If you’ve been following along with me the last few weeks you know I am currently mired in plotting my next series of books. I absolutely love this part of the process. A clean slate with nothing to tempt you, no requirements for where the series has to land, nothing to stop you on any creative level.

Except yourself.

Big Picture Mechanics = Stalling Out

Plotting is great. Planning ahead for where a story can go (not always where it WILL go) opens doors. There are benefits to this but also a number of pitfalls.

Too many possibilities – Where do you go when you don’t have any road in front of you? Without the proper foundation, in this case, character arcs, antagonist, setting, and more, you tend to float rather than run with the ball. Too many open doors during this part of the process can lead to no answers.

Not enough rules – Rules center everything. They put your story firmly in the world where they belong so you can form somewhat important aspects like structure, genre, and more into the narrative. Without rules our stories tend to flop between realms at the whim of our creativity rather than the skill of our technique.

Focus breeds answers.

I’m not talking about gulping down six cups of coffee and then hoping for the mysteries of the universe to unfold before your eyes. That only happened once as far as I know…

No, I mean focus like a laser through the big picture right to the core of the story you want to tell. Pull out aspects you WANT to be there and weigh them against decisions that NEED to be there.

Take a week with all your notes and pull them together through the different lenses. Character based. Threat based. Theme. Genre.

Take the first step.

Don’t dawdle in the planning stage. Allowing the big picture to be the only window into your new project is a surefire way to keep it as a dream instead of a reality.

Instead, use those notes – refine that focus – and take the first step toward an actual outline. Even if it is just a single sentence for each narrative beat. There is no right or wrong here.

Don’t let fear of making the wrong choice stymie what might be your best project.

Push them aside and get to work.