Before You Begin to Write

When it comes down to it, there are two different types of writers: plotters and pantsers. A pure plotter needs to have everything outlined, detailed, and otherwise ready to go. A pure pantser, on the other hand, goes by the seat of their pants: They want to totally improvise their book, with no real plot outlined, looking to find the plot as they go; they want to find things out as they go, hoping to be surprised as they go.

You'll note that I used the word "pure"; no writer is truly pure here. Even the most fanatical plotter likes to improvise here and there as they find that their outline doesn't work or they find something needs to be developed further than they had planned; the writer decides that the book needs those deviations from the plan in order to work. Conversely, most pantsers have a general idea where the plot is going and will create a vague outline of what needs to happen.

What I'm suggesting here is sort of a compromise. The best improvisation has something to improvise from; that is, you can't really improvise unless you have the right tools; you can't improvise a piano riff if you can't play a piano. As a writer, you need to know what's going on in the world you are writing about if you are planning to do any kind of improvisation. Knowing even general details about your world allows you to really have fun with your world.

Also, the more you know about a world before you start writing, the less likely you are suffer to from writer's block: One cause of writer's block is not having an idea what you are doing, and having all of the information on the world available to you helps eliminate that problem; by looking at your notes, you 'll find that you should always have an idea where you're going. Better yet, if you find out that you are having a problem with your notes, you can always change the notes; your notes should help you write, not impede you.

Thus, for plotters, all of these notes provide you with a way to keep organized. You will always have a way to keep organized and always have an idea what you are doing. Again, if you find that something in your notes just isn't working then you can change your notes. For pantsers, your notes give you the power to improvise; you already have all of the information you need to keep the plot going, and if you hit a block you just need to look at your notes to get inspired; you'll find that your notes contain the seeds for inspiration whenever you are running low.

[It should be noted that the steps are just suggestions in terms of when you can do them. You're always building the world, for example, and sometimes you'll find that you're creating organizations just to give characters something to be in charge of. Sometimes you'll create characters first, then their section of the world, and then actually research something. So don't feel like you need to be bound by the listed order; do what feels comfortable to you. ]

Know the Plot

You should have a general idea of what the plot is. This doesn't mean that you should know every little detail; it just means that you should have at least a general idea of what is going to happen, and know how the story is going to end. At this point, all you need to know is the simplest possible version of the plot. You'll fill in the details as you go down the list, but all you need to have at this point is the so-called "logline" (a single sentence that describes the actions, such as "Nine people start on a quest to destroy a ring and get separated", "A boy and a girl from opposing families fall in love", or even "A girl transported to a magical kills a witch, finds four like-minded individuals, and they head off to kill her sister."

Have a Flavor

You need to define a genre. While most people will pick one or two, there is nothing to say that you can't combine as many as you want. However, keep in mind that the more genres you combine the harder you make it for yourself, so keep it down to the basics as much as possible. The thing to remember here is that every genre comes with certain expectations, and that the more genres you combine the more expectations fans of the genre will have.

Also, the more genres you combine the more difficult it will be to market; sure, a werewolves-in-space coming-of-age espionage story set on a planet full of dinosaurs with plenty of erotic moments sounds good on paper, but is there anyone really looking for such a story? And could you reasonably do such a story without it becoming a chaotic mishmash, and not in a good way? With that in mind, decide on a genre, or even two or three, but keep it simple to make your own life simple.

Decide on the Physics

Most people make it simple on themselves and just go with real-world physics. However, if you're doing science fiction, you need to at least debate how the weapons and spaceships work, even if the exact specifics are hand-waved. If you are using magic, then you need to decide how it works, and if it's a hard system or a soft system. Even if anime physics apply, you need to decide which parts. The sooner you decide on how your world works, the easier it will be for research, and the physics will suggest some plots by themselves (such as looking for spell recipes or hard-to-find fuels).

Do the Research

You're going to find that even if you're creating the world from whole cloth there are still going to be some areas you will need to do some research on, be it how firearms work, current concepts on warp drives, and even the life cycle of the common lamprey. You may even need to look up details on events you lived through to make sure you have all of the details right. In short, you may be trying to avoid doing research, especially if you are an expert on the subject, but that little added research may add some needed details or even plot ideas by itself.

