I personally love the linked short stories approach, as a reader. I suspect that they may be more difficult to publish...perhaps an agent could comment.

For a first novel, you might consider either storyboarding, or using something like 'Newnovelist'. It's a cheap program that helps a lot with specifics such as length of sections, plotting etc.

Storyboarding is good for those who like to plan thoroughly. I use it for writing screenplays, but haven't dared yet for a novel. Knowing everything that will happen could spoil it for me and put me off!

There's something very motivating about wanting to find out how the story unfolds.

Prospero
I missed this too, so I'm late with my comment. Very interested in this because with my first attempt at a novel, I had no idea that you were meant to plot it out. So with a blank page in front of me, I pretended each chapter was a short story, with a beginning a middle and an end. More of a serial, exciting hook in the beginning, what happened and then the cliffhanger at the end.Not the same as your idea, just another way of breaking it into smaller blocks. Good luck.
Kat

If you’re looking for software, I think Writer’s Café has more visual appeal than NN. It appears as a corkboard and you can pin colour-coded cards to it. Great fun... got no writing done!

Dee

Actually Kat, not a million miles from my idea, only I am not taking a serial approach as you did but rather diving in on any bits that catch my attention. I am surprised already by what it is throwing off.

Thanks for sharing

Best regards

John

Hi Dee

More info please. Where can I find Writer's Cafe and how much does it cost?

Thanks for the tip and for sharing

John

http://writerscafe.co.uk

Costs about £30, if I remember rightly. There’s a lot of stuff I don’t use, but the Storylines board is worth the money on its own.

Dee

Hi Dee

Thanks for that info. I shall have to raid the piggy-bank, again!

Best

John

Got to tell you Guys. I have started producing chapters and the stuff is really flowing! Keepin to small manageable lumps like this is really working.

Thanks again for all the help and encouragement.

Best

John

Hi Maria

Thanks for the comments and the suggestions. Basically I am trying to write a novel in installments and at the moment I have written two uncompleted sections from somewhere around the middle. th ewriting is going really well as I don't feel I am facing the insurmountable obstacle of endless miles of blank paper. I am just having fun. In many ways I think I am a minimalist, fascinated by the idea of how much you can get the reader to invent if you just give the appropriate clues.

My pin-head story 'Burberry Boxers' was inspired by this kind of thinking.

Best wishes

John

John,

Sounds like you are well on the road since your original post. Thought I;d add my newbie member experience...

I recently "completed" a children's novel and I am currently facing the task of doing yet another draft of it. I abandoned several novel projects on the way to this one because I kept tinkering and trying to perfect my text so much that I got bored and never finished them.

In truth, with hindsight, the ideas were probably not fully developed and didn't have strong enough narrative hooks/character motivations, but either way I got to the "end" of my novel by just writing as fast as I could until I got to the end scene that I'd pictured in my head, writing it scene by scene and sometimes skipping over a problem when I came to it, to just get to the next scene. Phew!

It worked for me. The only problem is, going back to edit is a big task because I found quite a few structural/story problems with my text - but at least I had the satisfaction and confidence that I'd actually got to the end, once.

So, in summary: Have an end scene in your mind and write as fast as you can to get to it.

Phil.

Installments definitely worked for me, but I had no grand plan. I started scribbling on A4 as though I was writing a novel at a very top level. I suppose that was the grand plan, but there was no plot, just location, characters and incidents. After 14 sides, I grew bored and tired, and played about until a plot came out. Then it was full steam ahead over the next three months to write it up, still very top level. Four years later, and I finished. I think you've cracked it. The insurmountable obstacle of endless miles of blank paper is a nightmare. Just having fun is the only way. Good luck.

Yes, writing the first draft very fast and furiously works for me. I do plan a bit first, mainly in having an idea of where I want my characters to end (emotionally, spiritually or physically), and then writing my way towards that without looking over my shoulder. Once I can put my hand on a pile of notebooks and say 'This is the novel, it just needs a bit more work,' I find it much easier to face doing a full revision.

Emma

Great stuff Guys! I had to drop the latest chapter at a really (to me at least) interesting bit. I think I can feel a plot development coming on... Steady, lad, steady. And I can't wait to get on to another bit that is backed up from the tips of my fingers to my wrists just waiting to get out into the Word Processor. (I tried long-hand, but my handwriting is so bad it suggests I should have been a Doctor )

Best

John

I'm a great believer in stopping a writing session mid-sentence, or at least mid-episode. You itch to get back to it, and when you do, by the time you've finished the paragraph, you're well into it again.

Good luck with it, John

Emma

Thanks Emma. I really appreciate a busy person like yourself taking the time to encourage me. I have got so much from this post.

Best

John