Working on Some New Ideas

I don't know about you, but I like new notebooks. There's just something pleasing about holding a book filled with empty pages, knowing that you can put anything you want in them. To be honest,  I probably have more notebooks than ideas and stories... :/

Anyway, I've been suffering from a bit of Writer's Block lately when it comes to writing more for Bela. I know how most of the book is going to continue, but right now, I'm running out of things for Bela to do before I know what I'm doing again (which is about 50 book pages in between points A and B). Though having the book in diary format makes writing it a bit easier (it makes it more plausible for Bela to share her inner thoughts and backstory), I really can't think of much else for Bela to do right now, and that's problematic because I can't just jump to point B without Bela writing a couple more entries in her journal.

So long story short, from now on, I'm going to be planning my novels before writing them.

While I'm having my Writer's Block with Bela, I've been planning a couple more novels. Not much will be revealed about them yet, but it's been a great exercise for actually planning before proceeding with my writing.

5 ideas in 5 notebooks 

(Titles not Pictured: The Emotional Journey of Delia, Schoolgirl Fantasy, and Whiteout)

So, how have I been planning? Well, I browsed a couple of websites online and found a good way to plan these ideas before actually writing them:

- First, describe the main characters. What do they look like? What do they like? What's their personality and what do they fear? Etc.

-Then, describe the minor characters. Unlike the major characters, I leave out details such as family and relationships.

-Then comes the major plot points! I don't actually write the novel here, but I do outline what happens in every chapter (like in Beatrice and Beau) or week (like in When the World is our Oyster) or however I'll be splitting the novel up (I will use roughly the same technical outline no matter what though).

And after that? Hmmm... maybe I'll begin writing the novel, maybe I'll do another step of planning. I've only gotten as far as the third bulletin in any of my ideas, so I actually don't know. Hopefully I won't get Writer's Block just from planning. :)

So that's how I'm going to plan my novels from now on. I will get back to working on Bela, but I just need to think of how to proceed first.

Wish me luck! :D