Current mood:

contemplative

it has begun! (the plotting ;)
Well, I deliberately left the planning and plotting for the week before NaNoWriMo. I read in No Plot? No Problem! that that's what was recommended to avoid burn-outs or boredom when the time comes to actually write it.

I should really have read what I have already written weeks ago, but I only started today and actually got a bit worried that I had not started planning yet. BUT once I started reading, I started to get excited again and while I was at work doing my job, I thought about my plot and had my notebook beside me to write things down as they came up.

Now I'm grateful I didn't start earlier like what I've seen others have done because if I came up with this plot weeks before, I think I would have been too frustrated trying NOT to write it already. And the hint of spontaneity and a bit of rushed panic in my plotting and planning now is EXACTLY what I need for this story's voice.

I think that if I planned too much with this raw outline it would lose its certain effect. That effect that some have mentioned to me -- that they had no clue what the story was about but as soon as they started reading it, it just took them away, the story rolling along, catching them. That's really cool to hear :))). I need to keep it that way. But also make sure that there is in fact a story to this.

That's my biggest concern right now which I haven't got yet: the ending, the sense of fulfillment the reader SHOULD get when they have finished the story. hrm.

IN TERMS OF plot notes: I have several scenes outlined already. I try to keep it as vague as possible because I tend not to follow the detailed ones when I actually write it. Keeping it vague leaves more room for my imagination to move and change and improvise. I feel less restrained even if my original idea is exactly what is written down.

The downside to keeping it vague though, is sometimes I can forget about a scene I've discovered and that's a bummer if it was a good scene. Ah well, people say that if it was good enough, it will always be remembered. right? ;)