Greetings one and all!

Just thought I'd devote today's blog post to giving some insight into how I've gone about doing, or sort-of doing, shall we say, the less flashy side of writing: planning.

Now, as far as I'm concerned, there's no one right way to do this, though actually doing the planning itself in the first place is probably a bit of a must. That being said, the 'planning' that occurred for both of the Phoenix Saga books was rather haphazard, to say the least.

​If you're like me and struggle to note things down in a chronological fashion, then scribbling random scenes hastily in a notepad on the train to work is the one for you! My brain can be weird like that.

Ahhh, but I seem some of the more meticulous fiends amongst your ranks, who scoff at my feeble attempts. Perhaps I may yet sway you. Recently, for one of my prospective books, I've attempted *drumroll please* more traditional planning. That is to say, I've just grabbed a handful of little flashcards and planned each scene, as concisely as possible, one after the other. Its been a refreshing experience.

I've actually planned an entire book that way. I know! I hardly believe it either. But for which book you ask? Well, now that's a secret I'll have to keep to myself for now. Though, I can reveal that I'm almost a hundred pages into it, so I'm making steady progress!

Though I wouldn't say that it was absolutely necessary, personally, I find map-drawing quite helpful in terms of picturing how the story will go from A to B. I think that there's an actual technique that relates to this in terms of story-writing, though its name is currently eluding me. I know it has something to do with forests and drawing lines...

​If it twigs with anyone, be sure to let me know in the comments!