Red River Romance Writers

What Brand Is Your Parachute? ©
By Linda Broday

Almost every endeavor we undertake involves preparation of some sort. We had to learn to drive before we could climb behind the wheel (some of us anyway,) start out with toast before we moved on to soufflés, or learn to fly before we strap into that space shuttle (I’m still waiting on this one.) And unless a person has a death wish, they wouldn’t climb into an airplane, open the door at 5,000 feet and jump out without first doing some preliminary work.

So, it’s a little strange to dive into writing an article, short story or full-length novel totally in the dark. Who are these characters and what do they have to say? Where the heck is the story going? What is the point? Why do I need to waste time doing an outline, synopsis or anything else? I could have half the book written by then.

Good questions and each I asked myself way back when.

And, until you know the answers, you’d better put that story on hold. Although early in my career, before I was way smart enough to know better, the concept of designing a roadmap for myself seemed totally foreign.

I wondered how on earth a writer could know what their book was about when they hadn’t even written it yet. I fell into the same trap a lot of other inexperienced writers do. I tried to construct stories by blindly feeling my way and kept getting lost. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why. It wasn’t until my third full length novel that I decided I’d better ditch this Broday method and give something else a shot. My way just didn’t work out so good.

By now you probably think I measured my brain cells a thimble-full at a time. Remember, I never claimed to actually KNOW what I was doing. Seems a little unbalanced looking back that I thought I had more sense than the seasoned writers.

Since then, I’ve been around the block a few times, up on the curb, over the median, and in the ditch. And, I’ve learned just enough to be dangerous.

But, before I sat down to write books three and four, I wrote detailed synopses. At least it gave me a plan and something to refer back to should I lose my way before I reached the magical end.

I honestly don’t think I would’ve sold “Knight on the Texas Plains” to Dorchester had I not implemented some sort of plotting device.

Better, but still not good enough.

With my current book I wrote the detailed character workup, synopsis, AND an outline before I sat down to write one word. Okay, that should give me an edge I thought, brimming with confidence.

Not! I had so many plates up in the air on this one that I had a permanent crease in my scalp where they fell and broke. Simply because I forgot what all I pitched up there. Ha, the jugglers didn’t have to worry about me stealing their job.

Frustrated and almost bald, my writing came to a screeching halt. The men in white suits parked in my driveway waiting for my husband’s signal. Fortunately, help arrived when I attended a writing workshop presented by two very talented Dallas authors. They shared the “W” plotting method and laying out a story board. If you’ve never heard of it, I suggest you start searching. It’s a godsend for writers-in-training like me.

With it I can stop ducking all those plates I’ve forgotten about. It helps in not only tracking all the events and details I’ve tossed into my story, but to connect them all with hopefully seamless precision. Aha! One glance can show me what I have in each chapter and whether or not the book flows or if I have areas that need beefing up.

The idea is simple and relatively cheap. Get a piece of foam board and divide it into squares – one for each chapter you project your book to have. You’ll need packs of different colored sticky notes – one for each detail or event you want to track. Make a list of each color, what it represents and write them on the sticky notes. Then arrange them on the board in a manner that will enhance your story flow. I do the same thing with the H/H’s inner conflict and track how they’re changing throughout the story. The beauty of this is that when I sit down to begin the day’s writing, I can tell where I am and what needs to come in that chapter. It eliminates wasted time going over a million notes that seem to always get lost and wondering what comes next. I can dive right into the thick of things.

Now I shouldn’t reach the end and suddenly realize poor Aunt Jane who got run down by a muleskinner and his team of camels back in chapter three is still lying in the middle of the street. Heaven forbid!

I’ve only touched on a few of the aspects of this method and may have confused you more than I helped. I hope not.

Expert I am not. Don’t claim to be. I realize I have so much more to learn. Writing is a craft that requires hours and hours of on-the-job training. And the more I know, the more I find I have yet to discover.

My point in all this rambling is that it pays to prepare. Know where the parachute is; let someone show you the ripcord and how to pull it; listen to the piddly details like wind currents, the rate of descent, how to fall, when to pull the cord. If not, you’re going to have an "uh-oh-I-messed-up moment" when you have nothing except air between you and that plane!