crispina kemp

To plot or not to plot…

That is the question often discussed, debated and sometimes hotly thrashed out by fiction writers. Especially when in the process of advising, encouraging and most times confusing newbies.

For the uninitiated, to plot means to plan out your story in increasingly fine and finer details from opening scene to climax and denouement, passing through inciting incident, debate, refusal, the muddle in the middle, midpoint-reversal, dark night of the soul, recoup and reassemble, and the battle to bash the shit out of the antagonist. Until all that’s left to do is add a few conjunctions and correct punctuation.

The alternative to plotting is called pantzing. I believe the term comes from the same place as ‘to fly without proper tuition’, i.e. to fly by the seat of your pants.

The plotter and the pantzer are two extremes of a spectrum. Between them exists manifold recipes for (we hope) success.

Me? Plotter or pantzer?

I tried the plotter’s method. I didn’t last long, and I didn’t get far. Boredom swept over me, along with impatience to be writing, to get to grips with the story. Yep, that sounds about right for a Gemini Sun with Aries Rising.

I’ve also tried the pantzer method. Again, I didn’t last long, and I certainly didn’t get far. I had to stop and think where this story was going. Apparently the same happens to most writers who jump into the pantzer’s boat: sooner or later they realise they need a map of the waterways. Saves paddling into a deep dark cave from which there’s no return.

And now to the crux of this post: The reason I’m writing it.

Whether a plotter or a pantzer, there comes a point in the writing process when the writer enters the revision stage. Unless the writer is a creative genius who writes it all in their head, including corrections.

The revision stage is the real creative heart of the process.

It doesn’t matter how many times I read through the story, how many notes I make, how many changes, insertions, deletions, how many times I lay in more foreshadowing, change this or that about a character, tweak a few words here, more words there, this is my love.

That’s where I’m at now with Saramequai.

It was this process that I had previously skimped on, in too much of a hurry to ‘get another book out there’. But this time I’m taking it slowly, focusing on every aspect. It’s coming along nicely now.

Perfection. That’s the aim.

That’s all I’ve to say for now.
Please do share your thoughts, whether or not you’re a writer.
And thank you for reading