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The writer who is anxious
to start writing should follow
a mini-plan.
As soon as an idea starts to jell in my head, I want to start
writing. I’m impatient. I’ve got a lot of ideas at various
stages, and sometimes I just want to go, Kerouac style.
So I’ve developed a mini plan of action that lets me
write some, and also gets to the next stage of my preplan-
ning. If you’re one of the impatient ones, maybe these
steps will work for you.
1. Write a logline—that’s a one-line concept-sum-
mary of your idea. Work this until it juices you.
Don’t settle for plain vanilla.
An insurance salesman and a hot, upper
crust woman plot to murder her husband,
for double the insurance payout.
2. Expand the logline into “back cover” copy.
Slick insurance man Walter Neff thinks
he’s got the world on a string. And then he
meets Phyllis Dietrichson, the hot young
wife of one of his clients. Maybe it’s that
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anklet she wears. Or maybe it’s the smell
of honeysuckle in the air.
Whatever it is, it’s murder.
Driven by lust and greed, Walter helps
Phyllis plan the murder of her husband.
Walter knows how to make it look like an
accident so Phyllis can collect under the
double indemnity clause.
There’s one problem, and his name is
Barton Keyes. A legendary insurance in-
vestigator, he can sniff out a fraud from
miles away. Walter knows everything has
to be perfect. And so it seems.
Until that night on the train …
Your cover copy doesn’t have to be perfect. But
it does have to excite you enough to keep going.
3. Write the opening disturbance. You know
enough about your characters to do this. Get
a visual in your mind. Cast the characters. You
can use any actor, living or dead. For Walter, you
might imagine, oh, say, Fred MacMurray. Or
Mickey Rooney. For Phyllis, maybe you’ll think
of Barbara Stanwyck or Kate Winslet.
Now write an opening chapter according to
the guidelines in “Speed is the essence of the
opening.” on page 119.
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4. Write the next scene. Make more trouble, or give
the reaction of the characters to what just hap-
pened.
5. Brainstorm. First, make a list of twenty things that
could happen next. Fast. Don’t think too much.
Next, brainstorm about your Lead charac-
ter. Deepen her. Give her inner struggles and
confl icts. Do a voice journal for her.
Plan three more scenes.
6. Write those scenes.
Now take a week just to play with what you’ve done, re-
write things, try a different POV, outline. Play.
Your novel will be growing naturally. And you’ve
hardly broken a sweat.
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