Build the World

By now you should have more than enough to start building the world. Don't make the mistake of making a world bigger than you need with way too much detail; if all you need is a house with a yard, then build that world. Not everyone needs an actual world, and even if you do then just worry about the highlights. Even if you're building a literal universe, you do not need to worry about every last detail; just the trade routes, major worlds, and a sites of interest should be all you need to get started building; don't worry about ever completing it, but at least provide a start.

This, by the way, is why you see so many monocultures in fantasy and science fiction; it's just easier to create a world-wide culture where everyone has the same culture than even a group of ten or twenty different countries with their cultures. Thus, you see gangster-planets, Viking-planets, or even ninja-planets; it would just be too hard to detail out a planet with as many different cultures. It may seem a little lazy, but it does save a lot of work later on.

Oh, and names for geographical features can be as easy as you want them to be: It gives you a chance to take some subtle steps towards establishing the mythology and legends of the world. This means that it gives you a chance to name geological features as the locals would have named them, either after gods and villains ("Vesuvius" was named after Hercules (it translates as "Son of Zeus"), what people were thinking at the time (which explains why you see so many places named after infernal places), or their dreams (which is why you see so many "Paradises").

Or you can name them as you need them to be named; it is your world after all.

Create the Organizations

This where things start to get really weird. You will have groups; those groups need names. The army of the villain, the squad of the hero, the people paying the hero to take down the villain: All of these need some sort of identifier. Groups allow you to further define your world; it gives a valuable insight into the mindset of the people of your world. The names can be as direct (The Friends Society), inspirational (Hogan's Hawks), or as officious (The Committee For The Discovery of Ways and Means to Protect Terra) as you want.

Just keep in mind that the name of the group says a lot about those in the group, and that each group should define a specific aspect of your world and you should be fine.

Know the Politics

When groups of people get together they will always organize into some version of Us vs. Them. All of these tribes constitute the politics of your story. You can either have everyone divided into Good vs. Evil, a variety of different groups with schisms in those groups, or anywhere in between. As with geography, this just gives you a way to show the different aspects of the story, and how important a particular issue is; the more groups with different perspectives the more important the issue is. The names can also show a lot about the mentality of those involved, so have some fun there as well.

Make the Characters

By now you should have all of the information you need to flesh out your characters. Have fun!

Decide on a Release Structure

This is a little more complicated than it looks, especially in today's world. At the most basic all it means is that you need to decide on how you want the book published and when you want to release it. If you are going the traditional route, the release date will be determined by the publisher, but is contingent on writing the book first, or at least a good chunk of it. Those decisions will be made for you.

If you're going to self-publish, you need to decide if you're going to wait until you have had a chance to edit everything and take care of all of the little problems, or if you will publish a chapter at a time in order to get feedback on each chapter. Both work; it is up to you decide which one is for you: The former ensures you have a great product and actually have a product, while the latter can build buzz, get you free feedback, and create a buzz (just keep in mind that the buzz can work against you). The latter also means that you need to establish a regular release schedule, and that you keep to it.

Just figure out how you want to release the book and go for it!

Outline or Don't Outline

This is where the difference between pantsers and plotters is made. By now you should have more than enough information to improvise if you want; just don't be afraid to consult your notes every so often, either to figure what's going on or to update them. The biggest problem with pantsing is when you hit the editing stage; you have thrown so much stuff at the wall, and now you get to see what stuck. Having good notes is a good way to make sure most of it sticks and you're not having to rewrite a lot of it due to characterization issues and plot holes.

Conversely, plotters love outlines. It gives them a map that they can follow and change if they need to. It lets them prepare all of the appropriate foreshadowing, making sure that groups and characters have been introduced, and that their twists have been earned rather than appearing to be random. It allows them to see where they need to change things when they find things aren't working out, and to adapt to really cool ideas on the fly. A good outline thus becomes a great way to free yourself rather than keeping you chained to a particular train that's going off a cliff.

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So this is what you need to deal with before you even start writing. Again, feel free to mess with the order, visit each step as often as possible, and take what you need and leave the rest. It's your book, it's your rules.