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FAQsDo you plan your books or just write and see what happens? Yes, I plan. And yes, I write and see what happens. I plot everything about my books and my characters, down to the tiniest detail of each chapter. I know everything about what I want to happen and how. And then I find that along the way, everything changes, and the characters end up surprising me, as does the storyline. Books take unexpected turns, and things don't always happen as I hoped. Characters end up surprising me with what they do and don't do. And the plot always ends up better than, but different to, what I expected. Always. There's nothing voodoo about it. It's not the book coming to life. It's not a muse whispering in my ear. It's merely the natural consequence of having to work within the boundaries I first create. Those boundaries are plausibility and consistency. You see, if you create characters who must remain within that character, (or else have a plausible reason why they change), then you find they must react a certain way in scenes and to certain situations, that you can't have foreseen. You can't have your characters fight their way out of a sticky situation with baddy soldiers if they are a mix of cowards, pacifists and untrained fighters. It just wouldn't happen. So you might get to the fight scene and realise that they inevitably have to be captured, or killed, or be very fast runners to flee, and so off we go on an entirely different path not originally plotted. more >> |