This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
By Anna Bell
Having finally submitted my work in progress to my editor, I now get to start on a brand new series of books. Yes, the rational person inside me says I should probably take a holiday, but the writer inside me got excited by the prospect of a blank page and couldn’t wait to dive in. Whereas I’d usually sketch a rough plan of my work and get cracking, this time, now that I’m trying to negotiate a new contract, I’ve got to plan my novel in a lot more detail.
When an author comes to the end of a book deal with their publisher, there is usually a clause which gives the existing publisher an exclusivity period to consider the author’s next work. Unlike when you’re submitting your unpublished work, this time a publisher doesn’t expect you to have written the book. Instead, they tend to request a full detailed synopsis. Given how much I hate writing synopses, I’d almost rather give them a finished book.
I usually have a rough idea of where my book is headed before I start, but I find that it really takes shape once I’m sat at the keyboard. As I’m going to have to provide the synopsis prior to starting writing, I feel as though I’m going to have to do more than my usual three act plan. Having started in the same place as I usually do, with a messy spider diagram, it’s a matter of trying to work out what to do next. 
When writing a synopsis, I find it really handy to have the main plots of each chapter listed in summary. From there I can readily see the shape the book takes. I recently did a major edit of my book using a similar chapter plan and found it really effective in seeing where my plot holes were and where more storylines were needed. I’ve decided to try to make a plan of my novel like this before sitting down to actually write it. I have worked to this type of plan once before – for my parallel universe novel, which needed to have very detailed plan for each chapter to keep events in the right order and to keep track what was happening to each girl in the different universes.
My book is also set in two different time periods, which is a first for me. This means I’ve got to do a lot more research. Not only do I have to know what was going on in those particular years, but I’ve also got to get my attention to detail right regarding technology and cultural references. I’m thinking of creating Pinterest boards to help me immerse myself – with boards – in the different times. I’ve always aspired to be a writer who makes mood boards, so maybe Pinterest will be the next best thing for me.
Once I’ve got my plans, and completed my research, I’m going to tackle my synopsis. Have I mentioned I hate synopsis writing? I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it in this column already (ahem), but the last synopsis I wrote was a lot less painful thanks to Julie Cohen’s synopsis formula. I’m hopefully going to use her formula this time around, too.
Do you authors have any tips on how to plan a novel in order to write a synopsis for a book that you haven’t yet written?