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.