Do you plot your story before or as you go?

Alana

I knew a basic outline of a story but am finding I have to change it. So I would just like to know whether it is easier to plot your story before writing or as you write.
What is your advice?
Thanks
Alana

Island Girl

It depends on the writer, Alana. Some people plot their story to the smallest detail and in the case of whodunnits etc., where clues, times and dates are often important, this is probably a good idea.
I have an idea of what I want to happen in mine but it changes constantly as I go along so to answer your question, I do both.

Betsie

My story usually evolves on the page - I never have a definite ending when I begin writing.

Carol

A mixture of both in my case.
As said it is what works for the individual writer.
I assume you have a beginning and an end... well start asking yourself questions in relation to what you do have.
Even when you have planned the story out it can still change and develop as you write.

Amanda

I'm a mixture of both as well. I found some good advice in a magazine recently, which was aimed at short story writing but applies equally to novels.
This was basically to have the people and the original conflict, then make sure that there are several twists and turns before a final surprise twist then resolution.

For a long novel (which i am currently attempting) i started just writing it. Then i found that it went far away from its original idea and i found myself out of plot. So i did a very basic plan of what i knew i wanted, where abouts in the book i wanted it to go and then found i had only a few key events! This highlighted my need to then add the meat to the bones, which is where i had been going wrong i think.

I know am working towards having at least one twist/problem per chapter with cliffhanger endings and hoping for the best! It's quite a vague plan so its not a problem if i change my mind later on.

I've moved quite radically away from my original starting point - so much so that i think if i wrote a series of books the original idea would be the last in the series!

There isn't a right or wrong way to do it, but its good to experiment. Why not try a little plan and see how you get on? I've written each idea on a bit of paper and moved it around to make the idea's and time scale flow.

Lou Treleaven

I usually have a vague plot and then it develops as I write. That's the exciting bit about the writing, I think - seeing where it takes you! Enjoy writing the story, and remember it's only the first draft so you can go back and tidy it up and rejig it afterwards if you need it.

dorothyd

simply:
Howard Spring wrote in his autobiography that he never sat down to write of an evening knowing where the novel would go and never got up from his writing in the evening being displeased with where the story had gone.

We all work differently and you need to find the way which suits you best. I am limited now by the storyline (real lives) and cannot allow my imagination to fly in all directions which is a shame sometimes but a challenge in others, making a life truthful and readable and exciting and very different.

Helen

I am in the middle of writing a novel too, and I have done a plot outline from start to finish. I have to remember to be open to changes though. I agree that it all depends on the Writer. I thought I would like to just write my novel, not knowing where it'll go, but discovered that I preferred to have an outline. Hope you decide what is best for you too. :o)

robin1

It depends on the writer as has been said before. But also in my mind on the type of story, because I am writing short stories at the moment and i plan to write a novel soon. I would be more likely to plan the plot of my novel than my short story, because of the sheer size of the task. That is not to say that I dont plot my short stories...

Stirling

I started off just writing but just ended up going around in circles.

So plotting in advance was a revelation!

Daisy

I always plot the story (including subplots) before I start. I also make chapter by chapter outlines.

Rosalie

I write the first draft without any real plan. Then I see what I've got and write a synopsis. Second draft more or less follows that, though sometimes it gets changed a bit.

I'd recommend trying different ways and seeing what suits you best. Every writer is different and every book is different. Stephen King has a great metaphor in his book "On Writing", where he says writing a book is like unearthing an enormous dinosaur skeleton. The things is to get it out of the ground with as little damage as possible. There may be lots of different ways of doing that. I'm not sure it answers your question - but I find it helpful to picture it that way.