Tuesday's Inspiration - You Need A Plan #MFRWauthor #amwriting #aminspired

I'm always amazed when other writers say, "I just let the characters tell the story." They insist they don't plan. Now I've been critiquing beginning writers for years and I can tell the ones who have no real plan. What they show me is a series of incidents that lack the cohesion to write the story. I don't believe in pansters. What I think there are people who are more in tune with the characters than the plot and vice versa. Whether these writers do the plan on paper or in their head, they do have a plan. Knowing how the story will end is always a good idea. This can be general. Such as romance - the hero and heroine fall inlove and live happily ever after. Or in mysteries - The good guys catch the bad guy and the good guys are happy. There can be twists and variations. But the road to finding that satisfying ending takes a plan.

So whether you plan in your head as your characters move toward an illusive goal the author knows what that goal is. They may not know the time and the place where the story ends. They have to find the road to get the characters to that point. Though they insist they don't know where the story is going when they begin, they know the kind of story they want to write.

Having a plan is easier for a plotter especially through the middle part of a book. Before they introduce their characters they know where they are going. Then the characters are chosen and they explore together those plot points the writer had written down.

So if you are plot or character oriented I do think you have a plan that solidifies as the characters move through the story. The plan may change and often does but the end is usually the one thought of in  the beginning.