Several weeks ago, one of my characters woke me up. I had been wrestling with a plot problem in my WIP and this character arrived in my 
subconscious gloaming with a startling suggestion: Kill her. I immediately dismissed the thought, and tucked her back in. But over the next few days, the seed of that suggestion took root. Several days later, after considerable consternation, I pulled the trigger. Literally. But something else died in the process. My desire for TOTAL CONTROL over my story.
The writing community has developed a name for people like me. We are Plotters (which is a polite name for Control Freaks). We need to see where the story is going before we write it. We start with an end in mind and, come hell or high water, make sure we reach our destination. We pull up at the curb and tell our characters to “Get in, Sit Down, Hold On, and Shut Up.” We are the sovereigns over our storyboard, our characters are predestined for the ends of our choosing.
If there is one type of writer I misunderstand, it’s the SOTPs (Seat-of-the-Pants writers). These are the folks who have a basic idea and, well, just start writing. It’s the equivalent of loading up the van and driving cross-country with no agenda. Who knows where you’ll end up? And maybe that’s the point. I’m sorry but I’m not going devote tens of thousands of words to a story without an end in sight. That’s like a preacher taking the pulpit without notes, relying only on “the Spirit.” To me, the SOTP writer’s “spontaneity” is really just presumption and intellectual sloth.
Of course, there’s some darned good SOTP’ers. Have you heard of Stephen King? In his book On Writing, he adds this to the debate:
I distrust plot for two reasons: first, because our lives are largely plotless, even when we add in all our reasonable precautions and careful planning; and second, because I believe plotting and the spontaneity of real creation aren’t compatible. It’s best that I be as clear about this as I can — I want you to understand that my basic belief about the making of stories is that they pretty much make themselves.
Ouch. To all us Control Freaks, King’s suggestion that “plotting” and “the spontaneity of real creation aren’t compatible” smacks of heresy. Is “real creation” only forged by the seat of one’s pants? I’m guessing God had a plan BEFORE He started flinging planets into space. Call me a control freak, but before I put the keys in the ignition, I need to know where I am going.
The problem is, my characters are becoming back seat drivers.
In his book Lights! Camera! Fiction!, Alfie Thompson suggests a third category, the SIB: Somewhere in Between writer. This is “a hybrid of the two styles,” a writer who gives herself room for spontaneity within the context of a plot. This is the driver who aims for the Ozarks, but allows detours along the way.
As writers, we thrive on “spontaneity” — flashes of inspiration that transcend us. But, for control freaks like me, we need a context, an anvil and workshop to hammer out the crudeness of those raw concepts. Like a campfire, most stories require a Spark as well as tending. Your baby may be an angel, but there will come a day when she needs a whupping. Likewise, this idea of “plotting loosely,” I think, blends both of these worlds.
Of course, the Control Freak in me is scared about letting go of my story. What if we drive off a cliff or end up in Timbuktu surrounded by malnourished cannibals? Spontaneity can be dangerous, especially when you allow fictional characters to drive. Nevertheless, good stories have a way of driving themselves. Which means that even the Plotter, at some point, must learn to get out of the way.
So my second novel is almost finished, and so are my days as a Control Freak. Yes, I still have the keys (I’m not giving them up!) and the map is in the glove box. But if another character wakes me up and demands to be executed, this time, I will probably oblige.
I can’t imagine you anywhere else but “somewhere in between”, Mike. Order and precision seem essential to your makeup. You’ve been wired as such as best I can tell. I’m glad to hear you’re letting go of the certain direction but still maintaining the keys.
I’m very heavy on the SOTP format because I function in that freedom and have been given characters to start stories instead of die-hard plots. Different genre than you too. This changes the dynamic of creating it. However, sometimes I get “visions” of events that must be recorded or plotted to come down the pike later in the particular story. How they get there is yet another “spontaneous” occurrence.
The less control we exert in creating, for me, implies the more we allow inspiration to fulfill its desired purpose. But that’s me and how I operate.
