Building Castles in the Sand

Now that Marley’s Curse has successfully launched, I’m being asked, “So, what’s next?”

Marley’s Curse was set up to be the first of a Dickens Station trilogy. So, the simple answer is that I’ve started work on book two, The Toyshop’s Secret (working title). But what does it mean to “start work on” a novel?

Well, that depends on whether you’re a “plotter” or a “pantser.” Pantsers, as authors call them, sail by the seat of their pants. They start writing and follow where the currents of plot or character relationships lead, which is the approach I took when writing my first novel, May There Always Be Enough.

As I studied the craft of writing, I became more of a plotter. Plotters outline so they have a general idea of how the currents of the story are going to flow and to which port they are heading. The “outline” is not a detailed outline like you learned in school. It’s more of a collection of ideas, first drafts, and research that give the writer a general sense of direction, a rudder to keep the story on course, and a signpost to tell them when they’ve reached their designated port. The outline keeps the story tight and prevents your average who-done-it from expanding out of control into a tome akin to War and Peace.

I think New York Times best-selling author Shannon Hale said it best when she wrote about “shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.”