How to Plot (For Better Stories)

David Lowery, Odyssey Class of 1999

I find that it's impossible for me to write a good story that has a reasonable plot without a written plan.

I used to write by the seat of my pants and basically got stories that were okay, but not good enough. Then with my novel, I realized that seat of my pants would just not work.

So I went over to the dark side. I'm too whatever-brained (left or right, I can't remember which is which) to do a complete orderly outline with roman numerals, etc., but I have, like, a synopsis: a written plan that's something less than an outline but more than seat of the pants. It's several pages and it explains the story and the general order in which things happen.

With my writing plan in hand, I then feel free to write without the constraints of having to live up to an outline, but with some idea of where I'm going and what I'm doing.

I understand those that must outline, but for me a full, detailed outline is a little too restraining. Several of my best characters
happened on the page without any planning on my part, and my story would be worse without them. I actually came up with my best characters without the outline and I would hate to lose that.