Plot Characters and Scheduling

Writing is fun. Losing yourself in story to bring the characters and plot is a very enjoyable process.

I have done a lot of reading on whether to write a story driven by plot or one driven by character. I personally write plot driven stories. But I have a friend that writes character driven stories. So which way is better? That is one question that I cannot answer. All I can say is that I am not sure how to write character driven stories.

I come up with a plot. A storyline that calls to me to write down. And I dream up characters that will fit the story. I know that doing it this way can leave characters flat and lifeless. The way I get around this is to outline my characters. Give them backgrounds, families, personalities, looks, and the likes. And I put that with the outline of the story.

With both story and character outlines together, I also have a summary of the story. I do all of this to help keep me on track. The summary allows me to see the whole of the story a glance. The story outline lets me see what I want to happen in each chapter and if need be the subplot of each chapter. And the character outlines lets me see who they are and what their motivations are. This allows me to give my characters life.

The novel that I’m currently writing, now that I think about it, is a mix between character and plot driven. I still have everything I mentioned in the previous paragraph. I have been working on this novel for the last two years. I am not the most dilegent of writers.

For a while there, I would write off and on as I got inspired. Then I decided I needed to write more often. But I was able to distract myself at home. So, I would go to Pizza Hut once or twice a week to write. I’d spend an hour or two writing before I’d leave. And then my husband and I moved last year. And my schedule got thrown off. After my son was born and we settled into our new home, I set a date that I wanted to get my novel done by. I tried going to the Pizza Hut here in my new town but I couldn’t seem to get into a groove.

So, I was back to an on again, off again writing schedule. Over the christmas holiday break, I decided to that I would write everyday, that I would get at least one handwritten page done. It might not seem like a lot but in the last month, I have managed to go from the middle of chapter nine to the middle of chapter twelve. This is the best progess that I have made. Now, I do have to be honest, I have written everyday but I have stuck very close to this writing schedule. My goal is to have my novel written by the end of June.

Then all I have to do is edit it and get it published. And that’s as far as I can is the goal of every writer. To get published so that world can share in the world that we created. Share the story of joy, sadness, wonder, horror, fantasy, romance, or science fiction. I know that I left some genres out and that a few that I mentioned aren’t genres. But not matter what genre you write, you want your work to be shared. You want to bring that story for all to see.