Most of my plotting happens when I’m on holiday. This works well for me because setting is a big part of my writing and I like to evoke setting rather than describe it. I’m always trying to move beyond the ‘mention olive trees three times so the reader knows you are in Greece’ approach.
I like to plot when I’m on holiday because writing itself can be a solitary, antisocial activity. Plotting can happen anywhere, anytime and it can be quick. Plot while you’re waiting for friends in a café, waiting for a train, or waiting for your partner to finish a phone call.
Don’t wait for a beautiful scene; in books, interesting things happen in all sorts of mundane places. It’s what happening between the characters that makes for riveting reading.
I use the fives sense to capture setting as I travel, just a few headings in a notebook and I write free flow.
Then I read back over it and ask myself…
What could happen here?
First kiss, stabbing, child kidnapped, flirting over cocktails, wedding? And so I have the kernel of a plot point.
2 comments:
Great tips! I've been taking lots of notes while I've been travelling, but I haven't done much writing.
Great idea. I try to use it in my writing as it helps me not to overdo one particular sense.
Kym
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