Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

A procedure for writing a novel from Jack Woodford.

Here is a procedure for writing a novel. Ouch, that probably hurts for a lot of people. “Procedure for creating the great American novel? Where is the art?” Well, from an engineer and an organized person, some sort of procedure is comforting. Take it for what it is – a tool. If it works for you, use it. If it doesn’t work for you, forget it.

This procedure is from Jack Woodford in “Trial and Error, A Key to the Secret of Writing and Selling.”

Write a synopsis: “The actual written synopsis should run somewhere between fifteen hundred and five thousand words. In it include no dialogue; no descriptions of anything; just the roughest and barest outline of the basic, fundamental story behind the novel.”

Start to form chapters from the synopsis: “Go over your synopsis and, with a pencil, draw rough lines between sections which seem to you naturally indicate chapters”

Form chapter pages: Copy the relevant material from the synopsis to separate pieces of paper. One piece of paper for each chapter. As you copy the material, add material as it comes to mind.

At this time, you will have one piece of paper for every chapter in the novel.

Your chapter pages will contain about twice as many words as your synopsis.

The entire novel is now set in your mind.

Add to the chapter pages whenever new thoughts come to mind. The chapter pages give you a place to put ideas.

Character dossiers: “Write a dossier on them (each major character) … which catalogues all object facts about them and suggests their subjective identities”

Describe the locale: Write a description of the locale or setting of the novel.

So there you have it. And as Woodford writes, “So far you have arranged the architecture in such a way as to make it almost fool proof. Anybody can write a novel if he goes at it that way.”