The Writing Process: Plot!!

Plot, plot, plot! Plotter or pantser, what are you?

I've always been a bit of both! I like to have the sense of where I want the characters to start, where I want them to wind up and the overall picture of what I want to have happen to them along the way. But all those little details, the details that keep things moving as the story goes, much of that occurs on the fly from either daydreams, dreams at night, or just interesting ideas from real life events that generate ideas for scenes in the book.

What do I outline? When do I outline? I almost never do. I'll take notes on nit-picky details on the characters and the plot on matters such as shoe size, the town they were born in, anything which I might forget as I let the whims of my strange and bizarre Muse take over me.

I feel that writing is about world building and evolution; the plot must define the characters and the characters must define the plot. But on the whole, it's about the people who are affected by events who matter most. How do they react to circumstances as they unfold? How do they evolve over the course of a story?

It doesn't always have to be a straight line from A to B either; I've been known to get ideas for a scene that won't happen until later on in the book or know how I want to write the ending before I am done. Rather than chain my Muse, I write scenes when they come to me so that I don't lose the inspiration later. Given I have always written using a word processor, this means I can always move things around as I write and develop as I go. Unless it's a much, much shorter work I don't always move from start to finish in a progressive line and I encourage others who struggle to just write, write, write...don't force it. Let it flow!



Love & Magic,
Adrianne
www.adriannebrennan.com


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