The discovery process strikes again...

[Stephen Palmer]

the more I think about it, I'm not sure that trying to categorise writers as plotters / pantsters / discoverers / architects / gardeners etc is that useful. Even if one is being highly regimented and formulaic about the approach to a story, there's still an element of alchemy involved the because words still have to fall out of your mind onto the page. At that point you have to kind of allow yourself to be led by whatever light or guide is living in your subconscious. That sort of gestalt practice that isn't easily categorisable.

Agreed. Besides, different novels need different approaches.

 

[The Big Peat]

I second that. I find that without some sort of plotting, me inner verbosity kicks in and I find myself meandering slightly too much. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with the odd literary daunder, but ensuring one keeps to the train of the story is essential, and probably makes writing more efficient (and therefore bearable).

FWIW the way I've tended to approach things is that I've come up with a few key milestone plot points, or scenes, that may occur at various stages in the story, and then try to find ways to stitch the various scenes together. So I roughly know where I'm going to end up, but I find out the route as I'm travelling it.

I think I'm roughly in the same area - I tend to start with an interesting opening image, then a few images that suggest themselves from it afterwards. When I start with an interesting opening image then the next image I tend to go awry. Which is odd, as there seems to be no obvious reason I can't do opening image-next image-then jump ahead.

My first guess as to why that is that once I've done a few images in my head, I've solidified the story's feel in my head, and it becomes harder to think of the big destination points with those hanging over me. Which again, doesn't make much sense.

Now that I stop think of it, I also do a lot better when my milestone moments are moments of character development/big reveals rather than big confrontations.

Ph, the more I think about it, I'm not sure that trying to categorise writers as plotters / pantsters / discoverers / architects / gardeners etc is that useful. Even if one is being highly regimented and formulaic about the approach to a story, there's still an element of alchemy involved the because words still have to fall out of your mind onto the page. At that point you have to kind of allow yourself to be led by whatever light or guide is living in your subconscious. That sort of gestalt practice that isn't easily categorisable.

It might be useful to categorise our general method/mood of the moment. That is not to say its fixed, but having this general idea of how we're going about things can help.

 

[The Bluestocking]

One is the difference between creation and imagination. Some people will love to emerse themselves in the nuts-and-bolts of their invention, putting all the pieces together, rounding some edges here, cutting a few slices off there. It will be fully built and ready to hit the road before a word is written in anger. The only problem with this is that there is no stress-testing and once you let your characters loose with your fine machine, the little buggers go and break it.

This has happened to me - I planned out the story from point A to point B on an Excel spreadsheet showing what each character in my large cast is doing at each point in the story/plot...

... only to find that while I will get from point A to point B, the "little buggers" - as you so aptly put it - have a mind of their own and we will all take a completely different route to point B.

And if I don't listen to my characters, nothing moves. I get the infamous "writer's block" which only goes away the moment I follow my characters and write down everything they do and say.

So I guess I'm a hybrid plotter/pantser - I know where I am going but darn if I can predict exactly how I will get there because my characters are in the driver's seat...

 

[Luiglin]

Three parts of the way through Gorig Cross and I started getting annoyed with my antagonist. The reasons why he was doing what he was doing began to get more and more flimsy as they evolved.

One day I just stopped, fed up with it.

I tried rewriting him outside of the story but nothing seemed to fit. Then he became she and it all made sense. Her main drive was different but to me she felt more at home in the tale.

So back to the start I went and reordered/edited her scenes, each change feeling more right.

So annoying when it happens but damn satisfying when your subconscious gives your conscious that needed kick in the backside and it falls into place.

 

[Christopher Lee]

I'm pure discovery writer. I'll get an idea for a super awesome, visually stunning scene, write it, and go from there. Takes me all over the place, which is probably why I'm not published yet, but I enjoy this method.