In this video, editor Elle Carter Neal talks about the book The Islands of Chaldea by Diana Wynne Jones, which was left unfinished when Jones died suddenly. Diana’s sister Ursula completed the book and it was published, but the fact that Diana left no notes or plans for the book made it an extremely challenging and controversial task. Transcript: “So you hate to plan and you’re thinking, why can’t I just write my book without any planning whatsoever? Just wing it. Here’s one reason why you might want to do some planning. “Diana Wynne Jones never planned her books. She was one of those remarkable authors who could just write from start to finish and it was usually pretty good. “But then she died in the middle of writing this book. It was incomplete. And her poor family spent months and months trying to figure out what she wanted to do with this book, how she wanted to end it. And it had a committee of many members of her family completely stumped. They had no idea. “Eventually her sister Ursula Jones took it on and came up with a brilliant ending for this book. It is seamless, it’s brilliant, it’s really well done. But if you don’t have a family like that who would help you, help you get the book out there, who don’t know what you wanted to do with your book. If you died and you had no plan, your family wouldn’t know what you wanted. They wouldn’t be able to hire somebody to finish your book for you or finish it themselves. So, just for that reason, have a plan so that you’ve got something in place, something to give to your family, your heirs. They can complete it for you. Or maybe you put your book aside for years and years and years and you have come back to it and you go, what was I wanting to do with this book? “If you’ve got a plan in place, you’ll know. Go look back on it and you will see what it was you wanted to do when you were thinking about it 10 years ago, 5 years ago. “A plan helps, it doesn’t take long to do, and then you’ve got that in place.” ~~~ Sometimes life (and death) gets in the way. Don’t lose your great idea just because you didn’t capture it somehow. Even pantsers love my Planning Blueprint because it makes it super simple to plan out as much or as little as you like while leaving room to grow your story organically. Or use it AFTER you’ve written to work out any revision issues. Need help? I’m running a Novel Planning Intensive every Wednesday in May. You’ll work on your plan before and/or during the session. Every participant will get a chance to ask for advice on any part of their story where they are feeling stuck, or ask questions in general. Observer tickets are also available. Observers will get to see an overview of the Blueprint and how it works, but will leave the call before participants begin sharing. Make planning (and writing) your novel easy. Grab The Novel Approach Planning Worksheet for just $9 (AU) About me: Hi, I’m Elle. I help aspiring and struggling authors get through the lonely and overwhelming process of writing a novel with my Ultimate Accountability and Support Programme. You can benefit from my 20 years of experience as a developmental editor. I have a wealth of strategies to share with you that will make your writing project come together much more easily than going it alone. I’m also a published author, so I’ve travelled both sides of this road. I know what your baby means to you, and I know when and how to give advice and when to give a project space to grown. I’ve made tons of mistakes over the years and learnt a lot of what I know the hard way – I want you to be able to take a shortcut and save yourself time and money so that your book can begin to work for you as soon as possible. What my clients say: “I can’t believe how helpful it is to have my work picked apart the way you’ve done it. What I learned from your coaching was just as valuable as the hundreds of dollars I spent on “How-To” books on writing.” ~ Paul Perron ~ “Without Elle I would never have come this far. This story would not be what it is without her marvellous input and amazing work. I am so grateful for her insights and wise reflections. I once feared my dyslexia, but thanks to Elle that fear crumbled. She made me believe that I am capable of great things.” ~ Kylie Leane ~ “Your ability to isolate the pivotal points of the novel and show how they can be improved is nothing short of astonishing.” ~ Michael Woods ~ ===== Get the Novel Approach Planning Sheet: https://novelapproachplansheet.ellecarterneal.com ===== Music: https://www.purple-planet.com =====