Wrestling with a new idea for a novel

Here's how I'm engaging the hunt for story...

Recently I began planning a sequel to my novel Bound by Charcoal and Clay. I sat down to work through Blueprint for a Book by Jennie Nash, and… got stuck.

I didn’t really know what the protagonist wanted, why it matters to her, and what’s standing in her way. When I tried to figure out where the story will start, what needs to happen and why, I came up blank. The ideas just wouldn’t come.

It’s frustrating, but I’ve been here before, and I’ve gotten through it before.

Six years ago, Bound by Charcoal and Clay was an amorphous idea that I had trouble pinning down. There was so much I didn’t know about it that it was difficult to get anywhere with writing or planning. I wanted to give up many times because I couldn’t figure it out. But I kept going because I knew the basic transformation I wanted my protagonist to go through and I believed in the potential of that story to be meaningful.

The beginning of the book writing process is difficult for me as a writer because making stuff up doesn’t come easily for me. But I know if I persevere and figure out enough of the story essentials, then I’ll be able to start extrapolating from that. It will get easier the more details I nail down. At some point, I will have enough pieces of the story that I’ll be able to write and see it all come together in my mind.

But first I need to get through this phase where I just have some vague ideas that don’t make a story yet.

Here’s what I knew about this sequel story when I began:

• Who the protagonist is

• The situation the protagonist is in at the beginning

• Where I want the protagonist to be at the end of the story

• An idea for an external conflict

• Ideas for a few scenes

Looking at that, and where I was stuck in the Blueprint, I realized that I didn’t know the character arc.

Yes, I had a change planned, but in its current state it was just a change in the protagonist’s external situation. Something that happened to her. I didn’t know what the protagonist has to overcome internally to earn the ending I want for her. And I couldn’t plan any more of the story without this piece, because everything depends on it. Otherwise, the story would be a string of events with no reason for the reader to care.

Because coming up with ideas is difficult for me, I looked to books about writing to help prompt my brainstorming.

First, I re-read the beginning of Story Genius by Lisa Cron. This book is very similar to Blueprint for a Book but it presents the prompts to plan a book differently, so I hoped it would help me figure out this new story. However, I still felt stuck. I could not come up with what the protagonist wanted, internally or externally, and why.

So I switched gears and pulled out The Emotional Wound Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglist. I searched for the answer to the question: what internal struggle does my protagonist have that needs to be resolved and where did it come from?

After reading the beginning sections and a few specific emotional wounds, I had a breakthrough. While my protagonist successfully conquered her inner demons in the first book, she went through a traumatic experience to learn those lessons, which has now resulted in a new wound for her to heal from. She has new flaws, lies, and unmet needs based on those experiences that I can force her to confront in a second book.

Armed with this discovery, I was able to return to Story Genius and continue writing notes based on those prompts. And I will definitely return to Blueprint for a Book and other books like Creating Character Arcs by K.M. Weiland to help me continue to find the story.

I’ve got a lot of work to do before I’m ready to begin writing the first draft, but I’m feeling hopeful that this idea could become a story worth telling. However, I’m holding it loosely. If I can’t figure out how to tell this story, I’ll put it aside and work on something else.

What is it like for you when beginning a new book project? Do you use these or other tools or books to help you plan? Share in the comments!

---

Thank you for reading! If you’re new here, I’m Katelin Cummins, a Catholic writer, book coach, gamer, and fantasy fan. If you would like to know more about what I write, check out this post. If you want help planning, writing, or revising your novel or nonfiction book, check out my services on my website.