My first children's novel - now tossed aside - was written without a plan, just an idea in my head and a vague cast of characters. Consqequently, it rambled on for 80,000 words and even when I'd finished the first draft, I never really got control of the plot line. The current one - The Boxed Crystal - I wrote to a plan. I had a synopsis and a fairly detailed chapter plan before I started writing. I knew exactly what was going to happen, when and why. As a result of this, the novel only comes to 20,000 words which is really short even for a children's novel although it's tighter and more focussed. I think maybe I planned too much and left out room for ad hoc creativity. How do you strike a balance between the two methods?
Sue

I write a basic skeleton; a bullet list of the important events that must happen, then lie back, see them happening as a series of movies, then try to write the whole thing.

It sort of works. Then I have to refine and polish and tune (and post chunks on here)

That Newnovelist software has a few basic plot skeletons to use as a starting point, but you could spend your life filling them in rather than writing the book.

I think you have to have a plan, but it has to be flexible enough to allow you the space to enjoy your writing; otherwise, what's the point?

Colin M

My writing tends to ramble anyway, although I follow a pretty similar pattern to Colin. I'll put together a rough premise, important events and crucial characters, and build a story around it in my head.

While writing, I tend to go off on tangents, contemplating the thoughts running through a characters mind as their envirnment or characters around them effect them.

Also, while doing things this way, altering the plot mid-way through (which happens to me a lot) isn;t a big tragedy that requires the entire premise of the piece to be re-worked to fit the new ideas.