need to.

Then, once you’ve done this, write out a time line for all the main characters for your story.

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Laura

I'm Laura. I started Novel Kicks back in 2009 as I wanted a place to discuss books and writing - two loves of my life. As someone who has anxiety, these two things give me, and I am sure countless others, a much needed escape.
There is a monthly book club, writing exercises, prompts, reviews, author interviews, competitions and guest posts. I cover many genres and I hope there is something for everyone.
I grew up by the sea in Dorset and currently live in Poole with my husband, Chris and three cats. I love writing and have a BA (Hons) in Creative Writing from Falmouth University. I am writing my first book. If only I could stop pressing delete. Chris has threatened to stop it from working. Haha.
I have always loved creative writing since I was in first school and would very much like to meet my teacher, Miss Sayers, to say thank you for all the encouragement she gave me then.
When not writing, I love reading, cats, Disney, singing (I can't sing but this doesn't stop me,) and falling into a good TV show or film. If I could step into any fictional world, it would be amongst the characters in ABC's Once Upon a Time.
I love reading many genres and discovering new authors.

Novel Kicks Writing Room: Plotting and Timelines

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