The One Time When Failure to Plan ≠ Planning to Fail

Waaaay back when we were working on Book 1 of the Ghost Series, we decreed that an event occurred. Which is what this whole plotting and outlining thing is about, so why pat ourselves on the back now, months later? In this particular case (and probably many others, if we’re honest) we decided what was going to happen, when it was going to happen, and who it was going to happen to. We knew the Who, What, When, and even the Why. Notice anything missing? The Where. At the time it didn’t seem important to specify, and if we’d gone ahead and written Book 1 before thoroughly outlining the rest of the series, we would certainly have set the scene someplace. Perhaps even someplace interesting in its own right. What we probably wouldn’t have done was set it where we’ve now decided is the only place that really makes sense. All we have to do is make a note of this in the Book 1 outline and — BLAMMO — Synergy!

Planning the entire series before we start writing has led to several opportunities like this, and we love it. Any chance to make the pieces mesh more intricately results in a richer final product.

At some point we will actually have to start writing the books, but for now we’re a couple of watchmakers fiddling with all the cogs and springs and itty bitty gears. It may sound like a lot of work, but it will save us a ton of time on rewrites later.

A writing partner is someone who makes sure you don’t end up with any loose parts leftover once you’ve constructed your masterpiece.