Post by account_disabled on Dec 27, 2023 3:46:18 GMT -5
Not even 2 years have passed since I wrote the article on why to write chapter plots : at that time I was convinced of the advantages of knowing in detail the content of each chapter of the novel. In fact, for the second science fiction novel (R.) – of which I wrote about seventy pages, modified the structure at least 3 times and which I abandoned to resume the one being written now – I was working precisely in that way. But I've changed my method for a while now. And also an idea about the usefulness of writing a plot for each chapter of the novel.
Writing the plot of each chapter: a useless chore I have to tell the truth: in many of the vaunted rules of creative writing I am lazy. Remember the character sheets ? Establish names, surnames, physical appearance, past, ambitions, family, weaknesses for each character in the story. Never done Special Data character sheets in my life. Just the thought bores me. But even when I tried to write the plot for each of the chapters of that novel, I got stuck almost immediately and the plot became just a sort of discursive list of the events I wanted to narrate. Getting down to writing a few hundred words of plot in detail for all the chapters is just a chore that takes away creativity from the writing, spontaneity from the narrative and slows down the drafting.
Writing a novel in the dark? No thank you As I've mentioned several times, writers like Bernard Cornwell and Stephen King never know what happens in the next chapter. It's like writing a novel in the dark. Many writers say they already have the plot of the novel in their head and that the chapters eventually write themselves. Do you believe it? I do not. No chapter, no book writes itself, but only by sweating over it. Automatic writing does not exist. I think it's an "artistic" way of saying that they have a clear idea of their novel in mind and more or less the direction in which the events will move, but the plot is something different; indeed, I am starting to be convinced that the plot of a novel can only be written once the novel is finished.
Writing the plot of each chapter: a useless chore I have to tell the truth: in many of the vaunted rules of creative writing I am lazy. Remember the character sheets ? Establish names, surnames, physical appearance, past, ambitions, family, weaknesses for each character in the story. Never done Special Data character sheets in my life. Just the thought bores me. But even when I tried to write the plot for each of the chapters of that novel, I got stuck almost immediately and the plot became just a sort of discursive list of the events I wanted to narrate. Getting down to writing a few hundred words of plot in detail for all the chapters is just a chore that takes away creativity from the writing, spontaneity from the narrative and slows down the drafting.
Writing a novel in the dark? No thank you As I've mentioned several times, writers like Bernard Cornwell and Stephen King never know what happens in the next chapter. It's like writing a novel in the dark. Many writers say they already have the plot of the novel in their head and that the chapters eventually write themselves. Do you believe it? I do not. No chapter, no book writes itself, but only by sweating over it. Automatic writing does not exist. I think it's an "artistic" way of saying that they have a clear idea of their novel in mind and more or less the direction in which the events will move, but the plot is something different; indeed, I am starting to be convinced that the plot of a novel can only be written once the novel is finished.