Plot by Scene

Already Wednesday again—this week has flown by! Today’s RTW question from YA Highway is: Are you a plotter or a pantser? Do you like to make a detailed plan before you start a project? Or do you prefer to fly by the seat of your pants and make it up as you go along?

My answer isn’t simply picking A or B. I fall somewhere smack dab in the middle. I know how the book is going to end when I start writing, but I don’t always know how my characters will get there. When I write I think in scenes: a dance, a snippet of conversation, a walk through the marketplace. Then I figure out how these scenes can interact with one another in a cohesive plot. My plot outlines can barely be called that; they really just include a listing of scenes (normally three) that I want to include in each chapter. Something like this:

Chapter Eight

J thinks of S

J’s daily activities- intro F

J has lunch with E- intro

Nothing special at all, right? But it tells me what I need to do for the chapter. So far this not quite plotting not quite figuring-it-out-as-I-go has been working well for me, but I can imagine that extra plotting before I dive in could be really helpful, too. Perhaps I’d have less revising to do that way…always something to consider!