I had a loose idea of a story that I wanted to write. It involves witches, ye old times and maybe the undead but I didn’t really know where I was going with it and how to get there. So instead of doing my old and tried true method just doing a rough outline with points and ideas added to it as I go or just winging it, I decided to find a novel template (something I hadn’t bothered to do before) and see where it takes me.
I found Derek Murphy’s ‘The One-Page Novel Plot Outline‘ and was like, this looks put together, so I printed it out and started to fiddle with my story. With brainstorming with the ideas I had and intending to set up the inciting incident, I somehow ended up with a 6000-word first chapter that maybe is its own contained story with leads to a sequel. I’m not tossing out what I wrote because I like it and maybe that’s how I’ll set my book up. Long chapters that contain mini-stories that push towards an overall story, why not?
I’m working on chapter two and brainstorming ideas that will lead to connections to later on for foreshadowing or something. Who knows what I’ll think up of.
Stephanie Haggarty 