Yes, I'm aware of how important plot is. I know that it pretty much makes or breaks the story you're writing, and that plot is what fiction is all about- besides the characters, of course. But it really does frighten me, and I'm not the kind of person who deals with her fears head on. I'm a procrastinator, a "slitherer-outer," whose way of dealing with stressful and unpleasant things is avoiding them altogether.
Which means that in the end, all the scenes I write are left hanging in the air.
I don't know why I'm so intimidated by plot. I really do love it, and it's one of my favorite parts of the writing process. I just feel like I don't understand it yet.
They stare at me with big, cute, googly bunny eyes, begging me to plop them somewhere where they'll fit. That's when the procrastination comes in.
SO YES. I am scared of plotting. Terrified of it. But I'm really thinking that by now I should suck it up and stop being a 'fraidy-cat, because plotbunnies don't like 'fraidy-cats.
Ooh, I used to feel the exact same way! People would talk about plotting and I'd be like, "but how do you know what all the pieces are and where to put them?" Then I read the book Story Engineering by Larry Brooks. It changed my life! I learned how to take the pieces I had and put them into the right places and add more pieces. And the best part is, you don't even have to be a hard-core "planner." You can pants away, make up stuff as you go along, and then fit it all into place in revisions!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the plotting. :)
Hey Shallee! That sounds a lot less intimidating... I've just recently discovered the beauty of making things up as I go along. I'll definitely be checking that book out :)
Delete...By the way, your blog is awesomeness. Just saying.
Thanks so much for the advice!