How Do You Plot?

[Brittany (gone-ish)]

Do you plot out stories? If you do, how do you go about the actual plotting process? I've spoken to a few people about how they approach this step in writing and I'm always amazed at how different the methods are. Hearing other ways of plotting has just always been fascinating to me and learning an alternative method seems like it might be beneficial in some way. So I'm curious about how the rest of you Wanderers go about it!

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I personally like to have the majority of my stories plotted out before I attempt to write them. Since I feel like my stories are very character driven and I need to know what the endgame is for the characters as a means of understanding the actions that lead up to the climax and resolution. I use a toooon of lists for just about everything. The characters always have really thorough profiles that go so far as mention details about left-handed or right-handedness and allergies. I also create lists of scenes that I know I want to appear in the story. The lists are my essential since I print them out, cut them up, and rearrange the scenes on my floor like some sort of jigsaw puzzle until I find the order I like best.

I'm very list-oriented though and in my head there's no detail that's too small when it comes to understand the character's motivations. Because I end up with so many lists and pages of information, I always have a folder on my computer for each new project, but I also print out everything and keep it together as a hard copy in some sort of file. I seem to work better with hard copies though since I like to spread everything out around me and be able to see it all at once xD. Needless to say, my plotting process usual results in one gigantic mess on my bedroom floor...

[aka Heidi (Away)]

It's been forever since I last wrote a story on my own! The last time was probably Nano 2009 or some wild year like that. In general though (this even counts for roleplays, which I do a lot more of now), I don't tend to plot to a great extent. Of course I will have some general idea of where the plot is going and where to start, but usually I don't have an end result in my end until I'm 3/4 of the way done.
In my opinion, this works much better for me. I think it's because I don't really get a feel for my characters until I'm writing for them. Only when I know my characters well can I decipher what happens next. I know this sounds a little silly considering I'm making the characters myself, and thus I should know all about them from the get-go. But that's not true for me! My characters are always developing, changing, and sometimes I wonder if they have a mind of their own.

If I have everything written out ahead of time, from start to finish, I feel obligated to them follow that outline. I don't want to change it because then that would mean I have to change a lot of other aspects as well, including leading events, etc. I find it much more exhilerating to have a general idea of where I'm going but never to know the finer events in between.

Of course, I'm not (and don't think have ever been) a serious writer. I write because I love to do it, not because I want to be published or even read! I just love writing, that's all. So really, being this spontaneous and not going through so much planning makes it less stressful for someone like me.

[Aly]

Oh my God, Thread, where have you been all my life? This topic excites me to no end. When I have access to a computer I'm so stalking this. And replying with my own method.

This is one groovy thread, man.

[morgan]

Has anyone ever heard of the snowflake method of book-planning? I do something kind of similar to that, though sometimes I go out of order and skip steps. Well, really I just follow the main theme of starting out small and gradually adding more minute details as I go further into my planning. If anyone has trouble planning books, I'd definitely recommend going through these steps, because it's really helpful.

Anyway. For me, it usually starts with an idea. I write down a few sentences about what is going to happen, just vague information. Kind of like a mini-summary. After that, I usually develop my characters. I try to figure out as much as I can right then and there, but like Heidi said, characters are always changing, so I don't try to define everything about them. I usually find out who my characters are while I'm writing, but I like having somewhere to start.

After that, I make a plot map. We started using these in my eighth grade English class, and I can't even begin to explain how much these weird little things have helped me. First, I decide what the main aspects of the book are going to be--the exposition, the conflict, the climax, the resolution. Once I decide what that's going to be, I add in the more important events in the rising action, leaving some space for the last-minute additions I tell myself I'm not going to add but will end up adding anyway.

Lastly, I go event by event and plan everything that I know in advanced is going to happen. At the end of this, I usually have a few thousand words explaining the entire book. Then I go from there, trying my damndest to stick to my plan, but adding in interesting little tidbits as they come to me. Sometimes I have to go back and completely redo my planning because I've decided to go in a different direction, which I've done legitimately at least five times while writing 100 Days. Everytime I get some progress in that thing, I get a better idea for the ending, and thus I have to spend weeks tweaking everything rather than writing.

And when I roleplay, I go for a less neurotic approach, because I doubt anyone wants to put this much effort into something that's supposed to be for fun, haha.