What's Plotting?

On the Odfellowdiscussion list, an argument has been brewing about whether to plot or not. One of my fellow Odfellows, playing Devil's Advocate, has raised the point that some famous writers, like Stephen King, don't plot. (Or at least that's their claim.) Here's my answer to that:

Your point is indeed devilish. (And I like a good argument.) So let me counterpoint--Stephen King can easily be the exception that proves the rule. Prolific writers like King and Joyce Carol Oates aren't the norm in the publishing world--they're freaks of nature, writing geniuses that are probably impossible to emulate. To say you're not going to plot because Stephen King doesn't is like saying I'm not going use color in my painting because Rembrandt didn't---okay, but don't expect the same results.

Besides, King *does* plot. Look at page pp. 192-195 in his memoir, On Writing, and see the story he tells about writing Dead Zone. He definitely had a plan in mind writing that book and carried out his plan (i.e., his plot). King also mentioned that while he begins with character and situation, like most writers, he looks for "story" and that's the most important element of the writing he has to get right. What is "story" in this context but another word for "plot?"

Like King, I'll bet a lot of those successful writers who say they don't plot will tell you that they look for the 'story.' Stories have beginning, middles, and ends. In other words, they have plots. Perhaps these writers don't outline; perhaps they keep the stories in their heads; but they have a developing structure that moves them from beginning to end. They have a plot.

National Day on Writing Information Form

National Day on Writing Information Form

To Plot or Not

Over on the Odfellow discussion list, the topic is the necessity of plotting in advance of writing. Lots of writers are weighing in on both sides of the issue. Here's my take:

Plotting is an important tool in any writing tool box. Certainly there's no reason not to use any of the other tools--inspirtational writing, visualization, jotting down numerous ideas, character studies, building the world first, etc. But the risk of taking a trip without a road map is that you will get lost and lose your way completely. All that previous work will go for naught.

I agree with Lane that it's a huge waste to write two hundred pages only to toss them into your (already big) writer's trunk. I have a big trunk of those false starts, which leads me to now endorse plotting first.

How detailed your plotting gets is of course up to you. I was astonished at the level of detail that Robert McKee considers necessary to write a really good screenplay or tell a really good story. He asks for a complete summary of each scene, dialogue, and action before writing them. I don't think I would go that far, but I would go a long way towards it, especially if the scene was complicated.

A lot of writers have commented that a detailed plot like that would suck out their creative juices and make it impossible for them to then write out the finished product. McKee's counterpoint, I think, would be that if you're a writing professional you don't depend on inspiration to finish, but on hard work. You assume the work atttitudes of a professional, because that's what you are.

I think I agree with him. Working from a vantage point of inspiration and surprize can be fun, but when you're carving out a career in anything, there are days when you just have to slog through the work. It can't all be fun.

The Romantic notion of writing as self-discovery is only good for a few works. Then you've discovered what your themes are and what kind of person you are and you're writing for the payday.

So consider plotting, you romantics! :-)