How much planning is too much planning?

[Old Man]

I've recently committed myself to planning my story/trilogy after I have created the world for it to be set in. As children in school, whether it be for writing an essay or writing some sort of story, we are told to plan. I have never been one to plan on previous projects but now, something has changed. I want what I write to be good and I need to have a clear path to see where it is going and to do that, one has to plan.

However, as I sat down yesterday at my laptop, I found myself writing all the major things that happen chapter by chapter. Is this a good thing to do? The way I see it is this:

~I have a clear path, but no room for change if down the line I need to alter anything.
~It may suck all the fun out of finally writing the story itself
~And if I plan chapter by chapter, it will take forever.

What are your thoughts as to how much of a plan is too much. It will be interesting to hear your thoughts as to whether it's a healthy thing to plan a lot or, if it will hinder someone's ability to write.

OM

P.S. How do I change my avatar?

 

[Steerpike]

Go into "settings" to change your avatar.

How much you plan is dependent on how you work best as a writer. I don't plan that much. I prefer to write and let the story grow organically out of the writing. Also, I don't find the planning that much fun, so like you I think it tends to take away from my enjoyment of actually writing the tale.

For short stories, I don't plan at all. I just get a vague notion and I start writing. For longer works, I may have a very broad, light weight plan in place (it may be something as simply as the story starts with W, along the way X and Y happen, and it ends at Z).

Others are a lot more detail-oriented in terms of planning, so you have to go with what works for you.

 

[Old Man]

I was of that mindset, but my previous stories lacked focus. I'm just afraid that if I plan too much that when I come around to writing it, I won't have that much enjoyment as I've already, in a way, written it.

 

[FireBird]

Some very successful writers take months to outline every bit of their story before they start writing it. There is nothing wrong with outlining your story to the last detail, just make sure you know when to stop outlining and start writing. Some people hate outlining and they just create the story as they write it. Do what works for you.

I have a clear path, but no room for change if down the line I need to alter anything.

There is a 99% chance that you will change things. Writing and outlining are two completely different beasts. As you write you will discover that some things you outlined just don't work.

 

[Old Man]

Those are good points. I guess I will continue to plan until I feel it is no longer necessary. How far down the line that is, I have no idea.

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

I will parrot what my feline friend said in the 1st response. I know authors (pro writers) that plan every detail of the story in a massive outline that takes 3-6 months. Then when they sit to write it doesn't take them long to hammer out a first draft.

Some authors are pure discovery authors. They plan very few details, watching the story unfold as they write. Often they are surprised by characters and events as they unfold.

Some writers, myself included do a bit of both. For my own work, I do outline but it is very loose and dynamic. I use it as a roadmap to keep pointed in a direction and remember key details & themes. However, if something strikes me in the course of the actual writing, I'll run with it. If I like where that goes then I'll alter the outline (and prior story if necessary) to accommodate that change.

My recommendation if you're just starting, is to outline as much as you feel is necessary. For me, outlining stops when I can no longer resist writing the story itself any longer. Find what works best for you. That may take some time but preparedness is usually a good thing. Even if you wind up discovery writing, that prior planning can often add a depth to your work that seeps through to all readers.

Best of luck.

 

[Old Man]

That is some very good advice and thank you for the encouragement.

 

[Penpilot]

Like T.Allen I'm a bit of both. I wrote my first novel by the seat of my pants. The end result was a mess. I planned out my second novel, not down to the scene but enough so I had the structure down, and things came easier for me. It was easier to change course, fix problems, throw things out and drop them in.

The outline is flexible. It's just a sketched out map charting the planned course of your story, but there's room for detours and out right change of course. If you want to change the route you take then the map lets you know how that's going to effect the whole trip. If I want to change X, I can look at my outline and pick out pretty much every scene I have to adjust that I've written and I can see how it's going to affect the rest of the story in a quick glance. That saves me lots of worry and time. It actually enhances my ability to judge if a change is good or not.

IMHO whether you outline or not, all writers have to do the same amount of work to get a story into the proper shape. You either figure out all the primary mechanics of your world and plot during outlining or you do it during writing and editing. It all still has to be done. It's just when you decide to do it that differentiates outlining and pantsing.

 

[Chime85]

Write as much planning as you can, or will and start writing. Personally, I've found the best way to plan is to set so-called "markers" for my writing. For example, if your characters need to be in a certain place with certain other characters, write down several ways how this could happen.

That way, you don't have to concern yourself too much about getting your plot to the stage where it becomes unmovable. You will have your points infront of you, but you have the freedom to pick and choose the paths you want your story to take.

x

 

[Anders Ämting]

However, as I sat down yesterday at my laptop, I found myself writing all the major things that happen chapter by chapter. Is this a good thing to do?

I wouldn't call it a bad thing. Honestly, this is how I should be writing, because I generally have a good idea of how he plot will turn out but tend to have large "fuzzy areas" that I am uncertain of. You don't want to write half a book and find that some important detail just isn't working out.

It varies from writer to writer, though. Some like to improvise and make things up as they go along. I personally can't do that, because my brain works out the plot automatically and I will know how the story goes before I finish the second chapter. I say do what feel natural for you and don't worry too much about it. The only real way to find the best method is by trial and error.

To answer the question posed in the thread title: Too much planning is when it gets in the way of the actual writing. But having a solid outline is probably just handy.

 

[ThinkerX]

I've done different things at different times.

A lot of my early stuff was 'scenes' or 'viginettes', not stories in their own right.

A lot of the time, I'd read or see something somewhere else, go 'what if?' and then sit down and start typing.

These days...I don't generally plan scene by scene on paper. I do (thanks to an unusual situation at work where I have time to think but no time to write or peruse the internet) mentally go over a given scene again and again. Also, I typically won't start a new story anymore without a clear idea as to where it is going and how it is going to get there.

Worldbuilding helps a bunch. It provides a framework - names of cities, rulers, nations, geographic features, religion, magic, and more to work with.