So, 20,000 words into the third book in the Heiress at the Door series, I hit a wall. Part of that is probably because I was going through a divorce, didn’t believe in happily ever after and was trying to just manage my real life, forget imaginary characters. And anyway, I hadn’t sold a book yet so there was no deadline.

But time heals all wounds, and as soon as I started feeling emotions again, my fingers itched to hit the keys. Except, the book was still wrong. For one thing, the hook to the series is, you know, an heiress at the door. But the heiress in this book is never at the door. Not my fault. We came up with the hook after I’d started writing this one.

Me: Um, do you think it’s a problem that both of these books start with an heiress at the door?

Regan: No, they’re different books. I think it’s your hook.

Me: That could be cool. I could play with that.

Regan: I think you already are.

And so it went. But, no door. Also, there’s a princess in this one and I’m still dealing with some of the harsh reality of my life. Really, a princess book? Would that even work?

So I put the old file away, threw away the old plot cards completely, and was going to start over at the beach. Until…

Snarky Daughter: Why are you going to the beach in winter?

Me: To plot a book and figure out the blog and stuff that I keep ignoring here to do really fun stuff like grocery shopping, vacuuming and laundry.

SD: How do you plot a book?

Me, looking at the ceiling: Um, with index cards and colored pencils

SD: Can I watch?

Me: Sure, but you can’t stop me from banging my head against a wall. It’s part of the process.

I went to the beach, and I thought about the characters, and I did some of the basic stuff upfront. But I didn’t pull out the index cards and pencils. Snarky Daughter and I did that for an hour and a half tonight. I think I have maybe 7 cards filled out.

Now understand, here’s how I give birth to a book. I figure out how many chapters are, and I spread out blank index cards in a grid on the table. Three scenes to a chapter, so three cards per chapter. I set the grid up so there are turning points evenly spaced throughout the book.

And I start thinking of all the subplots in the story: hero’s external goal, heroine’s external goal, love story, three turning points, happily ever after… The list goes on and on (which I think was the reason the book wasn’t working last time). Then I just start writing basic stuff on the different cards. Here are the scenes I know need to happen for this subplot. I do it for each subplot. And each subplot gets a different color, so that as I start moving the cards around, I can see if I’m getting too much of one plot in one part of the book and spread it around.

When Snarky Daughter started yawning, we called it a night. I may have killed her writing aspirations, although I stressed that this is not how every writer does it. I then outlined how Regan does hers (hint: no cards or colored pencils, but I think she uses the wall).

SD: You put a lot of work in before you start writing.

Me: Yep. I need to know I have a full story before I sit down. I need to know I have a book.

SD: Why?

Me: Because editing during the process and making changes is more painful that sitting at the table now.

SD: So how long will this take?

Me: Until it’s done. I have to have half the scenes drafted on the cards before I start.

I have 7. I’d say I’m out of practice, but in explaining the process to SD, I realized I know a lot about the book, I just didn’t want to take a lot of time writing it out while I was explaining it to her.

If only I could control my real life with colored pencils and index cards. Hey, I can see the happy ending. I just don’t know how to get there. Yet.