Plot Hooks

Today is the last day to finalize your plot hooks, those litle "what if this happened" ideas that you've got going around, or scene snippets you want to have happen, just so you can see them take shape. Heck, your plot hooks probably have a few dares thrown in for good measure. Somewhere in your notebook, there is a list of plot hooks that you've been working on during these 30 days.

You may or may not have an outline of your actual whole-novel plot yet. If you do, read through your list of plot hooks and your outline, and match the hooks to wherever they might fit into the story. Next month, when you get to that part of your story, you’ll decide if you need to throw the plot hook or device into the story, or if it’s superfluous.

Exercise:

If you don't have an outline, look at your plot hooks and see if you can group them together ("well, these all have something to do with goats...."). If you can, cluster them together and talk about the most interesting cluster when you start the novel on Monday. You may end up changing that beginning, but if those are the plot hooks that interest you the most, then those plot hooks are your plot. Surprise!