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In his book On Writing, Stephen King described how he has tried plotting, and it didn't work for him. So he's more of a pantser. I actually think sometimes King's books could benefit from a little more disciplined plotting, there can be long chapters where the story drifts around in search of itself. But King is best known for his story telling voice, and I think maybe he feels he loses some of that if he plots too tightly.
King was an English major in college and taught English at the high school level. The man certainly studied his craft a long time before he had success, even though success came at a relatively young age.
Whether it's prose or screen, one benefits from studying as many aspects of the craft as they can.
Rules...no. But useful forms, patterns and styles...yes.
I feel the same way as Mr. Stephen King. if i box myself in most of the time my characters end up feeling forced and unnatural. my best plot points and twist/turns come as i'm writing.
my feeling is - you're going to rewrite the whole damn thing anyway... might as well just let it rip. plus it's more exciting when you don't know exactly what's going to happen. sometimes it comes out of the blue.. but you can always use your 2nd draft to fill in the holes/blanks.
In his book On Writing, Stephen King described how he has tried plotting, and it didn't work for him. So he's more of a pantser. I actually think sometimes King's books could benefit from a little more disciplined plotting, there can be long chapters where the story drifts around in search of itself.
pantsing itself doesn't matter. the meandering and fluff just comes down to self-editing your stories.
I tried plotting with my first featue script, within 20 pages I was drifting, by the end I'd sailed off course completely
Not plotted anything since then, I like the freedom of seeing where the story takes the characters and if I write myself into a corner I just take it as an opportunity for an early re-write.
Probably not a statistically valid sample but... I've not optioned the script I (tried) to plot, but have optioned two that I didn't
I feel like the approach depends largely on the type of story. A thriller, for example, would require some intricate plotting beforehand to ensure all the setups and payoffs are in place. A straight drama, on the other hand, would be more of a pants approach where characters are designed and you just kind of follow them around. Also quite fond of reaching a plot point and asking myself "what's the worst that could happen," and then moving forward with that. I would wager hybrid approaches are probably the most popular and is generally what I do. I get a general idea of where the story will go and sort it out from there. There is marginal plotting, but what happens to drive the plot is anyone's guess. in my opinion, though, the larger the tale, the more likely that in-depth plotting will be needed just to keep it on track. My largest one had a 50 page outline that got more detailed as it went on.
That was a novel referred to by one person around here as "big as a damn phone book."
I feel like the approach depends largely on the type of story. A thriller, for example, would require some intricate plotting beforehand to ensure all the setups and payoffs are in place. A straight drama, on the other hand, would be more of a pants approach where characters are designed and you just kind of follow them around. Also quite fond of reaching a plot point and asking myself "what's the worst that could happen," and then moving forward with that. I would wager hybrid approaches are probably the most popular and is generally what I do. I get a general idea of where the story will go and sort it out from there. There is marginal plotting, but what happens to drive the plot is anyone's guess. in my opinion, though, the larger the tale, the more likely that in-depth plotting will be needed just to keep it on track. My largest one had a 50 page outline that got more detailed as it went on.
That was a novel referred to by one person around here as "big as a damn phone book."
The ability to do both is very useful if you want to kickstart a career. I prefer starting with the general concept and going straight into the script. And of course you rewrite as you go when ideas hit you. But i recently had to plot out a full mini-series - before i wrote the pilot - because that's what the production company wanted. And unless your a proven writer in demand - which i am surely not - it's unlikely you'll get a commission without having a very compelling treatment/outline first. So it's a useful skill to practice unless you have time to write a lot of full spec scripts.
The ability to do both is very useful if you want to kickstart a career. I prefer starting with the general concept and going straight into the script. And of course you rewrite as you go when ideas hit you. But i recently had to plot out a full mini-series - before i wrote the pilot - because that's what the production company wanted. And unless your a proven writer in demand - which i am surely not - it's unlikely you'll get a commission without having a very compelling treatment/outline first. So it's a useful skill to practice unless you have time to write a lot of full spec scripts.