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This will be included on my friend Marj's Blog. Have a look and see what she's writing about:http://mamcrae-author.blogspot.com.au/
I've been thinking a lot about planning
recently, as I'm going to be doing it as part of my on-line writing
course. It's one of those things that seems to divide writers along
with ,“show don't tell” and the use of semicolons.
The real argument seems to be that the
non-planners say that the story is driven by their characters. They
put them in a place and the story naturally unfolds. The other side
seems to say that this is fine for a simple story, but that for a
story to have real have depth its got to been seen as a whole picture
first.
I think I tend towards the last group.
I've experimented with both forms of writing and while I find the
first is good, and even more enjoyable for adventure stories, there
have been too many times where I've been led to a dead end or even
worse, an unsatisfactory ending in a story. There have also been
loads of Indy books that I have read where the author is obviously
doing this and you can spend several meaningless chapters waiting for
something story wise to really happen. Although that might just be
poor editing as well.
On the other side I think there is a
danger of over planning. I think when you hold characters too tightly
and try to force them in a certain direction they can become wooden.
If you are too focused on the final destination and not going with
what feels natural for the characters, the reader can tell. There is
nothing worse in a story the when the nice kid who's never done
anything bad in his life suddenly decides for no reason to steal
something or break in somewhere. It's cringe worthy and I want, and
sometimes do, throw the book across the room shouting “why!” This
is really bad for me as I now use a Kindle.
So I think the argument is not really a
matter of right a wrong, but much more a matter of degrees. When I've
spoke to people who say they “don't plan” their stories. It seems
what they mean is that they don't formally plan their stories.
Likewise I've never met a writer who makes a time-line for each
paragraph of their book. That's why I go for the middle ground.
When I plan I usually make mind maps
for the main characters as way of finding out who they are. Likewise
there will be another mind map for story itself. Every couple of
chapters I'll also tend to do a mind map for the next section of the
story in which I'll include a few more details.
The thing is, these are just way points
for me. They are vague mountains in the distance and don't go in to
very specific detail. It's something that I could do in my head, but
for me putting in on paper helps. I think that non-planning writers
do the same thing. They just don't need to put it on paper.
Also, as I write, the mind maps change.
In fact most of my diagrams grow more during the story than at the
start. For me it's a way of keeping track of characters and ideas
along with giving me time to examine smaller facets of the story in
detail. That said, there have been plenty chapters where the map just
got lost – or burned. Things came up as I was writing and so the
story changed. In my first book Paradigms there was one chapter which
I stared writing that ended up adding another five unplanned chapters
to the book. It was a long and productive diversion that really added
to the story, but the final destination still stayed the same.
So what I'm really saying here is that
there is no right or wrong. There is just what is right or wrong for
you. Use short stories. Play around. Experiment. Find what you are
comfortable with and what works for you, then go for it.
==
Chris McKenna is the author of the
books Bardo, Paradigms and the Truth about Faeries.
You can follow his blogs and find out
more about his books and writing courses at:
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