This article is #6 in a rolling blog tour. For the previous entry, please see Ryder Islington’s post on plotting. The details on all the participants are at the bottom of this post.
Plotting by the Seat of Your Pants, or Me and Mr. King
What kept me from even beginning my first novel was the big, bad PLOT. My characters were developed and tapping their feet with impatience. They had names, quirky habits, insane personalities, and so much nerve they frightened me. The setting was so clear, I was almost blinded by the scenery. But figuring out what would happen, chapter by chapter, was impossible.
When I first started writing mysteries, I didn’t know where to begin. I’d already published three nonfiction books, several articles, and some science material for an educational publishing company. All these projects required a detailed outline in order to keep on track. But trying to outline fiction was like trying to pinch a butterfly. So I took the advice of a writing instructor, who told me to just write the story. It worked. My characters took over.
And I got lucky once. My husband and I were lost in the country. We backtracked and ended up on a road called “Murderers Row.” By the time we found our way back to civilization, the plot for a new mystery had formed. Don’t ask me how it happened, it just did.
After five novels, however, I continued to hear that devil in my head, telling me I was doing it all wrong. Then I read Stephen King’s book, A Memoir of the Craft–On Writing (the best book on writing I’ve ever read), and guess what? That great novelist does not plot his stories. “I believe plotting and the spontaneity of real creation aren’t compatible,” King wrote. “It’s best that I be as clear as I can—I want you to understand that my basic belief about the making of stories is that they pretty much make themselves. The job of a writer is to give them a place to grow.”
I realize that non-plotting doesn’t work for everyone; but for me, watching the plot unfold, often at my characters’ discretion, is the most enjoyable part of writing mysteries. Of course, after the first draft is complete, I go back and tighten the story.
So I can honestly say that Stephen King and I have something in common. No, I don’t make millions, but if he can plot by the seat of his pants, so can I.
Ryler Islington www.ryderislington.wordpress.com
Pat Brown gkparkerhistorynoir.blogspot.com
Mollie Cox Bryan www.MollieCoxBryan.com
John Hines www.johnhines.com
Nancy Lauson www.chickdickmysteries.com
Stay tuned for our next rolling blog on Wednesday. We’ chat about Writer’s Block. Writer John Hines will begin the blog with his words of wisdom.
"But trying to outline fiction was like trying to pinch a butterfly." Well said. I feel so much better about my own "pantster" style. Heh.
I agree with you and Mr. King. Our brains naturally find and/or create patterns and connections as we write.
Many writing guides stress the need to "put hands on the keyboard", but I believe it is just as important to think and dream about our stories along the way.
KT
I also love the "pinch a butterfly" quote and agree that Stephen King has the best book on writing out there. I have a basic plot in my head and tinker with it, sometimes for years. When it comes time to write, I don't need an outline. However, I'm continually surprised and the details and subplots that unexpectedly filter in. It's like knowing the story I'm going to write and yet it's still a great surprise.
I'm happy to hear someone else is a seat of the pants plotter like me. I sometimes don't know teh identity of the murderer until two thirds of the way through a manuscript. If I don't know, I feel I can keep the secret from my readers. Like Sunny, I am ofen surprised by subplots, and I like it that way.
That's how I do it. I just put my characters on stage and let them act. That's how life is, and if a novel or story is to come to life, I think that's how it has to be done. It's a revelation. I'm never certain, when I write, if I'm God or an innocent bystander. If you create great characters, put them into a setting, and know what kind of story you want to tell, they seem to just about do the work for you. All you have to do is hit the right keys.
I am presently writing an historical novel, King David's Harp, about a family of Jews, expelled from Spain in 1492, who get caught up in a race to find the legendary harp of King David and return it to Jerusalem.
Sometimes, it seems, I have little control over my unruly creations, and they even tell a better story than I could.
To each his/her own. I'm impressed to see those who don't outline/plot make it work. I was asked about this in a recent interview. My answer was not outlining was like spelunking a compex cave system with only ten matches. My brain just can't work that way. In fct, last night, I spent close to 2-1/2 hours working on a general outline of a story that's hit me hard in the last couple weeks. I'm still not finished. But…kudos to those who can produce a story without knowing the direction until they're well into it.
I find that when I try to plot a story, it stifles me. My personal experience is trying to force my charactors to do and say things they simply aren't going to do and say, so it never works for me. I rarely have more than a very general idea of where a story is going and I'm as interested as anyone else, to find out what happens when I turn the page!
This has been a very interesting post with an equally interesting thread. It is comforting to see that none of us are alone in our quest to put our thoughts in writing in the best possible way that we can, while making it interesting enough for others in the future to find our writing and ourselves interesting enough to be worthy of a second look. Sometimes, run-on sentences are necessary although socially unacceptable.
It's so good to hear from all of you plotters and non-plotters. I admire you who can and you who open a page to see what happens next.
Hey, Mike,
I really get into run-on sentences, dissecting every phrase, listening for the cadence, looking for alliteration . . . Thanks for your comment.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
I may be nuts or old-fashioned, but I love plotting. I spend a week outlining a book before I begin writing. It's part of the joy of creation for me to envision the whole thing beforehand. Then…I start to write, and before long the novel takes on a life of its own, and by the time I finish, months or years later, the novel ends up looking very little like the outline I started with.
Thank you for a thoughtful blog. I am too chicken to plot by the seat of my pants but I notice sub-plots just sort of plotz on their own, if you'll pardon the expression, in the midst of the larger outline.
I read King's memoir last autumn. Fabulous! I missed the part about letting the story unfold and merely being the scribe. I can only absorb so much on the first reading. Time to re-read, methinks.
Marta Chausée, author Resort to Murder series
To add a comment so you won't sit at 13 for very long, after many years of writing and being published, I have to say I've never, ever, ever plotted a book. To do so would ruin my creativity. My brain would say, okay that's done, gotta write the next one now. There are many of us out here, so it can't be wrong.
I was blocked from writing by Fear–and by not having any training in plotting. I began a novel and learned as I went along. Early on, however, I heard about and read Syd Field's book, Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting. That book gave me a model that made sense. Bottom line, though: Reading many, many books and desiring to write one yourself gets you through.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, John. And you are not nuts. I'm impressed with anyone who can create an outline and stick to it.
Great blog, and I couldn't agree more. My current WIP took an unexpected turn yesterday, and if I had it outlined or plotted, it never would have happened. I thoroughly enjoy letting my characters turn in the direction they want to, without my help.
It's fun when that happens, Marja. Never a dull moment.
I just can't plot by the seat of my pants – I tend to go in the opposite direction. I always admire those who can let the characters breathe and grow and find their own way. I'm in the midst of plotting a mystery though and that's a different beast entirely – I need that plot to form a bridge between the first and third acts. I'm inhaling great gulps of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett in the hopes that something shakes loose.
Bill,
Raymond Chandler and Dashiel Hammett are my inspirations as well.
Keep working, that bridge with form.
Best,
Kathleen
Plotting is the agonizing thing for me. Lots of restarts and reworkings. But then writing is a breeze. I did learn this the hard way — trying to write with vague ideas floating around in my mind. Cheerio, Melanie Jackson