Young Writers Society

Ok, most writers know that one of the most prominent authors of modern novels, Stephen King does not plot. He compares a story to excavating a fossil and that using your talents you should be able to pull out the story intact. He states that plotting loses the spontaneity.

Now, my question is this: does this only apply to amazing authors such as King, or should the majority of us ignore King and plot ahead?

I just bought his book: 'On writing' so I'll try to answer this when I've read it. He's quite a legend, but I'm not sure whether he's being completely truthful when he says he doesn't plan. I mean, everyone organizes ideas in their heads, so maybe he's just uber good at doing that?

I dunno. I'm off to read the book!

Charlie

I see no reason why the process of plotting rather than the process of writing can't be the metaphorical excavation of the story. And then to continue the comparison, writing the actual story would be like the scientists who clean it off, editors are the scientist who run tests on it all, and the story being published is like the dinosaur skeleton being displayed in a museum.

In plotting ahead vs. not plotting ahead, I think it completely depends on the story you're writing. Some stories are more conducive to spontaneity than others.

[p.s., I don't know if I'd call King an amazing author. Storyteller, maybe. But I'll save that for another debate ^_^)

Planning does not equal plotting.

Now, remember guys, Stephen isn't telling everyone how to write. He's saying what he believes about writing and what works for him. I happen to believe him, only because the people I know who plot become married to their plot, and nothing spontaneous can happen, even when wonderful opportunities present themselves.

Creation is spontaneous. If plotting works for you, go for it. If you can use it without becoming bound in one spot by it, good for you. Stephen lets his characters run his world. Stories really ought to be character lead (or so I believe).

In his discussion of his book Misery Stephen says:

"Paul Sheldon turned out to be a lot more resourceful than I initially thought, and his efforts to play Scheherazade and save his life gave me a chance to say some things about the redemptive power of writing that I had long felt but never articulated[...] And none of the story's details and incidents proceeded from plot; they were organic, each arising naturally from the initial situation, each an uncovered part of the fossil."

I think he's true. As an actor, I know from experience that character drive and motivation are what make a tale interesting, not the plot.

(For the record, this is really the only book by Stephen King I have ever liked. He is successful, so he must have something important to share, right? Good or bad, I think he reveals some things about the method of his writing that is important for aspiring authors to know.)

I always plot, but not on detail and it's never written in stone. I need a guideline to keep moving, or else I'll hit a block too early on. Maybe that's why King's stories are such a convulted mess sometimes.

This is one of those things that needs to be decided by every writer for themselves. I, personally, do a little of both - though my characters usually run off with any plans I may or may not have had for them. (I'm looking at you, Ishtar.) I usually prefer only to have some characters and a vague idea, but sometimes I can be very meticulous with my color-coded note cards. (I do agree that excessive pre-planning can be stifling if the writer doesn't know when to let go of the original plan and allow for new developments and ideas; at the same time, it can be nice to have some sort of idea where things are going when you run out of ideas and/or inspiration.)

It's like "write or type?" or "what time of day?" - you need to try a little of both and decide which works better for you, and of course, once you decide it isn't set in stone.

I really can't stand plotting. I enjoy planning things out roughly in my head, but if I ever try to sit down and plot the story out, I find the experience really rather slow and painful.

And I find that when I do put myself through plotting out a story, I end up deviating from it in the end anyway.

But then, my novel attempts suck, and never get very far, so perhaps I'm not a very good model.

Can we clarify the difference between plotting an planning? At least in this context? I'm starting to get confused...

The way I'm using it (not so sure about everyone else) is:

Planning - thinking about the basic events/direction of the story, characters, setting, etc.

Plotting - writing down in some way the actual plot of the story, with a certain level of attention paid to detail. Such things as the characters and setting are also examined in more detail.

So planning would be general ideas, and plotting would be getting into the nit-picky details?

I, personally, tend to start out my stories with a "What if" statement. As in, "What if there were people with elemental powers on another planet?" I then expand, making it up as I go along. I then go into more detail on the characters and plot, revise it as a whole, and there's your story. I find I get a very exiting plot that way.
I try to let characters run the story as much as I can.I usually plan out their actions and use them as puppets at first, then consider their real actions, and just make it so they end up in ultimately the same place.

I usually don't plot. Or, if I do plot, I usually ignore the plot I set up, because I've seen it before when I was plotting, thus it is uninteresting to me. Thus... yeah. But plotting afterwards it always a good thing to help you keep your events straight!

I like Stephen King. I've read alot of his books, including "On Writing". This style of not plotting works very well for him. Do I think it's for everyone? No, but I wish people were more spontaneous with their writing.

I happen to believe him, only because the people I know who plot become married to their plot, and nothing spontaneous can happen, even when wonderful opportunities present themselves.

I agree 100% with what Galatea said there.

For me, I'm always mulling over in my head what's happening. I envision it, write the words down, all of that stuff, in my head. But, I've tried "plotting" before, and I always end up changing it. Always. I can't plot because I come to that crossroad where there's about a hundred different things that can happen to change the plot, and I always have to make it up right there and then. I plan, but I cannot plot.

Yeah, plotting is really hard... and I wouldn't even say that it's necessary, sometimes - well, for some authors anyway. Take Ellen Raskin; she wrote The Westing Game with no idea what was going to happen or how all the little pieces would come together, and it was a fantastic and everything made sense!
...Well, by the last page anyway.

So I guess that it's all just relative.