I think plotting could become easier as I go along. I'm a “pantser,” meaning I write by the seat of my pants. I just sit down and start writing, without considering first where the story is going. The characters tell the story, rather than me pre-scripting it. I love it that they're so unpredictable. A lot of people seem to think that this is BADBADBAD, but I like it. I do find myself following certain patterns, but I'm aware of them and I just make sure the story goes another way.
The hard part is taking the story that's been written and making it readable. There are always plot elements introduced that didn't get used and other things that need to be added in order to make the ending work. This is what I call the surgery phase, or first stage edit.
Right now I'm working on editing Undersea. I never went through that stage, so a lot of development has gone on while I wasn't paying attention. It seems relatively clean, I just need to make sure everything fits together.
Good luck with your edits. A lot of successful writers don't plot. I don't usually plot much, but if you don't plot, you end up having to do a lot more editing. It just depends on which one you'd rather do: taking the time to plot beforehand or doing lots of rewrites after.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it does result in more work after the fact, but if I plot nothing gets finished so it balances out for me. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm not very good at the editing, but getting better is the point, right?