Layer Your Novel: The Innovative Method for Plotting Your Scenes

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!

C. S. Lakin is an award-winning author of more than thirty books, fiction and nonfiction, writing instructor, and professional copyeditor who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Lakin's award-winning blog for writers, Live Write Thrive, provides deep writing instruction and posts on industry trends. 

Her site CritiqueMyManuscript.com features her critique services. She teaches workshops and critiques at writing conferences and workshops around the country.

Her seven-book fantasy series, The Gates of Heaven, is available in print and ebook, allegorical fairy tales drawing from classic tales we all read in our childhood.

She also has an award-winning historical Western romance series under the pen name Charlene Whitman.

In addition to the novels she's written, Lakin also publishes writing craft books in the series The Writer's Toolbox, which help novelists learn how to write great books. Get your free ebook--Strategic Planning for Writers in 4 Easy Steps--at her blog livewritethrive.