Checklists for Novels - Part 1 of 3 - Plot and Structure

Happy Monday, good people of the blogosphere! I hope you all had a great weekend and are looking forward to the week ahead. On an awesome note, I managed to land exhibitor space at UtopYAcon 2014 and will be sharing a table with a writer I greatly admire, Ms. Tia Silverthorne Bach. I'll pass on more news to you about this awesomeness as it becomes available. For the next few days, I'm giving you all checklists you can run down and tick items off of that'll help you with the construction of your novel. I'm creating images out of the lists so you can save them and print them out. Today will be plot and structure. No pens and notebooks needed; just bring your printer and mouse. **NOTE** You may save and print these as you wish!** Let's get going!

Plot:

• Critical Elements - Do you know what they are?
• Strong Lead - Is your protagonist deeply layered?
• LOTE - Do you have the following: Lead, Objective, Trouble, and Enticing Ending?
• Identification - Can readers identify with your protagonist in one of these ways: Sympathy, Likeability, Inner-Conflict, or Power?
• Objective - Is it strong and will people care? Ask yourself, "So what?" It must be something the protagonist must have to live a happy life.
• Ending - Does it make your reader feel satisfied that all loose ends were tied up?

Structure (3 Act):

• Beginning - Does it introduce your protagonist and the world they live in? Have you had the reader shake hands with the antagonist? Is the threat eminent? Has your character passed through the doorway of no return?
• Middle - Have you deepened the relationships and character of the protagonist? What will the antagonist do to make life more complicated? This is where the action happens. Do battles rage? Have you set everything up for the final bang? Is there a revelation?
• End - Have you wrapped everything up? Was the final battle full of enough tension? Do readers believe the ending could've happened?

Tomorrow's checklists will go into elements of the plot and structure.

Make sure you come on back for that!

Do you use any kind of checklists once your novel is done?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo