That 'not planning' thing, and how it works for me - Linda Strachan

I've been thinking a lot recently about how I write, and reading some of the many blogs and books about how other people write. I find it fascinating to see how many different ways there are to get those ideas from inside our heads onto the page.

Some writers who plan their books seem to make detailed outlines, lists, high points and subplots, working out where problems might appear and try to resolve them, even before they write a word.  I have tried this approach but each time I try it I find that I seem to get bogged down and quite frankly bored with the idea, however enthusiastic I was about it before I began.

I recently started my own personal challenge to write 2000 words a day, usually first thing in the morning before 9.30am, and when I read Miriam Halahmy's post a few days ago on her editing process I was interested in a book she mentioned by Rachel Aaron.  In Rachel's book she mentions that she is a planner and talks about her process for writing more words in a day (2,000 to 10,000). Her planning is incredibly detailed and I can see logically how this would enable you to write a lot more and quickly because you always know what you re going to be writing about. It is a detailed road map. It obviously works, not just for Rachel but also a number of writers I know who do plot their books in great detail before they start.

But not only is this the complete opposite to the way I work, it sounds like something that would (for me) take all the pleasure out of writing.  I get such a buzz out of a new idea, even if I have no idea where it is going.  
I might have an image in my mind, that I have seen or imagined, and something about it will have triggered my interest and sparked an idea.  

Is it a log or a creature from the swamp?

It could be an animal or a person in a particular situation that sets my imagination off.
I often have no idea where the story will go, or what exactly it is and I need to start writing to find out.   Something about sitting at the keyboard, or putting pen to paper seems to bring the story out so that I can examine it and see what shape it is going to take.

Usually once I get the first idea down and I begin to explore it, I find that I need to know more about the main character. At that point I will often write in the character's voice letting them have a bit of a rant, which may or may not end up in the story. But crucially it lets me understand what is important to them and what problem or several problems the character is facing.  

Now and then I will start to write something and it does not become a complete story, so I save it and leave it to one side if that happens, because nothing is ever wasted.  

Wandering in the forest of imagination

The story I am writing at the moment includes two of these short pieces that I wrote at different times, years apart. 
I'd been juggling several ideas in my head that were gradually coming together and as I started to write they coalesced into an idea for a novel. When I started writing it I realised that something I had written long ago was exactly what I wanted to begin a strand of the story, quite separate from the main storyline.  It was soon after that I remembered the other completely unrelated piece, and it too feels right as another element that will build on the first ideas I had. 

I am having a huge amount of fun writing this, that is not to say there aren't times I am fighting with the story, trying to wrestle it into place.  I have a vague idea of where it is going to end up and what is going to happen close to the end of the book, but no more than that.

Recently, in view of trying to write more each and every day, and after reading about all those plotters and planners out there, I tried to plot out the story and lost two days struggling to get my head around laying out the whole story.  In the end I gave up, I am fairly sure my brain is not wired that way, because I could not dig out a single idea beyond what I had already written.

I went back to one of the story strands where I was desperate to find out what was going to happen next and started writing.  The following day I went to another part of the story and continued that bit.  I discovered one thing. If I wasn't interested enough in writing what happened next then the chances were it was not right and would not be interesting for anyone else, so it needed to be cut or rewritten.  

I have decided that planning and plotting are fine, if that is how it works for you, but it is not for me. It drains all the joy out of writing and while the way I write may not seem the most logical way to do it, for some reason it works and best of all I can't wait to get back to it.

I don't think I am the only person who doesn't like plotting but I would be interested to hear about your method of getting the words on the page. 



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Linda Strachan is the author of over 60 books for all ages from picture books to teenage novels and the writing handbook Writing For Children  

Her latest YA novel is Don't Judge Me  

Linda  is  Patron of Reading to Liberton High School, Edinburgh 


website:  www.lindastrachan.com
blog:  Bookwords