1

www.novelsuite.com


Your Story

Congratulations on writing a novel!

Whether you are a seasoned writer or just starting,
the strategies in this guide will assist you in
getting more from your story.

Even if you have already completed your first
draft, this resource is beneficial for supporting
concepts and monitoring your story as it unfolds.

At Novel Suite, we’re passionate about storytelling,
and continually develop ways to assist you on your
writing journey.


Find your Story

Everyone has a story within, just waiting to be
told.

Some come from personal experience, some from a
long-standing idea or passion, and others from the
creative depths of our imaginations.

How often have you thought, “If only I had the time
I could write my novel”? Or how many times have
you sat down with your notepad, or at your
computer and stared at the blank screen thinking,

2
www.novelsuite.com



”I know where I want the story to go, but how does

it begin?”

That’s where effective planning comes in. Allowing
all of our ideas to be tested and sequenced is what
gives structure to the story.

Once you transform the insights into the physical
existence of words, is when you can begin to make
sense of them.

Finding your story must start with a plan. Planning
reveals the theme, plot, characters, and the order
of events.

At this stage, consider the main character and the
personal journey they are going to undertake.
A Novel Board (or palm cards, sticky notes, or
whatever works for you) is useful for breaking the
story into chapters and scenes.

3
www.novelsuite.com



Ideas for a section can be outlined and placed in

order and as the story unfolds, you can rearrange
the sequence as you wish. Keep note of settings,
events, and characters as well. They can always be
changed or discarded as the story unfolds.

Anyone who has written a book without planning
will understand how much of their work ends up in
the trash. While reworking is inevitable in the long
journey of novel writing, the planning process can
control the extent of it.

It’s not only beginner writers who make this
mistake, but it also happens to people who have
been writing for years. An author can have all the
skill and talent in the world, but if they don’t apply

4
www.novelsuite.com



the correct foundations, the story may digress and

take much longer to complete.

Plans remain open to change throughout the story,
but they are an excellent reference point to ensure
you are constructing a clear path.

Plotting on a Novel Board will help you to achieve
a sense of the overall story without wasting time
on sprawling scripts. It also draws attention to
potential plot holes, inconsistencies, and other
errors.

The same goes for planning a novel. The plans
themselves will change and must remain
reasonably fluid throughout the drafting process,
but the planning of the story is what gives it
direction and clarity.

5
www.novelsuite.com



Exercise 1 Starting Your Novel

Starting a novel can be the most daunting part of
the process, but by breaking it down into smaller
sections, it becomes much more manageable.

If you are in the very early stages and would like
some prompting, start here:

1. Click here to create your Novel Suite account.

2. Navigate to ‘Writing Templates’

6
www.novelsuite.com



3. Select the ‘Starting Out’ form.

4. Use the prompts to complete the form and create
the basis of your story.

7
www.novelsuite.com



5. Save this template for reference as your story

idea grows, and then move on to ‘Structure’.




If you feel you have a handle on your overall
plotline, then go straight to ‘Structure’:

1. Click here to create your Novel Suite account.

2. Navigate to ‘Writing Templates’

8
www.novelsuite.com



3. Select the ‘Structure’ form.

4. Fill out the information you know, and keep the
outline flexible so that changes can be
incorporated down the track.

9
www.novelsuite.com



To elaborate further on the structure, consider

using the 16 story steps as outlined below.


16 Story Steps

Having evaluated many different systems, Novel
Suite adopted 16 steps to provide the building
blocks for well-crafted stories.

We’ve taken several well-known plot diagrams and
evaluated them based on long-term trends and
discovered that these 16 story steps provide our
authors with a solid, easy to follow, and concise
map of their story.

These proven steps follow the character arc and
serve as the vessel for the main character’s
journey of growth. These guidelines have been
adapted from well-known plot models such as The
Hero’s Journey.

Vary the steps as you wish but use them as a guide
to pace the events in your story.

10
www.novelsuite.com

 16 STORY STEPS
These guidelines have been adapted from well-
known plot models such as The Hero’s Journey.
Vary the steps as you wish but use them as a guide
to pace the events and add structure to your story.