Hmm. Only three choices: Plotter, SOTP or SIB. I suggest one more: DOTS. Depends On The Story. Example: Recently I wrote a 600 word story for NPR’s Three Minute Fiction competition. The story I came up with – which didn’t win – was written in under two hours and seemed to jump out of my head fully formed. I knew what was going to happen from beginning to end before I even put fingers to keyboard. When I realized this was the way it had worked out, I also realized that every short story I’d done seemed to have been fully worked out in my subconcious – or somewhere – before I began writing. This is not the way it has been with my novels and novellas. Since I’m not a plotter by any stretch of the imagination, this means I’ve written those by SOTP. Or perhaps not. In a long work I may be forming blocks of story before I write those down then connect to the next block that has formed before getting written. Again, DOTS.
A smart plotter will set his outline, then INVITE the characters to journey WITH him. IF they suggest a side trip to Nirvana, he let’s them explore.
I can’t write without a basic plot, but I also know the magic happens when my characters highjack my well laid out ideas. So when I plot, it’s with the knowledge the end result may be far different. But that’s okay. 🙂
On Writing is such a great resource … love that book.
Which writing approach should you use? The one that works for you.
That said, you might give other approaches a try. Might happen upon something that enhances your craft.
My current WIP is well planned. I have the scenes mapped out on notecards. It makes the writing both easier and more tedious because…I’ve got 16 more scenes to go, and egads, I’m so ready for the first draft to be complete! The fun has been sort of sucked out of it for me, because I enjoy the “seat of your pants” method more.
Thing is, if I ever hope to make a penny from my writing, I have to plan. I have to maximize my writing time, thus I want to know that when I’m sitting down to write, it’s going to become something of worth. Maybe some day I will have ample time to be able to just sit down and write, and hope something good comes out…that’s how I’d rather write…but the alas, the real world currently dictates.
As for Stephen King, I tried to read the Dark Tower series and stopped somewhere in the middle of the second book because the story was meandering this way and that…I had the distinct feeling that he was making it up as he went along! (And given how long the series is, I decided to stop because I didn’t have faith that he’d take me somewhere I wanted to go.)
I used to be a “seat of the pants” writer. However, after the novella (which had to be under 40,00o words), and in the continuing effort to craft short stories that will get published, I’ve leaned more and more towards plotting.
I used to loathe the idea of plotting, but the kicker for me was reading an interview with F. Paul Wilson (Repairman Jack), when asked if he plots, he said: “Hell, yes. It’s my damn story, and it’ll do what I want to!” I LOVE those novels, they have many different storylines, vibrant characters with vivid voices….and they move. They’re great stories, with substance, and the pacing’s perfect.
So I guess now I’m a “somewhere in betweener”.
Great quote, Kevin! “It’s my damn story, and it’ll do what I want to!” I love it!
And by those novels, I meant his Repairman Jack novels.
When I plotted, I would lay back in my bed and just think about the story. From the first page to the last page. Usually it was a lot like watching a movie play out in my head, and didn’t take much careful thought because it was just a lot of fun.
Later I would copy all this down on paper as a summary.
Then I would start writing.
Then I would get bored and quit. Because the fun part: Creating the story, was over.
With Discovery Writing, the process is much the same. The difference is, I’m sitting up and typing what I’m seeing play out in my head. And that isn’t easy. I think making decisions on the fly concerning character takes skill. It certainly isn’t intellectually slothful. It most definitely is a lot of fun. Like watching a movie for the first time. The pitfall is, of course, more work during the second, third, or fourth draft.
But every style has good things and bad things, and as far as I’m concerned, there isn’t any bad way to go about writing. Because writing is as personal as a fingerprint. We all do it differently it seems, in some way or another. Some discovery write, some plot, some use a hybrid. Some write fast, some take their time puzzling over each and every sentence (Dean Koontz, who is also a Discovery Writer). And so on.
I’m a road tripper: The basic idea is down, some things are set in stone, but the rest is up for grabs. I don’t know the end before the halfway point, normally. But part of that is, doesn’t matter how many outlines I make, I won’t ever look at, much less stick to, them.
I’m somewhere in between the plotter and the pantser. I cannot write a detailed plot. It makes me hyperventilate. And then, if I do write a detailed plot, I don’t want to write the book. I guess, for me, writing is all about discovery. I don’t know what will happen next and that makes it exciting.
