THE PROBLEM
One of my main problems is how to structure a story. Once I have a story in mind, I just get on with it, without a plan or even an outline. This gives me the problem of doing a lot more editing than I need too. For some reason I have a disconnect between what I want to say and how to put it into words. It would be great to have guidance on how to correct these issues.
The solution
The greatest problem any apprentice writer has with novels is how to structure them. The reason for this is a paradox that affects us all when we move from being readers to writers. As readers, our experience is mostly passive: we respond to cues given by the author and follow the story they’ve laid out for us. We turn the pages and the chapters flow naturally into each other. Characters develop and interact. At some point, we’re fully engaged in the narrative and eager to find out what happens. That’s the reading experience.
The mistake that most apprentice writers make is assuming that writing a book is the same as reading it. If we just start, the story will flow. It will just happen. It doesn’t. Why not? Let’s look at it a different way. Imagine you’re a director about to put on a play. You gather your cast and you put them on stage. You tell them, ‘OK. We’re going to do a play. Go!’
Naturally, the actors won’t be able to do anything. They might improvise for a while, but it won’t be a play. At some point, they’re going to revolt and ask things like, ‘Who’s my character . . . What’s the story? . . . What are the acts? . . . Who does what, when and why?’ Without these things – without a script – there’s no play.
When you start a novel without knowing what’s going to happen or how a novel’s structure should work, you’re putting yourself in the same position. You don’t know where you’re going or why. It’s impossible to create cues for a reader if you yourself are the reader. A writer’s job is to make the journey in advance so that the reader can follow without getting lost. When you write as a reader, you get lost.
Painless planning
Most writers don’t like plotting or planning, mainly because they don’t know how to do it and also partly because it’s not as much fun as the actual writing. It’s not creative. This is the wrong attitude. A good plan is fuel for greater creativity because it means you’ll be able to write a novel that works, concentrating on the important task of making the book fun to read without getting b
