The one thing I find torturous about plotting is that ideas come thick and fast; motives, characterisations, the end, weaponry, descriptions, pieces of conversation, villains, sidekicks, personality traits, panoramas, the opening image, deaths… it’s all jumbled up.
In trying to turn these things into some sort of coherent order, I have to slow the mental process. Of course, this leads to the fear of forgetting something. I’ve lost many a good thought because I’ve been focussing on something else and had to get that idea down before the next one; it all seems so… urgent.
If I don’t plot, then the story comes out in sequence with most of everything where it’s supposed to be, except for some of the interesting concepts I may have thought of before sitting down to write. I do make note of things, but my focus is on getting the story written.
There’s no right way to plot; no right way to write. As always, you have to find your own method, one that works for you
What bugs me is that with plotting, there are no surprises coming, or there are very few – at least that is my experience. Without plotting, if you’ve got your characters down pat, they will always surprise you.
And I think there in lies the fundamental difference between those who plot and those who do not – so called ‘organic’ writers.
Plotters have everything written down before they write. If, in the course of writing, they forget something, the outline, world building and characterisations are there to provide the prompt.
Organics have had the main characters wandering around their skulls for so long (relatively speaking) that they instinctively know how those characters will react in any given situation. All it takes is for the initial scene to present itself and off they go.
One fundamental truth remains for both types of authors: a writer must be the character they are writing. Think Mel Gibson in Hamlet and you get the idea.
I’ve often wonder what determines an organic writer or a plotter. Organisational skills versus instinct? An ability to daydream versus focused intent? A child-like wonder versus logical imagining? Natural talent versus long-crafted determination? I have no idea.
All I can say is that of all the novels I’ve worked on, those without plot are the ones I’ve completed; and I’ve just as many unfinished as finished, even though the initial seeds are, I think, intriguing ideas. The plotted ones remain incomplete, bogged down in ideas that, at the time, were interesting. Now they aren't.
Go figure.
3 comments:
It could be as simple as fear and courage. Plotters need the life-line of an outline, whereas organics fly by the seat of the pants.
I'm a plotter :)
Or brain power in my case. If I can't remember the first 10 Amendments to the US Constitution for my US Government test then I'll never remember the details of my two religions, 5 cultures, and the scattering of tribes across my continent, not to mention plot details, twists, character histories, and the flora and fawna (is that right?) of my continent. I plot because I'd never remember it all without it. I think I've said this before but my pants don't write very good, heh.
Heh,heh, Jason.
I certainly see the value in plotting, but it dents my creativity. I have post-its stuck in a file to remind me, but more often than not, I use them in editing, not the writing process.
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