Becoming A Writer

Go with the flow or Planning?

This question was requested through my instagram!

I think the answer really comes down to personal preference and maybe, even the genre that you are writing. When you first get the idea for a book, for me anyways, I want to start writing immediately. Most of the time, the idea for the book is actually a scene or a character. I usually don't know any plot or have any form of story planned out in my head.

It's hard for me to suggest to do one or the other, because I have actually used both methods. I have written an entire 66 000 word story with no planning or planned chapters. But also done the opposite and written a huge... i mean HUGE.... sci fi novel that I have planned (sort of) the entire way through.

So, what I am going to write about in this chapter are the benefits and the fall backs of both methods. I think there is more methods than these two but they seem to be the most straight forward, and common, so that's what we will stick with today.

Go With The Flow

The "go with the flow"/ not planning your book method was the first way I learnt how to write. What I think is super cool about this way of writing, is you're not constricted to a plot. I often find that if I have planned the ending of the book, I get EXTREMELY bored of writing the book. This happened with a sequel to my most popular book. So, for me personally, I find that the no planning method allows for me to have complete creative freedom while also not constricting myself to a certain plot or theme, because the story will morph as you write.

The issue with this method is you can seriously tangle yourself up. Maybe you think the chapter you are writing is getting boring, so you throw in a wild spin, just to give yourself something to write about. But, usually these spins are too intense and you havent left hints in chapters before for your audience. They originally read your book thinking it was 'the nerd falling for the bad boy' but then it turned out the nerd actually unground fighter.... this coming out of no where.

Trust me, i have made this mistake.... my first book which is off of wattpad (deleted forever) my character was a soccer star, the new girl to the school, unground fighter, a spy...... SO — trust me, we all do it at the start.

The way to not tangle yourself up is to give yourself a "clock". I have talked about this in previous chapters. The clock is ticking down to the end of the story and allows you to create tension in your book. You need a clock, even if you are not planning your book and writing / posting as you go. The clock for How to Punch Soren Mckinin was 'is this boy going to end his life?' The whole story was ticking down to the final decision.

SO if you are writing a romance, do not have your clock "will they fall in love?" Because its a romance, we all know they will. Make it something different. They find each other of a business trip and the guy is flying back home in 20 days — there is your romance clock. If your character are going a project, your clock is the due date of the project. This will give you enough direction not to spiral your book out and still have creative freedom.

GIVE YOURSELF A CLOCK!!

PLANNING

I hated planning. Before this sci fi book I am writing, I despised planning. It really took the joy of writing out of it, for me. It felt like a job. As if i needed to tick boxes off because something said thats what had to be written. Though, because my new book is a crime novel, I have to plan. I have to know who the killer is, the clues, what the clues lead to? So i was forced to plan.

Don't get me wrong though — I started my book with a crazy scene not knowing anything about the environment and sci fi world. Or even that it was a crime novel. I wrote until the story revealed itself.... Then I realised i will become entangled and therefore needed to plan.

Benefits of planning is security.

You stop stressing about 'oh no what will happen in the next chapter' — you can do quite the opposite and enjoy writing a creative scene, because you know it will make sense down the track. Planning also always for you to write chapters ahead of time (if you are posting here on wattpad.) This is a good thing, as I said in previous chapter, you want to be posting multiple times a week if you really want some good traction.

Planning usually calls for less editing at the end of the day. In HTPSM, I had a person comment recently that they didn't want to keep reading my book as the chapters didn't follow the chapter before hand. This is my style of writing but it is also a reflection on that lack of planning as I did not know what the next would be and its evident. In my sci fi book, i have literal scenes that need to be moved 20 pages ahead because I did not plan. Which, I don't mind too much as I prefer creative freedom over constricted writing.

But, I think planning causes less editing... so if you hate editing.... PLAN! hehe.

Side note:

Both methods will force you to edit. Sometimes having constrictions when you write can make you think outside the box, and therefore make the story more interesting. Both - you cannot avoid editing. I would suggest just getting your story out, don't worry too much about the structure and plot and the comeback and edit. But — this is if you're not posting but rather writing the story offline first.

You need a crazy amount discipline to write a story and complete it. So if you have, congratulations! It's really hard, so you've done great!