1
Setting the Scene 2
External Event
Immerse your reader in the Main Character's
current life. Identify the things that matter the
most to the MC, and the personal qualities they
are missing.

Introduce an external event that forces the

Protagonist to take action. Initially, they are
likely to reject the invitation as they prefer to
remain in their comfort zone.

Pressure Intensifies 4
Forced into Action
The external pressure on the MC intensifies,
and they understand they must act to:
a) achieve what they want.
b) hold onto what they've got.

The Protagonist is motivated to leap out of their

5
Help is Enlisted comfort zone and into bold actions that would
have been previously out of character for them.

Unforeseen
The Protagonist seeks assistance from allies. Event
They get together to devise a plan. An unforeseen event occurs as the action is
taking place, which makes the situation
significantly worse.

7
Heightened Stakes
The Main Character then devises a new
plan. A plan that is more serious as the
stakes are higher. This plan will take
considerable effort to execute.

8
Situation Worsens
Consequently, these plans also backfire,
and things go horribly wrong for the
Protagonist. They now find themselves in
an even worse situation and are beginning
to see there is no way out.
 9
Jumping Ship
Allies begin to disengage as they lose trust in
the Protagonist or are accused of betrayal by
the Protagonist.

10
Realization of Intensity 11
Recruiting the Team
The Protagonist realizes they are going to be
forced to face their most intimate fears. As a
result, they plan to do things that they wouldn't
have dreamed of doing prior to these
challenges.

The MC quickly realizes they cannot face these

challenges alone. They struggle to regain their
alliances or to recruit a new team of allies.

12

Worst Fears Going to Battle

13
Intensity heightens as the Main Character
faces their worst fears and carries out their
ultimate plan of action.

The Protagonist is almost defeated as they

14
Inner Strength attempt to win the ultimate battle. The
Antagonist is rising up, ready to take whatever
it is they hold dear.

15

As the MC faces defeat, they reach inside
themselves for the inner strength they always
knew was there. With one last attempt, they
triumph.
Ultimate
Climax
In the climax of the story, the MC finally
discovers their newfound courage and obtains
what they had set out to achieve.

16
Change and Growth
The Protagonist discovers qualities that were
previously missing inside themselves, and
they have grown stronger as a person. They
are now ready for their next adventure.

Use story steps online within Novel Suite software. Login and navigate to 'Writing
Templates', and then use the 'Structure' form.

www.novelsuite.com


Creativity and Structure

Does structure stifle creativity? Writing courses all
over the world are teaching a variety of structured
steps that enhance the character journey and
overall story arc.

The reason these structures are taught and are
used by the majority of writers is because these
structures work!

While making sense of the story is essential, you
also don’t want to inhibit your creativity. So how
do you find the balance between structure and
imagination? You make flexible plans. Once you
start drafting, your imagination will disrupt the
plans and take things on a new course. The story
will need to be tidied up, and the plans amended. It

13
www.novelsuite.com



is typical for this cycle to repeat continually

throughout the first draft.

Structure and creativity serve one another to make
the perfect pair. Without structure, your
imagination will get carried away and lose sight of
the focus of the story. Without vision, your pre-
planned tale can be dry and predictable.


Casting Characters

Character creation can be one of the most
enjoyable aspects of writing fiction.

There is so much to think about when creating a
character, so it’s important to keep track of their
qualities for the sake of consistency throughout
the book.

When drafting stories and thinking about
descriptions, don’t end at physical attributes. A
useful technique is to ask questions that will give
the characters dimension.

Generate empathy by delving deeply into character
emotions. The more the reader gets to know the
characters and understands what drives them, the
more likely they are to care for them.

14
www.novelsuite.com



Exercise 2 – Character
Descriptions

Upload character information to keep track of
details and bring your characters to life.

1. Select the Character module in Novel Suite.

2. Add a new character, filling out any relevant
information.

15
www.novelsuite.com



3. Once you have several characters uploaded, try

rearranging them (by using your mouse to ‘drag
and drop’) so that the more important
characters feature at the top of the list.

16
www.novelsuite.com



Researching Your Novel

We live in a world of accessible information, and
readers have the right to expect accurate details.

