Places You Should Add To Your Little Town/city In Your Fantasy World!!

How to write a novel using Notion

Hello, hello! Hope you're doing well.

Today I'm bringing you a step-by-step tutorial on how to get your novel done with this free notion template I've created.

So, first of all, imagine you have a bright idea. That's the first step.

Have a Bright Idea

There are many plot generators available out there for you to explore new ideas.

For this post, I'll be using RanGen.

Now that I've generated a couple of ideas, I will write them down in the section "inspo & ideas", to, later on, pick the one that suits me the best.

After picking an idea, it's time to start developing it.

Brainstorm

On Notion, go to the section "my novels" and create a new one.

Go to the menu, inside the novel tab, and open "brainstorm". Now, you'll write small phrases and topics about your main idea. After you've done that, you'll brainstorm some possible titles, character names, and plot twists. Also, I've included a place for you to add images to create some sort of inspiration board - this will be helpful to keep you inspired and to visualize the type of vibe of your novel.

Here are my results so far:

Good, let's head out to the plot!

Plot

The plot page is divided into 10 questions, which will help you understand better how your story will develop. This method is called The Snowflake Method and was created by Randy Ingermanson. It consists in writing down a sentence that describes your main idea and slowly developing it until you have almost every detail to start writing the first draft.

Note: I didn't fill out everything in this questionnaire, since I am doing this as an example for the tutorial.

After finishing the Snowflake Method, you'll have almost every character developed, as well as the main scenes of the story. If you need to add something else, feel free to go to the section "characters" to create another character, "scenes" if you want to create a full outline of your book, or "world building" if you need to add places that will take huge importance in the plot.

When you feel satisfied, it's time to start writing your first draft, based on the "scenes" database.



That's everything for today!

Thanks for reading, I hope this was helpful or inspiring!

Get your free Notion template here!

Note:

If you're using my template to develop your story and feel like sharing it, feel free to tag me on your post or use the tag #AuthorsCornerTemplate so that I can see <3

The Stanford prison experiment tapes were so stupid when I watched them in AP psych and so stupid when I watch this film about them. Literally they could’ve all sat and played cards and got $15 a day to tell ghost stories all day and be best friends. But masculinity and whiteness and power created this violent irrationality that positioned young ass men to be met with brutality and trauma and disrespect even when it was obviously taken too far. and it makes no sense. If someone put me in a room with Black girls and said I would get paid $90 a day (that’s the equivalent apparently) to be a prison guard, do you know how fast I’d be sitting with them and learning about them and exchanging Instagrams and like.. sleeping.. like what the fuck was the point of any of that…

based ONLY on primary colours. no colours outside the 2nd part of the colour wheel.

@pscentral​ event 19: music

GUTS by Olivia Rodrigo + favorite lyrics

☀︎ WELCOME TO LATINE CREATORS! ☀︎

we’re a network blog and discord server made to support latine creators — inspired by @creatorsofcolornet​ — and we want to create a safe and welcoming environment for all latine creators on tumblr. we also host monthly events for our members. event information can be found here.

☀︎ our only requirement to join is that you’re latine. ☀︎ latines who aren’t creators are welcome to join the blog, just be aware that the network is geared toward content creators.

how to join: ☀︎ follow marcy @fleetwoodsmac​ + valentina @dani-clayton + the network  ☀︎ reblog this post ☀︎ enter the discord server!

we’re open for affiliates! if you’re part of a network, source blog, etc. and interested in being affiliates, please apply here.

(Some) Of Fantasy’s Many Subgenres

(science fiction version)

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, It’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, And that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.” -Dr. Seuss

Shows & Films depicted (from top to bottom): Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part One, Pan’s Labyrinth, Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Ring, Beauty & The Beast, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Game Of Thrones, American Gods, Supernatural, Wings Of Desire, Guardians Of The Galaxy.

hello would you guys mind reblogging this and telling me where you're from and if you/your family put winter tires on your car in the winter

andi/emilia + kisses 

How to Plot A Complex Novel in One Day

Now first, I have to say, that the plot you’re able to come up with in one day is not going to be without its flaws, but coming up with it all at once, the entire story unfolds right in front of you and makes you want to keep going with it. So, where to begin? 

What is your premise and basic plot? Pick your plot. I recommend just pulling one from this list. No plots are “original” so making yours interesting and complicated will easily distract from that fact, that and interesting characters. Characters will be something for you to work on another day, because this is plotting day. You’ll want the main plot to be fairly straight forward, because a confusing main plot will doom you if you want subplots. 

Decide who the characters will be. They don’t have to have names at this point. You don’t even need to know who they are other than why they have to be in the story. The more characters there are the more complicated the plot will be. If you intend to have more than one subplot, then you’ll want more characters. Multiple interconnected subplots will give the illusion that the story is very complicated and will give the reader a lot of different things to look at at all times. It also gives you the chance to develop many side characters. The plot I worked out yesterday had 13 characters, all were necessary. Decide their “roles” don’t bother with much else. This seems shallow, but this is plot. Plot is shallow. 

Now, decide what drives each character. Why specifically are they in this story? You can make this up. You don’t even know these characters yet. Just so long as everyone has their own motivations, you’re in the clear. 

What aren’t these characters giving away right off the bat? Give them a secret! It doesn’t have to be something that they are actively lying about or trying to hide, just find something that perhaps ties them into the plot or subplot. This is a moment to dig into subplot. This does not need to be at all connected to their drive to be present in the story.  Decide who is in love with who, what did this person do in the 70’s that’s coming back to bite them today, and what continues to haunt what-his-face to this very day. This is where you start to see the characters take shape. Don’t worry much about who they are or what they look like, just focus on what they’re doing to the story. 

What is going to change these characters? Now this will take some thinking. Everyone wants at least a few of the characters to come out changed by the end of the story, so think, how will they be different as a result of the plot/subplot? It might not be plot that changes them, but if you have a lot of characters, a few changes that are worked into the bones of the plot might help you.

Now list out the major events of the novel with subplot in chronological order. This will be your timeline. Especially list the historical things that you want to exist in backstory. List everything you can think of. Think about where the story is going. At this point, you likely haven’t focused too much on the main plot, yeah, it’s there, but now really focus on the rising actions, how this main plot builds its conflict, then the climactic moment. Make sure you get all of that in there. This might take a few hours. 

Decide where to start writing. This part will take a LOT of thinking. It’s hard! But now that you’ve got the timeline, pick an interesting point to begin at. Something with action. Something relevant. Preferably not at the beginning of your timeline - you want to have huge reveals later on where these important things that happened prior are exposed. This is the point where you think about what information should come out when. This will be a revision of your last list, except instead of being chronological, it exists to build tension. 

Once you’ve gotten the second list done, you’ve got a plot. Does it need work? Probably. But with that said, at this point you probably have no idea who half your characters are. Save that for tomorrow, that too will be a lot of work. 

After you’ve plotted the loose structure of your novel from this, see my next post to work on character! 

17. The Star.