The phase system

[lilacfield]

Hey all - I just want to know, has anyone ever tried using the phase system, whether for NaNo or for any other writing project? It looks like an efficient method for finishing a book in a short time. But it seems to me tnat writing in such a way lessens the possibility of adventure, i.e. you already know what you'll write, how the story is going to

Comments

[plv]

Hello, I've not tried the phase system, but I have written both when I've known only vaguely where the book was going and where I've had a detailed plan. With the plan, I didn't do phases, but jotted down scenes as they occurred to me. In writing a book I think in scenes rather than chapters, so I can see why how phases could be shorthand for a scene.

Still, I think I agree with you that writing is the most fun when you are not in complete control. Chopping the work down into phases, telling yourself you only have to write, say, 400 words around your phase sketch is probably a great way to motivate you to write as you've got lots of little points to tick off. But, it seems more like work than fun, to me. There are times in my writing where I know what scene I need, I know what's going to happen and I just have to write it. Those are rarely the bits that excite me. I have a feeling that writing the original plan might put down all your ideas and the actual writing might be just work.

Plus what happens with surprises? Most of my later sub-plots came originally from something I didn't expect. Often I've sat around chatting to my husband, showing him what I'd written that seemed to fit the characters and trying to figure out how it might fit into the story. How would you cope with that in the phase system? My books tend change a lot from the plans as I write them.

However, I've noticed that different personality types work in different ways. There is no right or wrong way to write a novel, it's more a matter of experimenting and trying different ways of working to see what works for you.

[lilacfield]

a matter of experimenting and trying different ways of working to see what works for you.

I've discovered that I don't like being tied down to a fixed list of to-write things, but at the same time I do have to know where the story is going. (e.g. the villain traps the hero inside a dungeon, how is he going to escape? Until I know the answer, the story remains at a standstill) As one of the comments here suggests, it might be a good idea to try working with a looser version of the phase system.