Planning by Rebecca Seaton
Planning by Rebecca Seaton
Why plan your writing? As the
saying goes, ‘Fail to prepare, prepare to fail’. Some people go so far as to
say that lack of planning more than any divine inspiration, or lack of, is
behind what some term writers’ block. Having got stuck on my WIP, I’m inclined
to agree…
How much planning should we
do? This will vary greatly according to your style, the kind of piece you’re
writing and your time frame.
There are also lots of different methods of planning. You might use
notes, diagrams, spreadsheets or a combination of these. I mainly use notes
with diagrams for particular things, like battle scenes, but I started using a
handwritten chart to track main characters and events – otherwise it’s all too
easy to leave a character hundreds of miles away when you need them back home!
It’s important to revisit planning. Being organised doesn’t mean being
rigid. As I’ve learnt in my teaching career, if you’re well planned it’s actually
easier to adapt as you go. This is because you know the fundamentals. If I know
what I want to achieve in my lesson, I can adapt the route to get there if
children aren’t understanding, or go off on a tangent if they have particular
questions because I know where I need to come back to. As with writing, if I don’t
have some idea of the main character’s journey, I’ll be floundering a lot if
one idea doesn’t work.
The same is true of our Christian journey. Our eyes are always set on the
greater prize but as our understanding as a mature Christian evolves from the
faith of our younger years, how we go about it changes, reflecting that. So
plan your writing but revisit, read back, read aloud and read to others – then the
final work will shine brighter, reflecting your original intent.
Rebecca writes fantasy novels, magazine articles
and the occasional play. She had her first novel, A Silent Song, published
through Pen to Print’s Book Challenge competition and is currently working on
the second book of a new trilogy.
Great blog Rebecca. I love to plan and set goals and deadlines. The problem though, is when distractions prevent me from achieving the deadline or goal. Our plans need to be SMART, otherwise you may then feel like you have failed. I also fly by the seat of my pants, so am a Plantster.
ReplyDeleteLovely post, Rebecca! I agree with you. Planning is like being the wise man who builds his house on the rock. God too planned the universe to avoid chaos. The success of anything in life is based on planning. Thank you so much for emphasing its importance, especially for those of us who are pantsers. Planning does need to come in at some point in time to avoid 'waffling' as my students say! Blessings.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rebecca, although I am a pantster by nature I certainly intend to do more planning for future works in the hope it speeds up the process!
ReplyDeleteThank you, from a self-confessed planner!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I am a definite plantser, although I find the books I write in a couple of months are easier to hold in my mind than books that take me longer... More planning and notes are necessary in that case!
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