Plotting: the art of building a story.

The very word stirs the embers of a conflict that stretches way back to the day writers first took up sharp rocks to cut stories into stone tablets.  It probably even pre-dates that, goes all the way back to the beginnings of oral storytelling.

Plotters versus Pantsers.

Now, we’re not talking Hatfields and McCoys here.  The people of the page tend to be united lot (except where Dan Brown, Nicholas Sparks, and the Twilight books are concerned).  Plotters and Pantsers consort all the time, and very often arguments kick up over which is the best approach to building a story.

I’m calling bullshit on the whole thing.

Plotters pants.  Pantsers plot.  We all know it.  We may have our own trusted methods, but when that deadline’s getting close we’ll do anything we have to do to get the story told… which leads me to what I call, “The Miracle on Ice Approach.”

The Miracle on Ice.  The year was 1980. Lake Placid, NY. The U.S. Men’s Olympic hockey team beat the invincible Soviet Central Red Army Team en route to a gold medal.

Coaching the American team was Herb Brooks.

Brooks’ created a scheme for playing hockey in an attack style, a style designed to pounce on opponents’ mistakes and be in position to make the most of any given opportunity.

It was all about options.

Coach Brooks stressed this point: when a player wound up with the puck on his stick, he had the greatest chance of success if he had options for what to do with it instead of being forced into a single course of action.

This approach translates well to plotting a story.

There has to be an end-goal in mind, but you have to give yourself options as to how to get to that end.

It means following a game plan, yet allowing yourself the freedom to explore a different direction if a new idea pops up.  It gives you the chance to riff on a tangent as you see fit while having the safety net of an outline to keep you on track.

Plotting and Pantsing at the same time.

Does this work for everyone?  I’d imagine not, but it’s a fun way to think about a subject that tends to give writers major agida.

If you find something works for you, that’s what you do.

There’s footage of that famous game against the Soviets that shows Coach Brooks pacing behind the bench, from one end all the way down to the other, repeating his mantra over and over.

It went, “Play your game.  Play your game.”

That’s damned good advice for pretty much any endeavor.

Play your game.

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Jeff Tsuruoka’s life as a writer began at the age of six. He wrote stories based on the monster movies he watched on the 4:30 Movie after school.

Thirty six years later he still writes monster stories, though the monsters that populate his current work have a little more on the ball- at least in terms of conversation skills and the ability to drive cars- than Godzilla and his pals did.

He is hard at work on his first novel.

You can follow him on Twitter at @JTsuruoka and on the Daily Picspiration blog, www.picspiration.blogspot.com

Choose one word and write what your imagination dictates. For an added challenge, include all three words in your entry.

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Dialogue Flex: “We had an appointment but he never showed.”

Using the provided snippet of dialogue, explore what comes to mind, be it a scene, a thought, or something else.

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Do you like to plan in advance or do you operate spontaneously? How do you plot?

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Plot Generator—Binding Blurb: In 500 words or fewer, write a blurb or a short entry about taking a gamble.

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