Writing About Writing: Plot

By On August 9, 2010 · 7 Comments

I’ve griped with several of my friends about this particular problem. I have no trouble coming up with characters or concepts or even building entire new worlds, but coming up with a full plot is the bane of my existence.

Generally, I’ll have a point A and a point B, and characters 1, 2, and 3 need to get from one to the other. It’s the middle part that gives me grief. They obviously can’t just go straight from the beginning to the end; things need to happen, stumbling blocks that add tension and adversity.

I have a hell of a time figuring out what those things need to be.

Photo by Rennett Stowe

I think part of my problem is that I feel like I need to figure all of this stuff out ahead of time. When I wrote papers for classes, I had to make an outline, or I would forget what I wanted to talk about in the first place. I feel that way about fiction sometimes, too. If I don’t come up with an outline of everything that needs to happen in this story, I’ll forget everything and lose it all.

I wonder, though, if this compulsion of mine isn’t my own stumbling block. With the novel I mentioned in last week’s Writing About Writing post, I started winging it partway through because I was falling behind on my weekly word counts, and I need to write a few thousand words a week to keep up. That kind of pressure seemed to unlock the floodgates, and things happened to my characters that I really hadn’t planned on. Sure, I knew they were going to find a lost city in the desert, but I didn’t plan on one of the protagonists getting shot with a crossbow, and that they’d have to use risky magic to get out of the dungeon.

Last night I started writing notes for another story idea (I’m never going to finish anything, haha), and I’m finding myself anxious that I don’t know what’s going to happen between point A and point B. Maybe I should just mellow out and just start writing the damn thing. See where it goes on it’s own without my trying to overplan it.

What’s your method for plotting out your stories? Do you fly by the seat of your pants, or do you need to have it all outlined beforehand? Or are you somewhere in the middle?

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TDF Pamela

The Discriminating Fangirl, who is more likely to answer to Pamela if you shout it at her, is the proud owner of an MA in English, focusing on children's/young adult literature and popular culture. She's now not using that degree to work as a project manager for a mobile app company. She reads voraciously, loves geeky movies and tv shows, reads comic books as long as she's not pissed off at Marvel, and when she's procrastinating, she enjoys playing video games. She can be contacted at t.d.fangirl @ gmail.com and followed on Twitter @tdfangirl.

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  • Joey

    I usually start out scene-blocking the beginning 25% and then decide what happens in the middle and at the end… in basic terms. Then as the story develops itself I usually block out the ending almost page by page to make sure everything gets addressed that needs to get addressed.

    Some people write alinearly, too – takes a lot of foresight, but if you’re the kind who wants to have everything planned, it might help to jump in the middle and write what you’re inspired to write about then. As for me, I have to write linearly or else things change and I have to go back and make edits…

  • Tarte Amandine

    I do like to plot out as much as I can before I start writing, especially if it’s something long and involved, just so I don’t confuse myself as I’m writing. Other times, I just have a vague idea and write to see where it goes.

  • Finn

    I never plot. Ever. I’ve found it’s stifling and end up frustrated the more I try to fit myself into an outline. Now, I will, when I’m done with the first draft, sit down with pen and paper and scribble down how everything fits together to make sure the timeline stays intact.

  • / TDF Pamela

    I’m thinking I should try just sitting down and writing, and not worrying about the plot outline, just to see if I can do it. At least then I’d have that experience and find out if it works better for me, or if I should go back to my agonizing, heh.

  • http://www.undergroundgeeks.com Dawson (@professorsmind)

    I’m with Finn, not much for plotting beforehand. Unless you count letting my characters get into wild and crazy scrapes in my head while I run (and then frantically hunting for pen and paper when I return home full of ideas).

    My first version I usually write almost straight through, letting the character find the story (or the story find me, through research or random inspiration).

    I’ve found it essential to go back over everything with a fine-toothed comb and make sure it all fits together. My ideas sort of start as a run through without script, and then as I go back through and begin my first round of edits I can change things as necessary for continuity or balance. My outlines usually don’t happen until after I have most of a finished text in front of me and I’m going back through it for editing.

    My best (and hardest) work is done while editing. No joke.

  • http://littleredreviewer.wordpress.com/ little red reviewer

    I’m more of a reader than a writer, but I’ve done my share of helping others edit. Dawson’s right on the money, the hardest work is editing.

    that said, as long as the finished product feels natural, it doesn’t matter how you get there. And you might get there a different way every time.

    How to get your characters from point A to point B? prophecy, running an errand, visiting a dying grandma, investigating a murder, escaping the scene of a murder, won tickets on the orient express, whatever. there just needs to be a believable reason why they are going there, so they can get there an advance the plot. I guess plot is more about the why than the who or the what or the where.

    your post really spoke to me today, as right now I’m reading something where thus far the characters have given me no reason for why they are travelling to someplace no one has told me anything about. and it’s annoying.

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