Over July and August, I read a huge number of books and this has helped to develop my thoughts about the importance of plotting. People will tend to pigeonhole themselves in one of two categories – they’re either a plotter or a pantser, as in: fly by the seat of your pants.

My summer reading has also helped me to realise that there are a lot of shades in between, for example, in the degree of plotting an author goes into. Some authors will plot out every scene of their book and won’t feel able to put pen to paper until this process is complete. These are extensive plotters and author Peter (P. C. M.) Denton plots in this way. The true pantser will come up with a single line or ending and will just begin writing without any structure.

Many other writers – and I have always been one of these – have an idea of the opening and the character(s) and of the ending. This will often begin with a question, which might become the premise of your story. For example, one of my stories began with me wondering how someone began to put their life back together having lost someone who had been so much a part of it since their childhood. The story I eventually wrote, but haven’t submitted to an agent – I’m better at championing the work of other authors than of my own – came about as a result of a school trip I helped on for the history department of my local sixth form college. They were going to Prague to visit Auschwitz and I was aware how woeful my knowledge of the Holocaust was. In addition, I was about to begin my MA in creative writing with Lancaster University and needed to submit an outline of what I would be working on. I decided to combine the question with the desire to learn more about the Holocaust.

Along the way, I found that research helped me to think about and develop storylines, other characters and sub-plots for my characters. While I didn’t have anything on paper, I was beginning to fill in the gaps and to create a timeline. My notes become quite extensive and whether you’re a plotter or a pantser, I would strongly advise beginning a file alongside your manuscript folder and adding details of setting and character to these by name and location as they crop up in your story. This can be a simple copy and paste document. This will help you to keep track of your characters but it will also allow you to draw a mental map of your story and its locations to ensure consistency throughout. 

There will always be a point where the pantser should consider the structure of their work and unless they have mapped out their story at some point then they may need to go through more drafts with their editor and publisher, which could be more costly.

Pantsers and plotters don’t need to write down the details of their story before they begin to write and this process might come about at the end of the story. As long as it comes at some point then it will highlight any plot holes, continuity and consistency issues. Left unresolved these could affect the feeling your reader is left with at the end of your story, but worse than this: they will also help your reader to decide whether to buy, lend or recommend your work and this could be fatal. It’s important to get your writing right from the outset. Remind yourself that it’s not only your readers who deserve this – you deserve it too.

Stephen King, in his essential author craft book: On Writing, says that he creates powerful characters and releases them into the story. Similarly, Michael Bond said that Paddington was such a strong character that he knew exactly how he would react and therefore writing his stories was easy. It’s important therefore to research character. The more complex your characters are in terms of experience and psychology, the more interesting they become and the more effortless their stories are to tell.