# Novel planning template

From "How to write a novel: the decisions only a novel asks of you" by the
Feldar team:
https://feldar.com/guides/how-to-write-a-novel

Free to use, copy and change. Make the form decisions first, plan the parts
before the chapters, track your subplots across the book, and use the
revision passes as a checklist when the draft is done.


## 1. The form

Target length (words):
Genre:
Main question the book asks:
Point of view (whose; first person, close third, several narrators,
omniscient):
Tense (past or present):
Viewpoint rule (for example: one viewpoint per scene, changes only at
chapter breaks):


## 2. Parts

Three or four movements. Each ends on a change the reader can feel.

Part 1, chapters    to   . Ends when:
Part 2, chapters    to   . Ends when:
Part 3, chapters    to   . Ends when:
Part 4, chapters    to   . Ends when:

The middle turn (what the main character believes before, and after):


## 3. Chapters

Chapter | Part | What happens | Viewpoint | How it ends (question, decision, reveal)
1       |      |              |           |
2       |      |              |           |
3       |      |              |           |


## 4. Subplots

Each subplot should mirror the main plot, complicate it or pay off in it.

Subplot | Its want | Job (mirror, complicate, pay off) | Starts in chapter | Crosses the main plot in | Resolves in
        |          |                                   |                   |                          |
        |          |                                   |                   |                          |
        |          |                                   |                   |                          |


## 5. Pacing map

Mark each chapter: A (action), R (aftermath and reaction), S (summary
across time). Look for long runs of one letter.

Chapters 1 to 10:
Chapters 11 to 20:
Chapters 21 to 30:
Chapters 31 to 40:


## 6. Revision passes

[ ] 1. Reverse outline: one line per scene, with chapter and length
[ ] 2. Spine: do the big turns land, and does the middle turn?
[ ] 3. Threads: read each subplot alone; pay off, merge or cut
[ ] 4. Characters: follow each arc alone; every change comes from a choice
[ ] 5. Continuity: timeline, ages, seasons, names, who knows what by when
[ ] 6. Viewpoint and tense: no slips
[ ] 7. Chapter endings: read every last paragraph in a row; each should pull
[ ] 8. Lines: repetition, dialogue, rhythm; read it out loud
[ ] Readers: two or three who read the genre; fix what more than one noticed