Layer Your Novel: The Innovative Method for Plotting Your Scenes

The Writer's Toolbox

by C.S. Lakin

Layer your novel to success with this innovative, simple technique!

Writing a terrific novel is a complex endeavor. And while there are hundreds of books, podcasts, and blog posts that teach aspiring authors how to structure scenes and plot out a solid story, none implement the most intuitive and effective method for success.

What is that method?

Layering.

Novels are made up of dozens of scenes, and regardless of genre, time-tested structure dictates what key scenes are needed and where. Most writers are familiar with some of those scenes: the Inciting Incident, the Midpoint, and the Climax, to name a few.

But novelists need more than a few landmarks to find their way across the tricky terrain of novel plotting.

They need a surefire method to organizing all their scenes.

In Layer Your Novel, you’ll be introduced to an innovative, intuitive method for arranging your scenes and crafting a beautifully structured story.

First, you construct the ten most important scenes as a foundation.

From there, you choose from one of three methods to craft a second layer of scenes: the action-reaction layer, the subplot layer, or the romance layer.

Once your second layer is integrated, next comes the third layer: the processing scenes that the glue your plot together.

In Layer Your Novel, you’ll learn:

What the 5 major turning points are and where they’re placed in your novel How to know exactly where to start your story and how to set up your premise What the ten key scenes are that serve as the framework for your novel What pinch points are and why you need them How to craft those essential twists and where they’re placed in your story for greatest impact Why your protagonist’s goal is the key to great storytelling How to come up with a meaningful subplot that will showcase your story’s themes How a romance novel is structured and how to plot out the romance story line How to analyze best sellers in your genre to identify and learn from the layers evident in their plots How to apply this layering method to novellas

Special bonus analyses!

In Layer Your Novel, you’ll dig into deconstructions of best-selling novels across genres to see how successful authors have their key scenes in all the right places, which gives credence to this practical layering method. In contrast, examples of best sellers are dissected to show the structural flaws due to the lack of the needed foundational framework that this layering method advocates.

Don’t guess what scenes you need in your novel. Don’t guess where your scenes go. Guessing usually leads to novel failure.

With the method you’ll learn in Layer Your Novel, you’ll guess no more.

You can write terrific novels, every time, if you layer your novel following this blueprint!

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction

221 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 15, 2017

Reviews

[C. Smith]

Nothing New

If you thought, as I did, this would be a book about setting up a solid narrative arc, then layering on an emotionally devastating character arc, and polishing your manuscript by making your theme resonate, I’m sorry to disappoint. This book is more like finding out four of KFC’s seven secret herbs and spices are salt, pepper, flour and grease. That’s only useful info if you’ve never cooked chicken before. This book is only useful if you’ve never outlined or plotted before and you’ve never heard of Michael Hauge. Google Hauge, you’ll be better off. The book uses his plot points and then suggests using them again for a subplot or romantic line. Salt. Pepper. Flour.

[Preethi Venugopala]

I am a regular reader of Lakin's blog.
I loved the techniques explained in this book. It is surprisingly close to the method I use. Still, the charts , the examples and the layering styles, makes this book a keeper.

[Erin Grey]

Unique approach to outlining

This approach makes a lot of sense and creates opportunities for rich subplots and twists. There are a lot of exercises and examples in the book (for me a bit too many, but if you struggle to grasp the theory then the examples will help). I've adopted the method for my current WIP and so far it's helping me fill out scenes and character arcs, and add those extra layers of interesting subplots.

[Jay Sprenkle]

Good for taking the next step

This isn't for the new author. It's for the newish one. You're starting to get your legs under you and want to go further. Clear and organized. Has examples if you're a learn by example person. Glad I bought it.

[Timothy Bateson]

This book made me rethink my book writing process

Lakin has produced a book that made me rethink my entire book writing process. Thanks to this book, I now have a way to help resolve problems I’ve been having with the plot of my current novel project.
I’ve been struggling with the plot for my first novel for years now, and this book came to my attention at just the right time. I was literally pulling my hair out at time as I wrestled with my subplots, and making sure they entered the story at the right time. But after reading through this book, not once, but three times, I’ve come away with new ways of looking at story structure, outside the basic three-act structure.
Lakin breaks stories into layers, and layers into key scenes according to how the layers fit in the story. The best part is that the entire process takes you from story premise to basic outline, and into layers of action-reaction and subplots that add depth to your story, and flesh out your characters in the process.
I’m glad that I picked this book up, even if it took multiple readings to wrap my head around the potential changes I can make to my writing process. I’ve actually made great progress breaking down the mess that is my current draft, and look forward to reshaping the subplots so that they actually make sense.

[J.W. Ellenhall]

I've tried getting into other writing craft books, but none of them ever made an impact on me like this one.

Most of the core info is in the first half of the book -- good news for all the impatient readers. 😉 However, I really encourage people to go through the whole thing because she packs a lot of helpful tips within her examples of dissecting plot structures of other books. After all, it's not just the technique that's helpful; knowing how to apply it to a story is more than half the battle.

I really liked that she introduces a more-fluid form of plotting that allows for flexibility to meet the needs of your specific story. I've found other plotting approaches to be far too rigid & confining, which kills my creativity. Instead, this book focuses on helping you establish the most important parts of a story and making sure you're not missing anything that you need to keep readers interested on the plot development.

Highly recommended for all plotters, pantsers, & those in-between.

[Ann Thomas]

There are lots of books that take you through the basic structure of a novel, but once you have your Inciting Incident and your major crises etc they assume you can fill in the rest yourself. This book takes you the whole way. It starts with ten key scenes to provide a solid foundation for your novel's structure, then adds another ten, and another until the whole novel is laid out and none of the key elements are forgotten. If this sounds like overkill, it's not. There is plenty of room for you to be creative. And if you're a pantser, don't dismiss it, the book lays out how pantsers can use it too, so that you have something to aim for when you're writing. I'm reading it very slowly and applying it to my latest book which is already written but has problems, so it works for that too. Probably one of the best books I have ever seen on novel structure. Highly recommended.

