How do you know what's going to happen? Does the plot come to you pretty much fully-formed, or do you develop it as you write your notes or what? Explain this mysterious method of plotting to me!
That's a bit difficult to explain. The plot usually starts with a general idea, though it can also be a specific scene. I think about how to get there and come up with a beginning. I write the beginning down. I take it from there. It's kind of like sitting down and just writing the story, except a lot faster and more condensed. Some of it is very general outline, some of it is more detailed.
Like, the plot outline for my Big Bang story is about four A4 pages long. It contains gems such as Infirmary: Carson running a battery of tests on John (bug or stable?), but also stuff like this: For one impossibly long second, everything inside John went still. Then he drew in a long, shaky breath. "Where?"
It also has this: John being happy//Foreshadowing! It has scenes I put in to emphasise what I decided would be the main storyline (because it's not always obvious). It has a completely reworked ending because the one I came up with was far too… dunno, spongy? to really be satisfactory to anyone. There are little notes about where to put in more character development and a snippet of background story that won't be used as such, but is nevertheless important to how a certain group of people react to what's going on.
I know this is very vague – I hope you get what I'm so ineptly trying to talk about. *g*
Also - do you make notes for other stuff as you go along? Do you find yourself walking around with your main characters playing out a scene you haven't written yet in your head? Do you wake up with a brilliant idea for what comes next, or find yourself jotting ideas in the margins of your lecture notes?
Yes, to all of that. I also sometimes write scenes in the middle first and then have to change them around a bit to make them fit the beginning once I get there. While I try to stay true to the plot outline once I've decided it's finished, it's always possible that the underlying emotions of a scene aren't what I initially imagined anymore. So instead of John being angry as I thought he would, by the time I connect the story snippets he might well be sulking.
If you make notes, what kind of things go into them?
Everything. Background, snippets of dialogues, a line to remind myself that John should have mandatory sessions with Heightmeyer at this point – everything.
Do you usually use everything that you jot down or does some of it never happen? Does your plot ever get derailed partway through, or are you stronger than that and keep it going where you originally intended? What makes the difference?
I usually try to use everything I jot down, but some of it doesn't fit the story anymore by the time I get there, or I scan the plot outline for scenes-wot-are-pretty-but-don't-lead-to-story-progress and scratch them wherever I can. I might have this really nifty idea of the Wraith attacking Atlantis and Zelenka figuring out how to submerge and move the city, but they have only two ZPMs and the strain leads to all kinds of problems and OMG peril and drama eleventyone, but since it's a story about John's way to self-acceptance and his search for abducted!Rodney, the scene would just take up space that could be used better. It doesn't help the plot or even subplot, so a cutting board victim it is.
As for the derailing thing, yes, that happens. I usually try to work out if the new direction works better than the original one while still allowing the character to take the important steps of his journey. If it does, the changes are incorporated into the plot outline and the old bits are taken out. But that's really a case-to-case thing. :)
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How do you know what's going to happen? Does the plot come to you pretty much fully-formed, or do you develop it as you write your notes or what? Explain this mysterious method of plotting to me!
That's a bit difficult to explain. The plot usually starts with a general idea, though it can also be a specific scene. I think about how to get there and come up with a beginning. I write the beginning down. I take it from there. It's kind of like sitting down and just writing the story, except a lot faster and more condensed. Some of it is very general outline, some of it is more detailed.
Like, the plot outline for my Big Bang story is about four A4 pages long. It contains gems such as Infirmary: Carson running a battery of tests on John (bug or stable?), but also stuff like this: For one impossibly long second, everything inside John went still. Then he drew in a long, shaky breath. "Where?"
It also has this: John being happy//Foreshadowing! It has scenes I put in to emphasise what I decided would be the main storyline (because it's not always obvious). It has a completely reworked ending because the one I came up with was far too… dunno, spongy? to really be satisfactory to anyone. There are little notes about where to put in more character development and a snippet of background story that won't be used as such, but is nevertheless important to how a certain group of people react to what's going on.
I know this is very vague – I hope you get what I'm so ineptly trying to talk about. *g*
Also - do you make notes for other stuff as you go along? Do you find yourself walking around with your main characters playing out a scene you haven't written yet in your head? Do you wake up with a brilliant idea for what comes next, or find yourself jotting ideas in the margins of your lecture notes?
Yes, to all of that. I also sometimes write scenes in the middle first and then have to change them around a bit to make them fit the beginning once I get there. While I try to stay true to the plot outline once I've decided it's finished, it's always possible that the underlying emotions of a scene aren't what I initially imagined anymore. So instead of John being angry as I thought he would, by the time I connect the story snippets he might well be sulking.
If you make notes, what kind of things go into them?
Everything. Background, snippets of dialogues, a line to remind myself that John should have mandatory sessions with Heightmeyer at this point – everything.
Do you usually use everything that you jot down or does some of it never happen? Does your plot ever get derailed partway through, or are you stronger than that and keep it going where you originally intended? What makes the difference?
I usually try to use everything I jot down, but some of it doesn't fit the story anymore by the time I get there, or I scan the plot outline for scenes-wot-are-pretty-but-don't-lead-to-story-progress and scratch them wherever I can. I might have this really nifty idea of the Wraith attacking Atlantis and Zelenka figuring out how to submerge and move the city, but they have only two ZPMs and the strain leads to all kinds of problems and OMG peril and drama eleventyone, but since it's a story about John's way to self-acceptance and his search for abducted!Rodney, the scene would just take up space that could be used better. It doesn't help the plot or even subplot, so a cutting board victim it is.
As for the derailing thing, yes, that happens. I usually try to work out if the new direction works better than the original one while still allowing the character to take the important steps of his journey. If it does, the changes are incorporated into the plot outline and the old bits are taken out. But that's really a case-to-case thing. :)