Efficient Novelist - book images

Following the successful launch of the Efficient Novelist programme at Swanwick Summer Writers' School, there were requests for some extra clarity on a few of the images used in the book.
I'm happy to provide these images on this page.
Further details on the book (and programme) can be found on the page < HERE >
A complete online course, supported by video guidance and downloads, will be available soon at:
https://writersupportschool.teachable.com/p/the-efficient-novelist/
This is the central core of the Efficient Novelist programme - the production timeline.
If you have the book, the descriptions will explain the spreadsheet.

(Use right-click and "Save As..." to save the full screenshot to your computer)
This is my "Character Connections" chart.
It shows some of the potential connections to my main character, and helps when I'm filling out my cast of characters.

(Use right-click and "Save As..." to save the full screenshot to your computer)
This is my first A3 paper "idea sheet". It's like a very rough mind map. Ideas about characters, situations, plot elements, all go on here. I might use them, I might not.
But it's a way of getting the ideas out of my head and onto paper.
This is a 'beat sheet'. It's the principle beats from Blake Snyder's "Save The Cat" book, into which I develop the ideas from the Snowflake 5 paragraphs into 15 specific beats.
With this, we're starting to develop the story structure in some details.
This is a screenshot from PLOTTR, a piece of software I use for creating the individual scenes which comprise my stories.
For details on exactly how I use this software, please see my book or the upcoming course at:
writersupportschool.teachable.com/p/the-efficient-novelist/
If you're interested in trying / buying Plottr for yourself, here's a handy (affiliate!) link:
https://plottr.com/?ref=71
And now this is a screenshot from the formatting software we use: VELLUM
It takes in a MS Word .docx file, and creates ebook and print book files using some flexible templates already provided.
The downsides is that it's quite expensive ($300 at the time of writing for both ebook and print book version), and currently it's Mac-only.
But it's great for us.
This is my version of a Save The Cat template for Plottr.
© Copyright Gerald Hornsby, 2024