Do you plot your story before you start writing it?
Or do you just dive straight into it?
Replies
I don't think many people would go back to fix an old story, so congratulations Lorraine. It sounds like you've worked out what needs to be done to sort out the problems.
I've spent the last year re-writing a novel which I sent off ten years ago to a publisher and they didn't like it (shock horror!). Stuck it on the sulking shelf and ignored its mewling cries for help.
When I did finally look at it, I realised that among its many faults (and jolly good bits), the entire novel had taken place within the three longest days ever written. The rewrite takes three weeks. The heroine is a wuss to whom things happen, but she never instigates anything.
So I sat and wrote out a timeline of what happened when, as it had been written, and worked out from that what should happen and over what time period.
A few weeks ago I hit a block; I hadn't planned part of the new middle section, and the result was that I'd written myself into a corner. So once again, out came the notepad and pencil, and I worked out what was wrong.
I have now planned out exactly what needs to happen in order for the new section to rejoin the old ending, and thus have got myself out of a block and a tight spot.
It's like going out without a shopping list: you'll buy lots at random, but will you remember the essentials?
Pantsters aren't stream-of-conscious writers, Mark, just people who don't plan. Stream-of-conscious is a totally different concept, as epitomised by Virginia Woolf. Strangely you can plot out a s-of-c novel in that you know where it starts and where it ends and what you want to happen in between.
I don't think many people would go back to fix an old story, so congratulations Lorraine. It sounds like you've worked out what needs to be done to sort out the problems.
I've spent the last year re-writing a novel which I sent off ten years ago to a publisher and they didn't like it (shock horror!). Stuck it on the sulking shelf and ignored its mewling cries for help.
When I did finally look at it, I realised that among its many faults (and jolly good bits), the entire novel had taken place within the three longest days ever written. The rewrite takes three weeks. The heroine is a wuss to whom things happen, but she never instigates anything.
So I sat and wrote out a timeline of what happened when, as it had been written, and worked out from that what should happen and over what time period.
A few weeks ago I hit a block; I hadn't planned part of the new middle section, and the result was that I'd written myself into a corner. So once again, out came the notepad and pencil, and I worked out what was wrong.
I have now planned out exactly what needs to happen in order for the new section to rejoin the old ending, and thus have got myself out of a block and a tight spot.
It's like going out without a shopping list: you'll buy lots at random, but will you remember the essentials?
Pantsters aren't stream-of-conscious writers, Mark, just people who don't plan. Stream-of-conscious is a totally different concept, as epitomised by Virginia Woolf. Strangely you can plot out a s-of-c novel in that you know where it starts and where it ends and what you want to happen in between.
You've got a very good point June, though I guess there's nothing to lose in trying different techniques and finding out what works for you.