To Plot, or: Not to Plot?

by Maurice Northmore
19th August 2014

Do you plot your story before you start writing it?

Or do you just dive straight into it?

Replies

Loving the word 'Pansters'

'Hi I'm June, I'm a Panster, nice to meet you'

Anyway, who cares if you're a Panster or not, we're artists the ONLY thing that matters, surely, first and foremost is that we create - leave the labels to the rest of the world - I don't think it matters a JOT how you execute your art, how you get there is a matter for you and you alone.

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June
Liggins
270 points
Developing your craft
June Liggins
21/08/2014

I don't think I could write a novel without a plan. I have abandoned my work-in-progress (novel) about three times because a new idea that struck me while writing has led me down a rabbit hole that I couldn't climb out of.

I am currently applying the first five or six steps of the Snowflake Method to my novel in order to flesh it out. This is probably not as detailed as Mark's, but a decent amount of work all the same. I am, however, working on the first chapter while planning (I have divided my novel into five Acts).

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Khai
Virtue
330 points
Developing your craft
Fiction
Historical
Middle Grade (Children's)
Young Adult (YA)
Khai Virtue
21/08/2014

I tried plotting my novel and found it just made it harder for me to write. When you get right down to it everyone has they're own way of doing it, there's no right or wrong way it's whatever works for you.

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Andrew
Atkinson
85 points
Developing your craft
Short stories
Fiction
Comic
Speculative Fiction
Adventure
Gothic and Horror
Andrew Atkinson
21/08/2014