To Plot or Not To Plot…Is That the Question?

I really want to be organized when I write. I want to have a neat outline from which I can start typing and, by the time I finish, have a wonderful manuscript ready for submission. Alas, that just doesn’t fit in with my spontaneous personality. I spend a lot of time visiting my WIP world in my brain. I scratch down some scene ideas, which I may or may not use. Then I sit at the computer and let fly whatever will come out of that hodge-podge. It sorta works for me…

Until I get to that sagging middle part. Some scenes are necessary for the story progression but aren’t as much fun as the action or love scenes. I don’t want to bore my readers, so I struggle to make the flow smooth.

I was relieved to read several posts by author Terry Odell that address this subject. In Don’t Ask Me for Blueprints, Terry says, “Plot points come and go.” In another post, Terry quotes Eileen Goudge from The Writer 2007: “Keep in mind that an outline isn’t a blueprint; it’s merely a rough guide. You can change directions at any point. In fact, you most likely will. As you get to know your characters, they’ll develop minds of their own. Plots, too, are organic and will often shift course as they take shape. If you’re not sure about something, sleep on it. If it still makes sense in the morning, it’s probably the way to go.”

Stephen King, in On Writing, addresses this scary subject:

The Basics: Forget plot but remember the importance of “situation”…

I won’t try to convince you that I’ve never plotted any more than I’d try to convince you that I’ve never told a lie, but I do both as infrequently as possible. I distrust plot for two reasons: first, because our lives are largely plotless, even when you add in all our reasonable precautions and careful planning; and second, because I believe plotting and the spontaneity of real creation aren’t compatible.

A strong enough situation renders the whole question of plot moot. The most interesting situations can usually be expressed as a What-if question:

What if vampires invaded a small New England village? (Salem’s Lot).

What if a young mother and her son became trapped in their stalled car by a rabid dog? (Cujo).

These were situations which occurred to me – while showering, while driving, while taking my daily walk – and which I eventually turned into books. In no case were they plotted, not even to the extent of a single note jotted on a single piece of scrap paper.

And the queen of romance writing, Nora Roberts, said in a February 2008 interview with Writers Digest magazine: “I don’t plot. I don’t sit down and plot a book. It sort of unreels as I write.”

Well. With those endorsements of my seat-of-my-pants style and as long as I remember that while success in writing does depend on attention to detail, it doesn’t depend upon it in outline form, perhaps I can feel comfortable knocking out another chapter today…