I recently posted a tweet that asked a fairly simple question, but one that concerns, fascinates and challenges every fiction writer – how do you plot successfully? Is it an intuitive process or developed through meticulous and painstaking deliberation? Rather than add my own rather unqualified thoughts to the mix, I thought I’d just post the wonderful replies the tweet received here for your perusal and interest – they contain some fantastic advice:
“A sheet of A3 and a pencil, leading to a lot of bubbles connected by arrows (‘flowchart’ is too grandiose a term). Only when I’m happy that the right arrows are connecting the right bubbles do I write it though as a block of text.” Adrian Harvey @ade_harvey
“It’s sheer chaos. I have a rough initial idea, of what, always know WHERE. I have a few key scenes in my head and then once I write the prologue, the brakes go off and I am hurtling into the unknown (at speed).” JM Simpson @JMSimpsonauthor
“For all of my novels to date, I’ve only needed a (vague) beginning, a rough middle point and the ending – then I filled in the gaps! But my latest novel I’ve started (a psychological thriller/murder mystery) I’ve plotted extensively (15 pages of notes+ extensive research).” David John Griffin @DJGriffinAuthor
“A bit of both.” Amanda Huskisson @huskisson66
“Intuitive. I have an idea when I start writing of how things eventually work out, but how people get there is often surprising if not astonishing! So no flow charts for me.” Deborah Tomkins @tomkins_deborah
“I don’t. I either have a start point or an end and let the story evolve from that. I’ve tried planning and it robs me of the creative process. It works when I write everyday. If I leave a story and come back to it then I have to read from the beginning to get back in the game.” Ian Robinson @IprAuthor
“Spreadsheets…once an administrator, always an administrator.” Andrew Okey @AndrewrOkey
“I usually swing on an outline, can see scenes and an end, but where those scenes and how I reach the end even surprises me. If the plot is too tight, the story, for me, cannot evolve. The deliberation comes in the edit when I start shifting things around.” Lynne Taylor @Elementarylynne
“I don’t really plot at all. I wouldn’t recommend my way though.” Jacqueline Gittens @JACQUELINEGITT4
“Maybe a good principle is at every point what is keeping the reader reading? There can be a few hooks at the same time- and there are stronger or weaker ones- but you can’t leave them there. The old Chekhov’s gun principle- a gun on the table in act 1 must go off in act 2.” Dr Guy Mankowski @Gmankow
“I write key scenes, ideas, or things that need to happen on cut up bits of paper and move them about, starting in the middle. I then fill in the gaps, following consequence lines. That gives me landmarks to find my way to the end, though the order often changes.” Seb Reilly @seb_reilly
“Could be intuitive…But I think taking out time to deliberately plot and get your structures right is good practice. Especially for entry level writers needing to maintain a flow in writing.” Rachael Asikpo @RachaelAsikpo
Hope you find these responses of use and interest. Why not give these tremendous writers a follow, I’ve included their Twitter handles with each quote. They have lots of writing wisdom to share!