If ever I saw a nasty habit in young authors these days, it’s their lack of planning, plotting, and research. Most writers will appear flustered when working; rushing away from their everyday lives to write the chapter that the world inspired in the most inconvenient of places. It’s sad to see them losing their minds when the world has provided so many wonderful tools to keep your thoughts in place while still retaining your everyday life. Everyone’s so eager to refuse a little help!

Now I know many people that don’t share my ambition of precise organization. But with writing, I feel it’s necessary in some form. Believe me; it’s taking all of my built up patience not to start writing my prologue. I have it burned into my head. But God help me if I get halfway through the book and something doesn’t make ANY logical sense. The last thing I want to do is re-read half a book, picking out certain words, and replacing them with the correct ones!

First and foremost, your characters MUST be treated as the life-blood of your novel. Planning out not only the way they physically appear, but act and think, along with their past and interests, is essential. But I think we’ll leave that incredibly complex subject for another time.

Let’s get down to the research. Oh, it’s a pain in the butt it is. But NEVER try to guess on a subject, especially if you’re writing a novel like mine, where the characters find themselves in other countries.

Here’s an example. I’ve found myself up the past few nights reviewing my knowledge of the three Celtic nations I use in my book. If there’s one thing I’ve learned for sure in my time doing so, it’s that, well, never come to the conclusion that you know everything about anything…

I have a small grasp of the foreign governments of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales already– but it’s when I began to dig deeper into the policies that when things got twisted. Unfortunately, since the three First Ministers of these countries star in my novel, I’m forced to swallow all the information I can get. The problem? The rules on Statutory Instruments in Ireland go right over my head, and Scots Law confuses me beyond reason. Let’s not even get started on the policies in Wales. I didn’t make it through most of the pages I started reading.

Fear not; planning isn’t always so dull! Along with your research comes plotting, something I’ve been eagerly doing for a few weeks now.

We’ve come full circle to those writers who try to stay within a foot of their type writer so as to never lose a great idea. Unfortunately, I’m a bit busy! So anytime an idea for a scene, character, or bit of dialogue pops up, I’ll scribble the gist of it on the nearest piece of scrap paper so as to ensure it gets entered on my notes at home. You don’t have to write an entire chapter just to ensure your new idea makes it to the book!

Some writers just can’t do it. The idea of such organization sends them running fast and heavy. I myself would die without it. I’ve got a plot sheet that gains about a page a day, a dozen or so character sheets, a time line, a fact check sheet, and an overview of what I want accomplished in each chapter. It’s all frustrating beyond words– but in the end, my book will have a stronger structure to it. For now, I’ll push through, and continue to dream of my prologue. So, young writers, get to it! Jump onto Google. You’ll be surprised to find that some of your unshakeable facts probably need some tweaking!