I have ideas for where I want the story to end up ‘eventually’, but if it ever gets there, or whether it ends up somewhere completely different, I have no idea yet. Also, alot of the characters are based loosely (or tightly, but I’d never admit to that) on people I know. So I suppose I’m a part of the ‘story’ following.

What I want to acheive is something completely different though. And that is something you’re going to have to read and comment to find out about though.

“Winslow says I don’t understand plotting and probably I don’t– I have been congratulated many times on the skill shown in my plotting when I knew damn well that the story in question had not been plotted in advance at all. My notion of a story is an interesting situation in which a human being has to cope with a problem, does so, and thereby changes his personality, character, or evaluations in some measure because the coping has forced him to revise his thinking. How he copes with it I can’t plot in advance because that depends on his character, and I don’t know what his character is until I get acquainted with him.”

I was extremely amused by this description from my personal favorite author, because it so closely mirrors my own take on plotting– there’s only so much I can know until I start writing and working with the characters. Now, once I write through a manuscript, it takes a lot to make it good; the editing process is brutal when you haven’t sat down to plan it out before hand. But yes, writing is a much better way to plan than plotting, at least for me.

To tell you the truth I have no idea what I start with … but it’s usually a concept that gives a tingling feeling down the spine. Characters, scenes and the message I want to get across follow shortly after.

However, I don’t know if it’s a fun thing to read — the only completed work so far is the one that’s going up on my blog chapter by chapter, and it’s a fairly odd duck as books go. Some people seem to be enjoying it, but I call it “experimental” because it’s not structured like most novels.

If anyone asked me why it’s experimental, I’d say it’s because that’s the way the movie in my head shows the scenes, and that’s the way my mind works. Whether that works for readers is still up in the air.

It’s almost as if the story is in the back of my mind, already written, and I just have to carve it out.

I got the idea from a book I read about screen writing and I found it worked for me.

I start off with a blank sheet of paper, separate it into three sections – act 1, 2 and 3 (prologue and epilogue if appropriate as well) then make notes about what needs to happen in each act.

Then I get a set of blank cards and note down all the scenes I need, then all the scenes I want, including the characters, the location and what they should learn/achieve by the end of the chapter. Sometimes it also helps the writing process to note down whether the chapter should focus on developing the plot or the characters. I then arrange the cards into an order that makes logical sense.

I then transfer all the notes into a blank Word document (one card per page/chapter). This then gives me the outline of the whole plot.

I find this works well for me because I tend to write for an hour at a time early in the morning before I go to work. By having the plot and character arc planned for each chapter, I’ve got enough preparation done to crawl out of bed and start writing.

This isn’t really a good option if you want to start writing something without an ending in mind but writing thrillers with twists in the tale, I tend to focus on the main plot points first and work out how my characters can get from one point to the next in a believable way. I can totally understand how people write in a less-structured way, especially full-time writers but as someone who is writing to blog, I want to get the whole thing written first (see previous article :) ) so I set myself deadlines and do my best to stick to them.

For me, it makes the writing process a lot easier if I get as much of the “plotting” as possible done early on in the process. My first novel deviated quite a bit from the original outline once I started writing but the second (coming soon!) has stuck quite closely to the plan.

I’m afraid the ending’s a little blur at the moment, though. :(