To plan or not to plan?

[BarleyAP]

hi everyone

i am interested in what you all think about pre-plotting or going with the flow? Do you all make a frame work and have the story mapped out before you start, or do you think there is something in just sitting down and writing, say a thousand words per night, and seeing where it takes you? Can you make a first draft this way, and then plot it out after that?

From my own experience I seem to find that unexpected things occur if I just go with the flow, and it seems to be easier to get outside my own experience, and into something that is truly 'fictional' but by the same token, the story I thought I was writing, has a tendency to vanish for a bit as we go off on a tangent.

Thoughts Anyone?

BarleyAP

[Rodders]

A very valid question, BarleyAP. As most of my published work at the moment is non-fiction and quite short I just go with the flow and have no set agenda or plot. When I write fiction for my own pleasure I also write that way. It can be quite supprising what arrises. The other way of looking at it is that doing a synopsis first is all part of the 'going with the flow' equation. It is just more swift in it's aplication. It is sometimes easy to get lost in the story and find that you have no way of ending it without a plan.

[BiancaMiller13]

I use to  just go with the flow.  But right now my current work is testing me and I have found pre plotting becoming extemely useful.  .  My current piece has become so involved that I have been able to set it up as a free standing trilogy. It may be a bit time consuming but it has opened my eyes up to possible senerios and  I have to plan now to make sure that I have all my information straight and accessable when I look to refer to "the past" as my characters roll forward.
 It just seems to me that you will get a variety of answers, but maybe you'll find someone that works or is working in the same style as you and you will benefit from their feedback.  Good Luck!!

[Jayel]

I actually do a bit of both.  I begin with an outline because I like to know ahead of time where the story appears to be headed, but as I write I allow myself the freedom to follow where the characters lead.  Sometimes I end up far afield of the original outline, other times I discover parallel plots, characters and new story elements that belong in another book, and occasionally everything just falls into place as the original outline predicted.  Either way I have a record of all the little movies playing in my head.