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When do you know the plan is done?

edited July 2014 in - Writing Problems
Tonight's writing session has been DIFFICULT.

I have been working on my novel for a little while now and after focusing on the first few chapters I took a step back to re-evaluate, concerned about plot holes I may later hit or a dip in motivation without a proper plan ahead.

My planning method has been using the 'How To Write a Book in 30 Days'. So far this has been unbelievably helpful, I've firmed up characters and plot (well in the first section of the book at least- 25% lets say) and identified a bunch of research questions that may help.

Now I'm stuck. The planning is feeling tedious and taking so long and I've got an itching to get back to the writing with a vague hope that a lot of the plot holes will come together as I progress with the writing

So TBers, with your wealth of varied experience-
Do I keep at the plan at the end of which I may have undergone a rather tedious and at times uninspiring process but I will have a good base line structure of the entire novel?
Do I just start writing the damn thing?

Is this level of planning and structuring and questioning stifling or am I just being impatient? (the impatience would not be a first!)
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Comments

  • Everyone is different, Emma. I don't plot in detail upfront - the characters tend to take their own track halfway through and that would be 50% wasted.
    What you may have found is that the more you plot, the more you know what's going to happen, so why not just start writing it? Why go to the lengths of noting down the whole story step by step? If you are making the process boring, you could lose oomph when it comes to writing it, rather like painting by numbers.
    Why not set to work? You can continue the plotting at any time, you know - you don't have to have the whole process laid out, numbered 1-20, on a sheet of A4, before you type 'Chapter One'. It is how some people write, and do so successfully, but there is no single hard and fast rule for every writer. Sounds to me as though you need to be among your characters, fleshing them out into real people. And winging it can be very rewarding!
  • You need some sort of plan to begin with, I think, Emma, but not the whole caboodle. Just a nugget of an idea can be enough to get the ball rolling.

    If you are feeling inspired, then you should start writing before you lose that inspiration. Of course, if things come to you as you're in full flow, then make a note so you won't forget.

    Novels usually take on a life of their own and tend to lead you along. Not the other way!
  • Hi Emma

    The above advice is right everyone is different / I work to a basic plot line that I stick on a one page document and then get stuck into the writing - as you will probably know if you've read any of my posts when I write I'm all over the place just spent 5 hours on a train today and wrote 3 different sections of my book a bit near the beginning and 2 bits that will be somewhere near the end I give each section I write a rough title so I can see what it is - it works for me coz my boredom threshold is somewhere near zero and if I find I'm struggling with something I can leave it and move onto another bit - eventually it all fits together like a literary jigsaw and works for me / but we are all different however I would say that if ur getting hung up on the plan then try something different - the thing about books that tell u how to write normally only work for people that like to write the way the person that put the 'how to write' book together. I reckon if I'd done a creative writing course they'd have asked me to leave because I wouldn't have been able to follow their rules - good luck and let us know how you get on - just write everything will fall into place.
  • Hi Emma

    The above advice is right everyone is different / I work to a basic plot line that I stick on a one page document and then get stuck into the writing - as you will probably know if you've read any of my posts when I write I'm all over the place just spent 5 hours on a train today and wrote 3 different sections of my book a bit near the beginning and 2 bits that will be somewhere near the end I give each section I write a rough title so I can see what it is - it works for me coz my boredom threshold is somewhere near zero and if I find I'm struggling with something I can leave it and move onto another bit - eventually it all fits together like a literary jigsaw and works for me / but we are all different however I would say that if ur getting hung up on the plan then try something different - the thing about books that tell u how to write normally only work for people that like to write the way the person that put the 'how to write' book together. I reckon if I'd done a creative writing course they'd have asked me to leave because I wouldn't have been able to follow their rules - good luck and let us know how you get on - just write everything will fall into place.
  • Sorry that posted twice - bit like re-using last years christmas card!
  • edited July 2014
    To answer your question in one sentence - just start writing the damn thing - it's only a first draft, after all, and will undergo many changes before you're through.
    Okay - two sentences.
    If you're bored with it, the reader will be too, so get stuck in and enjoy it.
  • LizLiz
    edited July 2014
    Totally agree with the above. I only write poems and often I start only with a vague idea - sometimes with an end idea or line, sometimes I start off without any notion and sometimes I'm pretty sure I know what it's going to be. ALL work - and even then often half way through one idea something better turns up and I change direction. How much more that would happen in a novel! I'd do what suits you, as mentioned.
  • Yes, just write and see where it goes.
  • Thanks everyone. I guess the problem is I have major 'middle sag fear'!

    I keep thinking if I thoroughly plan it enough I will avoid it. Trouble is, I don't necessarily know what to plan until I get a real feel for it and I won't get that until the writing is really underway.

    My current thought is to read through the plan structure and if there are parts I feel will be a real benefit then I can do that part but I need to probably stop being so hard on myself (again) and allow so free flowing creativity
  • Emma, I just get on with the writing and end up writing different parts of the book when they come to me. That way I stay fresh and my writing (I hope) stays interesting. I know other people who plan everything. I just can't work that way. I'd get bored and Lizy is right saying that if you get bored so will the reader.
  • Write! Write! Write! Sometimes the issues sort themselves out as you write thought it and the worst case scenario is that you get a 'middle sag' but you can always de-sag (if that's even a word!) when you do a rewrite. Stop being to hard on yourself- even the best laid plans don't allow for you characters wanting to do their own thing- so start writing and let them!
  • It's always interesting to read how different writers have different approaches. On the rare occasions I think about an idea for a book, I start to sketch out a rough idea, then quickly get bored with the prospect of writing all those scenes and chapters. I've never tried it, but maybe I'd only manage something if I winged it. :-??
  • I have a project that I need (and want) to get back to and I can understand your dilemma. I started with an idea and just started to write, then decided I needed a plan, then realised that actually the story started when one of the main characters was a boy (not the mid-thirties I had started with) so I wrote that and tried to re-do the plan and am a bit muddled by it all. Partly this is because I kept getting scenes come to me so wanted to get them down on paper. Now I have various chapters and am going to have to fill in the years and events between. I had to put it away for the last 6 months as I haven't been well and although I want to continue with it (because I believe in the story) but I think the way I have done it means that I have stored up problems for myself. It is nothing like the original plan, and better for it, but I need to have the energy and concentration to get back to it. Good luck with it, as someone else said, it is only the first draft.
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