I'd like to talk about creating the plot of your novel. From talking with other author's I've come to find there are roughly three ways to do this.
1. By winging it, it is great if you have an idea and can't wait to write it out, it's not so good for creating nice plot twists which sound logical when you're there but weren't really expected.
2. By creating your plot in depth, before you start writing. This is the type of plotting that takes the most time, however it does tell you what's going to happen at what point in type and gives you the chance to prepare every last plot twist beforehand.
3. The last way lies in between, by creating a rough outline and some of the characters beforehand and create the details as you write.
I used to be a type 3 plotter, I knew what would happen in brief, but didn't create the whole plot in advance, however, recently I have started to appreciate type 2. I will tell you a bit about how I do this.
I use an open source Java tool called freemind. It's great for creating plots. As a
n example I have created a sample plot, don't worry, I realize it wouldn't work as a real novel, it's just meant to show how I format a plot. On the left are the plot points, easily rearranged if need be. On the right are the characters and places, arranged in subheadings like main characters. You can use whatever subheadings you like, if you were writing a mystery you could have Clues as a subheading, as an example. You could then even split them into verbal and nonverbal clues if you'd like.It also helps if you split your plot into subheadings, which are parts of the story, this can be as simple as beginning, middle and end or part I till part ???, but as intricate as splitting them into chapters.
When you've finished your plot you should not take it as gospel, if you realize something would work better if it was different, make it different.