That said, I do have a process. I work with plot points. When I begin a novel, I write a long list of things that “could” happen. Then I decide whether these things fall into the beginning, middle or end of the book. Also, I usually have an ending in mind when I begin writing. But I continually revise (and misplace) my list of plot points throughout the writing of the book.
I also take copious notes on characters and what they should do and what should happen next. And then I lose them. Argh. I think it’s all part of my slightly chaotic, slightly cathartic process.
Sometimes I envy plotters. I have a secret belief that plotters can write faster than I can.
So you’re letting out your inner psychopath, are you? Heh, heh.
I can’t see making a hard and fast rule either way. Even pantsers plan a little because their stories are playing out in their heads–at least I would assume so. And I honestly think the dichotomy between pantsters and planners is a false one because more than two personality types exist among humans. Each personality approaches writing in a different manner.
I fall more on the control freak side that by “the seat of the pants”. Its like making my way through a forest. I know I am starting here and I will end there and want to visit this and this and that. But if I happen to want and stop to smell a flower, that’s fine. Just as long as I hit all the places I want to as I wander across the forest to the other side.
Mike, I just blogged about this very thing on Rewrite, Reword, Rework though I didn’t reach the middle ground approach yet, not really. James Scott Bell in Plot & Structure helped me identify my writing process. He called it the “Headlights System” — outlining “as you roll along.” Oh, yeah! That’s me!
Lot’s of freedom, but the structure I need. I can’t meander. As you said, I have to have a direction. So I plot the big picture, then the first step. When I get that scene (those scenes) down, I plot the next step.
It works for me. 😉
Becky
It all comes down to what work for you. While systems are great to get us going the truth is everyone’s brain works differently. Dean Koontz uses no plot and sometimes edits a page dozens of times before moving on to the next. We’re all told to write like mad until that 1st draft is finished. So who is right? For Koontz, the way he does it is right because it obviously works. For me, would still be working on page 1 of my first MS.
I’m like you, Mike, in that I need to have a destination in mind, and a basic road map. However, I don’t think I could write with every chapter and scene planned out. I get the major plot points so I have some “mountains” to guide the story by, and who the main characters are going to be, and take off.
And while I usually have an end in mind, in nearly all cases by the time I get to the end, it has changed, often dramatically. The only time that didn’t happen was the third book in my current series set to come out later this year or early next. I had the final scene firmly in mind, and it replayed itself as I wrote so many times in my head that by the time I reached the end, I knew every move the protag was going to make and what would happen. All I had to do was get that ending on the page. And though one character did throw a wrench into the works at one point I hadn’t planned on, I don’t think I’ve had a novel ever go so closely as I first envisioned it as that one did. Most of them change quite a bit from what I intended.
But without some road map and destination in mind, I’ll just sit and stare at the screen. And yeah, my wife will hop in the car and say let’s go. I’ll ask, “Which restaurant.” “Don’t know. Just start going, we’ll figure it out on the way.” And I growl under my breath and do it after a short protest.
As a recovering pantser, I am learning to relish the importance of planning. God is indeed a God of order and structure. As a writer, I need to embrace the structure and planning aspect…the results will probably be even more amazing than when I was pantsting.
For me, writing is like sculpting. I take the existing material and chip away until I see the shape hidden within. If I had that shape clearly in my head to begin with, there’d be no reason to start in the first place.
Neither method is really wrong. Which primary writing method is right for a particular author comes down to personality type; whether they’re an intuitive or a sensor, (SOP v. CF) or Judging or Perceiving (CF vs. SOP.)
Intuitive or Sensor is usually dominant if you’re mixed type: an Intuitive Judging (me) will tend to plan ahead, but tend to keep track of everything in their heads unless we discipline ourselves to do otherwise. We’re really good at keeping track of things in our heads, though.
So it all really depends on the writer’s wiring and how much knowledge the SoP writer has fed themselves with in terms of plot and structure of whether it will work out or not. An intuitive who knows how to properly structure and plot a novel will actually produce similar results to a CF with an ounce of flexibility in him/her.
You inspired my own post (see website link) 🙂
I’m an SIB. 😀 I always know my characters really well, but I’m not always exactly sure how they’re going to get to their destination. It’s both fun and terrifying trying to figure it all out. Every manuscript is like a whole new adventure. And so far each one hasn’t been written in the same way.