For this week's #TuesdayTip, I am thrilled to invite Jason Monaghan back to share his "Plot Spider" method for writing a second draft. Jason previously shared his "Filleted Fish" method for a first draft, so if you haven't done so already, I recommend having a read of that as well.

Jason is an author and archaeologist, now back working in his native Yorkshire after many travels. His career has taken unexpected twists including becoming a bank director, anti-money laundering specialist, shipwreck archaeologist and museum director. All of which creates plenty of inspiration for his thrillers, of which the latest is Blackshirt Masquerade published by the Historia imprint of Level Best books. He has also written the Jeffrey Flint archaeological thriller series available from Lume Books and is an active member of the Crime Writers Association.

Jason's Tip
My very spare ‘filleted fish’ first draft will be around 40,000 words, and when I’m convinced that I have a whole potential novel I draw what I call my ‘plot spider’. This used to be on paper, but I now employ a wipe board to mark up with characters, organisations and incidents connected with coloured lines. While this information may already be in my head it is a well- known design principle that presenting a plan graphically engages different parts of the mind, feeding creativity.
In the centre will be whatever is at the core of the novel, so in the case of Blackshirt Masquerade it is the British Union of Fascists in a big black circle. I link my hero and the other characters to the central circle and each other. More organisations are added around the edges: MI5, Special Branch, the Communist Party and so on.
Annotations will be added to the links, such as ‘girlfriend’, ‘witness’, or ‘kills’. Major incidents are drawn in red starbursts, linking to affected people. During this process, it becomes clear where gaps in the logic of the plot need to be filled. How did those people meet? Who is this character really working for? How does he unmask the villains? Key clues are also flagged, with links to who discovers them and how. In my Jeffrey Flint books the plots were constructed like an onion, with concealing layers that needed to be stripped away one by one.
After only an hour or two I have a messy piece of modern art and grubby hands. I take a snap on my phone for reference.
I often draw a second diagram as a villains-eye view. It shows the underlying plot, the one the reader doesn’t see and my heroes will only uncover piece by piece. This cross-checks the logic of the bad guys, what they hope to gain and how they respond as the heroes draw closer.
Thrillers generally have several threads to the plot which are gradually twisted together or are revealed to be red herrings. A sub-plot such as a romance or personal crisis of a lead character may need its own resolution. I use the wipe board again to make a plot list, colour coded for each strand, making sure each has its genesis and resolution – or is deliberately left hanging for the sequel. This points up plot lines that are undernourished and where more clues or twists are needed. Each thread is written onto a calendar so they can ultimately converge in a logical manner, and in a historical thriller also march in step with actual events.
Finally I’m ready to write Draft 2, aiming for 70,000 words or so in which the plot, sub-plots, clues and resolution are all there. It’s still not fit to show anyone, but at least I can start talking about ‘my next book’.
(c) Jason Monaghan 2022

You can learn more about Jason by visiting his website and Facebook page or following him on Twitter @Jasonthriller or Instagram @docmonaghan.

What do you think of Jason's "Plot Spider" method, or his "Filleted Fish" method?
As always, feel free to comment here or on social media.

​Until next time, best wishes,
Paul
Are you a writer with a tip to share? If so, please feel free to contact me here, or via email/social media. 👇

For this week's #TuesdayTip, I am thrilled to invite Jason Monaghan to share his "Filleted Fish" method for writing a first draft.  Stay tuned for a later tip, when he will be sharing his "Plot Spider" method for writing a second draft.

Jason is an author and archaeologist, now back working in his native Yorkshire after many travels. His career has taken unexpected twists including becoming a bank director, anti-money laundering specialist, shipwreck archaeologist and museum director. All of which creates plenty of inspiration for his thrillers, of which the latest is Blackshirt Masquerade published by the Historia imprint of Level Best books. He has also written the Jeffrey Flint archaeological thriller series available from Lume Books and is an active member of the Crime Writers Association.

Jason's Tip
Writers’ approaches to creating their first draft are classically discussed as ‘pantsers’ who write beginning to end and ‘plotters’ who map it all out before they begin. My approach is something in between, with the first draft resembling one of those filleted fish that a cartoon cat finds in a bin. It has a head, a tail, a backbone and a few ribs.
A plot comes to me as if I’m remembering a movie that I saw many years ago. There’s a shooting, but a man is running towards it; why? Who was the target and why did the shooter miss? It’s something to do with Blackshirt fascists and spies. Ideas start to build as I daydream in the shower or doing the washing up, and pretty soon I begin to write. In parallel I’ll commence background research for the historical period, geographic locations and technical detail. Facts will be dropped in as I find them, correcting the text if necessary.
I write the opening chapters pantser-style, knowing that the first pages will probably be replaced or heavily reworked as it is critical that the opening grabs both publisher and readers. This is the ‘head’, and the developing plot becomes the backbone. I’ll write the key action scenes, major character moments and big twists that become the ribs of the story. The first draft comes out as a stream of consciousness, jumping from one scene to another, not necessarily in sequence. It’s deliberately spare, with dialogue just using ‘he said/she said’ and omitting most of the animation, the setting down of teacups or anxiously glancing out of the window. That will come in later drafts once I’m certain I need that scene and it is worthwhile proceeding to polish it.
This methodology works for me, but it’s not the most efficient way to write. It came about due to time pressures of fitting writing around a day job, family commitments and academic research. Also, my thrillers don’t follow the linear sequence of crime to clue to suspect to resolution as employed in a classic police procedural. Several plot threads wind in and out before becoming tied together in the climax, and a fair amount of re-arranging of the ‘ribs’ will be needed in later drafts.
The filleted fish needs a tail, so I’ll write the ending fairly early as I need to know where the story is going. Loose ends need to be tied up, villains identified, and seeds planted for a sequel. I aim to have about 40,000 words in the first draft if the final target is 90-100k. The lead characters are all there, as is the main plot, and it has a beginning, middle and end. It’s not something I’d want anyone else to read, but I have a story. 
(c) Jason Monaghan 2022

You can learn more about Jason by visiting his website and Facebook page or following him on Twitter @Jasonthriller or Instagram @docmonaghan.

What do you think of Jason's "Filleted Fish" method?
As always, feel free to comment here or on social media.
Stay tuned for Jason's second post in a few weeks time and stop by next week, when I celebrate 100 Tuesday Tips by launching a new feature ...

Are you a writer with a tip to share? If so, please feel free to contact me here, or via email/social media. 👇