Researching facts and figures, whether they’re
historical, cultural, technical, procedural, or
anything else, used to be the bane of many writers’
existence. There’s nothing like slowing down a
writing session by having to make a trip to the
library.

Thankfully, these days information is available at
your fingertips, and it’s just a case of storing it in
an easily accessible and categorized way.


Exercise 3 – Research Files

By using the research functionality in Novel Suite,
you’re just a click away from written documents,
URLs, images and other relevant information.

17
www.novelsuite.com



1. Select Research from the menu on the left side

and then select New Topic from the dropdown
menu.

2. Select Add Research. Title the research
information and select the book to which it
relates from the dropdown list.

18
www.novelsuite.com



3. Enter information, images, URLs, and any other
research material you want to save for later
reference, and click Save Changes. To link
to a URL, make sure you select the Link button.

4. The topic now appears in the Research List. You
can apply the research to the appropriate book by
selecting the title from the dropdown list.

19
www.novelsuite.com



The Next Stage of the Planning

Process

Developing well-crafted story elements will take
your writing to the next level.

Storing records of people, places and events are
essential for consistency and accuracy. Just make
sure to keep them updated as details change and
evolve.

The next stage is to outline the details you have.
These can be as vague or as detailed as you think
necessary, as each writing journey is unique.

Most importantly each scene can be outlined and
updated wherever necessary, so you never need to
fly by the seat of your pants… unless of course, you
want to.

Exercise 4 – Scene Outlines

Scenes are the puzzle pieces that work together to
create the big picture.

When writing a first draft you are literally writing
it scene by scene, so make sure every one of them
counts!

20
www.novelsuite.com



Each scene should move the story forward and

provide value to the reader, like a mini-story
within itself.

1. Navigate to the writing templates and select
‘Scenes’.

2. Use the prompts to outline the scene and save
it to a particular book.

21
www.novelsuite.com



A Picture Speaks 1000 Words

Planning your novel takes a lot of inspiration.
Story elements are generated in your head, but
they become much more detailed and realistic in
picture form.

The use of images can bring your fictional worlds
to life providing a new dimension. Often storing
one image can save filling out an entire form full of
details, and inspire your imagination at the same
time!

Exercise 5 – Using Images

This is often an overlooked part of an author’s
planning process. But at Novel Suite we have found
that when including even one image for every key
idea, that writers report an increased sense of
inspiration and even productivity!

22
www.novelsuite.com



Images are perfect for location settings, fantasy

worlds and artefacts. Try uploading images for all
the key elements of your story.

The Novel Board

Storyboarding has become a crucial part of the
novel writing process. It allows the writer to
understand the entire novel, making the overall
story arc clearer. This stops writing from
sprawling in the wrong directions resulting in
unnecessary rewrites.

There are plenty of reasons writers need to redraft
and rewrite sections of their novels, so don’t let
ineffective storyboarding be one of them.

When using a Novel Board, you see all the most
important details at a glance, so you can arrange
and rearrange the plot without losing any
information.

23
www.novelsuite.com



Exercise 6 – Set Up Your Novel

Board

Drag and drop scenes to experiment with various
outcomes, and use the hierarchical system to drill
down from book to chapter to scene.

Arranging the main ideas on a Novel Board allows
you to see the big picture while allowing the
flexibility for changes.

Click here to watch a quick video on how to use the
Novel Board.

By simply writing a sentence or two about each
chapter you can visually review the entire story
without scrolling through hundreds of pages of
writing.

24
www.novelsuite.com



Within each section, the story can be broken down

into further parts, or scenes, allowing the writer to
flesh out ideas and experiment with storylines
before accidentally writing themselves into a
corner.

When plot holes are discovered the section can
simply be modified, moved or deleted without
interfering with the rest of the story.

Tip - you can add electronic sticky notes to
individual sections to keep track of thoughts and
ideas without interrupting the momentum of
your story development.

Good Luck!

Congratulations on taking the time to plan your
novel. Using this resource, you can keep track of
your story and produce a professionally structured
manuscript as a result.

We wish you the very best of luck in your pursuit
as a writer.

Please feel free to forward any inquiries to the
contact page on www.novelsuite.com or, send an
email to info@novelsuite.com.

Wishing you all the very best with your writing!

25
www.novelsuite.com