|
 
| Writer's
Blog - 4. |
I'm
having a continuing struggle with the planning
of my book.
How much planning should you do in
advance of the detailed writing?
How much planning can you do before
getting down to writing your story?
I've found that, as my book starts to evolve,
different story-lines, plots and sub-plots start
to emerge in my mind.
I'm pretty sure that it would be beyond me to
plan out in advance all the twists and turns
that each plot and sub-plot would take over the
course of 100,000 words or so.
It's too much - for me anyway - to plan coldly,
before you've fully developed the characters and
scenes. So, as I said in Blog 2, I'm
settling for "part-planning".
That means evolving a rough overall plan, then a
slightly more detailed idea for the part I'm
working on.
From that, I start writing.
That's where the trouble starts.
Things develop, often in ways that are different
from the ones I'd envisaged. I think of
new features that would add to the story - new
characters, new scenes, new twists. And I
discover that some of my earlier bright ideas
don't work as well as I'd hoped.
What happens then?
Well, it's back to the drawing board, this time
to change and update the plan.
You could describe the process as
"organic".
Maybe chaotic would be more appropriate.
© David
Gray
|
|
|
|
|