[Carolyn Bowen]

Writing a novel is like building a house you need a solid foundation and strong framework. If you get these right other things will fall into place with your novel construction.

C.S. Lakin does an excellent job of showing how the body of scenes pieces together with layering to fit perfectly into the completed draft. This is a good book for improving your writing style. I expect to read more of her books about crafting a novel.

Layer Your Novel: The Innovative Method for Plotting Your Scenes

[Carlie Hamilton]

Ok, so on some levels this is really obvious and straight forward. But this book also provides really practical advice on how to structure your novel with subplots and layers. I haven't seen a book like this before on this topic.

There was also lots of very helpful examples. I've read a heap of writing books and many give such boring examples of the point their making. This one was most helpful.

It's not rocket science but it was the first time I've thought consciously and purposely about how to do this and so I believe my writing will be all the better for it.

[Shelley Stanaway]

Nothing new was given about outlining that I hadn't learned in high school many years ago. I'm disappointed in the book.

Furthermore, she is arrogant. If you are not an outliner you will be insulted by her comments. At one point in the book, she said she had to force herself to finish reading books so she could present an outline for us to read. Well, that is exactly what I had to do with this book. I had hoped to learn at least one nugget of new information. I didn't.

Do I recommend this book? No.

[Elizabeth Woodiwiss]

I've read a lot of books on the writer's craft. This one does have an interesting take to building an outline that I found innovative and interesting. However, outside of the presentation of the layering concept, there wasn't anything really unique about Lakin's approach. The same basic novel structure that can be found in a dozen other books on plot structure. The most useful advice is to build a basic structure first and then layer additional levels of structure over the top to create a deeper, more interesting plot.

[Nathan]

The first half of this book taught me a lot. It was meticulously organized, and had very useful info on how to layer and structure novels.

The second half lost me. It took a more abstract approach, weaving in and out of case studies about specific books and genres. We never really got back on point, and I found myself thumbing through the final 40% without a clear, concise final summary.

I would still recommend checking this book out for some of the early ideas presented.

[Watson Davis]

This book wasn't what I thought it was going to be.

For what it is, it's fine. It shows an author how to structure their novel using 4 acts and some specific required scenes. If someone hasn't seen that approach, this book is a good place to learn it. There are a lot of other books about it, some that I consider better, some I consider worse.

She takes the extra step of "layering" in subplots, which is something I haven't seen a lot of, so there's that.

[Lydia Plum]

So relieved to have found this method! As writers' projects often run away on us, this book really helped me reset my plot and make sure everything lines up. My novel became elaborate quite quickly and I really needed the detailed structure of this method. Not only will this layering help ensure it makes sense, it also forces you to take a better look at the flow and avoid plot holes and ideas that will ultimately have dead ends.

A great book with a straight forward layering method and added guidance.

[Helen]

There's some good information here about identifying the key scenes in your novel and planning outward from there. However, I found reading the scene lists of various novels the author summarizes daunting, and I found myself skimming through those sections. Recommended if you want to learn more about story structure and utilize that in planning the plot of your novel.

[Irene Allison]

Fantastically helpful for writers wanting to learn some of the key and very powerful techniques to deepen and enrich their novels. This book together with Lakin's books, "The 12 Pillars of Novel Construction" and "Writing the Heart of Your Story" provide Master Class teachings from an author who lives and breathes "story". Recommended for those interested in studying the craft.

[Daniel]

Solid

Clear explanations and vivid examples! I’ve seen this formula in other books, so the extra value comes in the excellent examples and scene by scene discussions of several books. Must read and refer to before starting any book.

Dan Janal
Author of “Write Your Book in a Flash!”

[Phyllis A. Still]

Everything you want to know about story development and why it’s so important. Once again C.S. Lakin has poured her heart into this how-to book for writers. I read this as an eBook but quickly realized I needed the paperback. I will be referring to this work the most out of all the Writer’s Toolbox series. Thank you, C.S. Lakin, for this incredible book.

[Carolyn J.D.]

Excellent, interesting and helpful advice for writing a great book. I didn’t know this book was on my Kindle but discovered it on there while coincidentally I was thinking about writing another book. It described a method of writing that I wasn’t familiar with and which made a lot of sense. I intend to apply her method as I write my latest book.

[Cynthia]

This book was very informative on how to properly build the framework of your story and then "fill in the pieces" to flesh out a well-written novel. It helped me to tighten up my WIP and revise it to create a more engaging story.

[Dave Tindall]

This was really useful. Its given me plenty to think about when structuring my stories and I've already gone back and looked at my previous stories and am trying to work the layered approach into them.

[Gary Anderson]

Useful in planning and outlining your next novel.

[Deb Miller]

I've read several of her books on novel writing. This one good, but mostly a repeat of information I've already learned from her other books and blog.

[Karen Dustman]

A helpful way to think about writing a novel.

[Adalynd]

Liked it well enough. Good advice.

[Warren]

Excellent

This book help me put it all together. Wish I had study it first before the many others I have read.

[Shelley Chamberlin]

Great help for writers

[JYGarner]

Really Helpful

Plotting and pantsing both feel awkward to me. I’m going to try this layering technique. Just reading about the technique feels more comfortable to work with.

[Dorajane Grummer]

Excellent resource, I will buy the paperback to keep as a resource. Highly recommend

[Cassandra Lee Yieng]

I wish there were diagrams to illustrate her process. I'm not sure about other readers, but I'm less attuned to her style of writing as well.