Chapter 1: Planning
Let’s go back to the beginning.
Our story, personally, began around a 60 cm table in our secondary school canteen. We sat with our friends, knocking elbows and knees while we discussed, of all things, writing a book together. Six of us writing a book? Yeah, that was never going to happen.
But the moral of the story is, well, stories start from anywhere and anywhen. You may be six years old, thinking about writing a tale of a witch and her poison that kills an old man with a pan, or sixteen years old, thinking of writing a book with your friends, or sixty years old, thinking of writing a poetry anthology on your favourite flowers in the garden. Any age works, so long as you have a story to tell.
So, the first step is planning.
Ah, the joys of the beginning. They say all’s well that ends well, but the thing is you’re at the start. And at that point, there’s no ending. Or maybe you just have the ending and no beginning. Or a vague thought that became an idea. But a start is a start so…
Write it down.
Then think some more and write that down. Then think a bit more and write that down. And again, and again, and again… And now you have a jumble of ideas, an ambiguous beginning and middle and suddenly the ending is completely impossible to reach because you don’t really know what happens in the first place.
This is where we got stuck. Every time. With every book, chapter, sometimes down to just one sentence.
This is how we dealt with it.
The benefit of being a twin is that there’s two of you. And if you don’t have a twin, then you might have parents, siblings, friends, pets or a mirror to talk to. Case in point, talk it through aloud to someone and your thoughts will start aligning, like the planets in our solar system every 13.4 trillion years. In this part of the process, you will ultimately encounter a gazillion problems. Whether that’s timing, plot, character, place… Any one of these issues can prop up at any time, but again, think on it and talk it through. It can feel like it takes donkey’s years to solve one single problem of a hundred in a plan sometimes. But when the problem is solved, cue the planetary parade!
And once you have a little bit of a plan, a piece of the jigsaw…
The next step is… Put it together.
Talk about ideas that you might like but don’t fit, and then others that don’t quite fit in that place but work better later on. Then start organising them on your document labelled Draft I-LOST-COUNT under potential chapter sections. A key point to keep in mind in this process is to focus on one thing at a time. It’s easy to get lost in the excitement of your own imagination, even jumping to the end of the line daydreaming about receiving a publishing contract from one of the Big Five. But, unfortunately, you have to keep yourself grounded in reality, pen or laptop in hand.
So, focus on what we like to call the ‘Main’. This is your central storyline that shapes the whole book, and your characters can do nothing without. Its only once you have this either completed or near completion that you can start adding the funky extras, i.e., time to add the ‘Sides’. Yes, the condiments of ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard and mushy peas.
Except, who really likes mushy peas?
Basically, your sides need to be relevant to the main story, they can’t just exist because you like the idea. That’s for fanfiction. As harsh as it is, you have to be selective and know what you want your side to do. You have to make sure you plan the buildups, and all the cunning scheming exceptionally carefully and gradually combine it with the main. The gradually part is important, otherwise all and any plan will end up clunky.
The second-to-last step of this easier-to-write-than-do plan is to tie up the loose ends. With a gordian knot, not a noose. This includes all and every plot hole you can spot, otherwise you’ll find yourself halfway through writing only to stop and think ‘why did I write that in the plan?’. Then you’ll realise, unfortunately, that the ‘that’ that doesn’t work, is the ‘that’ that unlocks your ending. Speaking from experience, it’s a no-no.
Therefore, the final step is… Read the plan, edit the plan, rewrite the plan. Then re-read.
Et voila. One Main with two helpings of Sides?
Bon Appetit, your Plan-etary Parade is served.
Khadijah Awan is a pen name for twin aspiring authors Raeesah and Mariya Awan.
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