NaNoWriMo has begun again. Day 3 is already upon us, and I am feeling good about this book. My husband and I are collaborating this time around. He is more of an idea man, and I am the writer. We are working with one of his original ideas. He has been reading my work each evening and making suggestions for changes or for what might happen next. It is nice to collaborate, especially since it means he is much more understanding when I decide to spend hours typing on the computer and not paying any attention to him :)
Usually when I am writing, I start with a very vague plan. I usually know where the story will start and end, and I have a character in mind. Then I just fly by the seat of my pants. This time I decided to plan a little ahead of time. Since I am collaborating, I wanted to make sure that we both agreed with the plan before I started writing. Well, on November 1st, when I started writing, I was too lazy to take out my plan and look at it before beginning. Today I finally took a peek at the original plan. My main character chose a different name for himself. The book chose a different beginning scene than we had planned. Everything is just a little off.
Lesson learned: Why plan when you're just going to ignore the plan anyway? Now I can't even imagine my main character having the original name I had thought of, Troy. It doesn't fit him anymore. I am pretty sure that his even his race has changed in my mind. I no longer see a scrawny white boy when I think of him. I guess my plans have changed :)
Do you usually plan before you start writing or fly by the seat of your pants? What do you do when the plan changes without telling you?
No comments:
Post a Comment