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For all my talk of pre-plotting, I tried doing some screenwriting the other day. I just sat down and wrote the bits that had popped into my head without worrying too much about where I'm going with it. It was some of the most fun I've ever had with a word-processor. Exhilarating! It's like a drug. No more pre-built plot for me. The story will just have to take care of itself. Stand aside! I have writing to do.
updated: After Hannah Davies's remarks, I thought I should make it clear that I'm joking. Not about how much fun it's been, but about abandoning planning permanently. It's been great, but of course now I'm stuck. And as I should have made even more clear, I almost always write (hopefully) pacey thrillers or mysteries. Surely it would be irresponsible to write a whodunnit, without knowing whodunnit. Or to work your way towards an action-packed climax (we're still talking writing, here, by the way) without first deciding what the climax is. But I'm sure you realised that about 25 comments ago.
Comments: 3
Of course it's fun, Rob. And for me it's the only way to come up with good stories for my screenplays (I'm a pro and pay my rent by writing -and selling!- screenplays). I just need some interesting characters, a good conflict - and some kind of intriguing or funny title to make my fingers dance on the keyboard. The rest is rewriting. And that's the secret of succsess: WRITING IS REWRITING. Which is sometimes no fun at all:-)
Hen
Posted by: Hen Hermanns on February 8, 2008 01:25 PM
Do you ever do Nanowrimo? Don't let silly little things like plot tie you down! Let the characters write their own plot. Having said that, my Nanowrimo, non-plotted, attempt at writing was absolutely shockingly bad. But it was great fun.
Posted by: Katie on February 8, 2008 02:52 PM
Katie, weirdly, just as NaNoWriMo was due to start last year I found I needed to write a short book (40,000 words) in just a few weeks, so I liked to imagine it was a NaNoWriMo project. But I still pre-planned the plot like crazy. But then I have to because I mainly write thrillers.
Posted by: Rob on February 8, 2008 08:38 PM