Novel writers - to what extent do you plan your work?

[Meta4]

Are you rigid chapter-by-chapter planners, or do you wing it?

I find planning holds me back a bit. I've got a few ideas/concepts but planning an emtire work around them is HARD!

[ImperialBlether]

I write a page (maximum) on each chapter but usually there are odd pages where I can't think what might happen. Sometimes I realise actually nothing should happen and other times I talk it over with someone and realise what should happen - often those are the best bits.

It gets rid of writers' block if you know what's going to be in each chapter, I think.

[Meta4]

sulks Not sure there's anyone I can really talk to about it.

[Meta4]

Sorry, that wasn't meant to be bold, it was meant to mark my sulking action!

[ImperialBlether]

Talk to us! I LOVE plotting! PM if necessary.

[Meta4]

Thanks very much! I might do that. Give me a while to gather my thoughts and I might run it past you.

[GW297]

I spend a lot of time planning but also happy to deviate and go with it!

[ImperialBlether]

You can't plan and take a vow to stick to the plan. The plan is really to get you started and to make sure you head in the right direction. If, halfway through, you realise you should go in the opposite direction then that's fine - nobody's holding you to it! It's just so much less scary to start a chapter when you've a page or so telling you what's in it.

[Novelist]

Love a good plan and am a big believer that everyone should learn to plot, even if you end up being a pantser. Need to have those tools at your disposal. I winged my first few books, then ran into a story where I became scarily stuck. Am now keen on everything three-act structure, but my favourite tool is Michael Hauge's six stage plot structure.

[TunipTheVegedude]

Novelist - thank you for the tip re Hauge, I've never come across it before and think I'm going to find it useful.

[pillowcase]

hey all,
didn't see this section before and hope to join you all. am writing novel, children's novel and short stories but still unpublished. must look up Hauge. Have found lots of stuff on youtube that's interesting. the plot whisperer and also Brandon Sanderson lectures.

[pillowcase]

to answer question, i did't plan too much on my first effort but the revisions were painful and it was never a good story, now i try to plan as much as possible in advance, makes writing much easier and makes for a better first draft

[BsshBossh]

I'm a planner. I've used Snowflake and Dramatica methods but adapted to suit my needs. For a novel I will spend a month or so planning. Haven't published yet though have written three.

[Absy]

I'm editing (with a bit of writing) a novel at the moment - I have been writing it for mumbles an incredibly long time, and had an idea of what was going to happen along the way in my head (I wrote the ending a while ago). BUT, if I were to do it again I would do more planning than I have with this one.

As this is at such an advanced stage, I keep a separate document which sets out all the chapters, timelines, what should be happening where and when and the themes, arc of the story, background on characters etc. (which is useful when I find a passage which I think needs to be moved somewhere else, particularly to help decide where it should be).

[wearingpurple]

I'm changing my m.o. for 2013. For the last three years I've worked within a loose structure which has tended to mutate as I go along - but this year I've decided to plot everything rigidly because I'm sick of my weak endings.

[SolidGoldFrankensteinandmurgh]

Bit of both. When I was a teen scribbling away in my bedroom I just used to start a story and keep going; things would often fizzle out or I would get stuck and then start the same thing again from scratch. I did actually finish about four novels in this fashion (which were all bloody awful, naturally). Later on I got convinced of the wisdom of planning, partly due to knowing other writers and knowing that publishers wanted 2-3 chapters and a synopsis of the rest.

However, this time round I have a loose bundle of notes and I am just plugging away; I know roughly where I'm going and what the three main plot strands are but I keep finding that certain 'key scenes' are moving further and further into the middle of the book.