Sometimes the best advice is the telling off you give yourself
Writing the Plot
I have found that writing the plot for a saga is different from writing the plot for a novel, at least it has more stages or layers.
With a novel I am about to publish, the initial plot was two sets of notes (one for the main plot and one for the sub plot) and these I then fleshed out before writing.
With my Saga I had to take a grander view and break it into layers.
Layer 1
This was my overall idea for all the books. Really it is not a plot at all but a description of the time and place in which the saga is set and what I would like to see change because of the influence of the story and the characters. This is probably the most set-in-stone of all my layers.
Layer 2
This layer takes layer one and breaks it into series and standalone books. This has more detail than the first layer, enough so the plot is discernable and I start introducing important characters and my list of who survives. I also map out a very broad timeline - at least when the books start and finish.
Layer 3
This layer is for the books themselves. Really, this is my synopsis for each book and is probably three of four pages long. Although not as set-in-stone as the other layers, concepts introduced here are highly likely to carry on into not just other books in the series but other books in the entire saga.
Layer 4
And now I am down to the chapter breakdowns. These I write just before I write the chapter itself and I double check all my ideas against all my notes and especially against what I have written in the previous three layers. I write this in a far more chatty style and let my imagination run away with itself and if I introduce anything at this stage which is going to echo down the line, I go and add it to the appropriate parent layer. Copying and Pasting is a wonderful tool!
Next: And Finally, writing the saga »
