Workshop: Writing Without a Plot

[devilsduplicity]

Hello everybody! devilsduplicity here, ready to teach you the masterful art of literary bullshit. Or in more technical terms,

Writing Without a Plot;
Eating the Chicken Before Hatching the Egg

Raise your hand if you've ever had a flash of inspiration and thought, Holyshit this is going to be the best thing in the entire goddamned world. Now raise your other

Comments

[celestialcuming]

Thanks for this - amazing advice! :D

[devilsduplicity]

You're welcome! \o/

[mistyzeo]

I ♥ you. I have a handful of stories that got stuck because of JUST THIS ISSUE (wait, but how should they go about bombing the settlement? and why is London empty?), and now I know, at least, that it can be done.

Your method: she's a good one. :D

[devilsduplicity]

The bullshit. It is quite handy.

I hope you're able to work around those issues!

[devilsduplicity]

Ahaaa, well you're absolutely welcome. I hope it continues to help you. XD

[tifaching]

Thank you so much for this, because I've felt like something's wrong with me since I don't outline anything I write. I have an idea, I write it. Ta-da.

I've often thought I'd do better if I had everything planned out in advance, but my mind just doesn't work that way. Sometimes I get the end and write backwards from there. Sometimes I have a beginning and an end, but the middle needs to just get with the program, and, eventually, it always does.

Only once have I started something I just couldn't finish, and I haven't totally given up on that yet. I really love the road analogy. Just keep driving and eventually you'll get somewhere.

Thanks for this, I'll keep the tips in mind!

[devilsduplicity]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with writing without pre-planning! \o/ It's just another method to utilize.

You're welcome! I'm happy it was helpful. :D

[sandymg]

Fantastic post! I outline a little ... sometimes ... Okay, practically never. It comes just as you say. Let the characters talk to you while you are doing something else. Ask them questions. They will take you there. I know pretty much kinda what I want to say. That's not plot. That's more the point of a story. I try to aim to make that point true. It's the truth part to my fiction. The rest is gravy.

[devilsduplicity]

What a wonderful way to look at it! Plot isn't necessarily the essence of a story, but rather, an excuse to drive it forward. ♥

(My experience with outlining has come to a grand total of one story; and I've not even started on said story yet. >>)