But I think of the plotting I did before that point as a building up of steam - it gives me thrust, rather than squashing me flat.
Interesting. For me, plottling has never felt like this. Looking at how I write, I had to realize that a lot of my creative steam apparently derives from writing my own "cliffhangers", meaning from coming up with something unexpected or something that is truly hitting my nerves while still making sense within the general narrative. Nothing drastic like sudden earthquakes or dinosaur attacks in what was originally conceived as a quiet historical *g*, but small stuff like discovering that character M. is perfectly able of telling a straight-faced lie to her stepson A., for example. At a point like this I usually have no idea how A. will react if he ever finds out he's been lied to, but since Im curious as hell I will make sure to sit down in front of my keyboard sometime within the next 24-48 hours, just to find out. :-)
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Interesting. For me, plottling has never felt like this. Looking at how I write, I had to realize that a lot of my creative steam apparently derives from writing my own "cliffhangers", meaning from coming up with something unexpected or something that is truly hitting my nerves while still making sense within the general narrative. Nothing drastic like sudden earthquakes or dinosaur attacks in what was originally conceived as a quiet historical *g*, but small stuff like discovering that character M. is perfectly able of telling a straight-faced lie to her stepson A., for example. At a point like this I usually have no idea how A. will react if he ever finds out he's been lied to, but since Im curious as hell I will make sure to sit down in front of my keyboard sometime within the next 24-48 hours, just to find out. :-)