Writing advice
Planning: your writing superpower
Imagine going on a journey – an adventure – to somewhere entirely new.
It can be incredibly disheartening to experience these kind of setbacks. In fact, it can lead some writers to give up entirely. They shove their unfinished book in the bottom drawer, and their brilliant idea? It never sees daylight.
And this confidence? It will give your writing pace, keeping the energy and tension of your story high – and your reader gripped!
The catch? You haven’t got a map.
You set out, full of enthusiasm… but before long, you’re in unfamiliar territory. A treacherous marsh here, a foreboding forest there. There’s a fork in the road, followed by another, and very soon you have no idea which way to turn. You guess and you guess again, but with no idea of the big picture, no concept of the route you’re following, soon you’re hopelessly, inevitably lost…
Sadly, this is a scenario that’s painfully familiar to many writers! Have you ever charged headfirst into a story, only to realise you have no idea where you’re heading? Or has a plot whipped you away in a sudden, unexpected direction, leaving you written into a corner you couldn’t escape from? Maybe you knew exactly where the end of your story should be, but you had no clue how to get your characters there…
It can be incredibly disheartening to experience these kind of setbacks. In fact, it can lead some writers to give up entirely. They shove their unfinished book in the bottom drawer, and their brilliant idea? It never sees daylight.
And this is why planning is a writer’s superpower.
Yes, planning.
We know, it might sound boring… But hear us out!
What if, before you set out on your writing adventure, you’d already planned out your entire route?
What if you had already worked out what all the key landmarks in your story would look like, where they should be, and how you would navigate between each one?
What if, once you embarked on your writing journey, you had a map close at hand, to refer to for every twist and turn of the plot?
Planning enables quicker and more confident writing that requires less editing.
Working out the key beats of your story ahead of time means you can see the future. It helps to safeguard against getting lost or frustrated during the writing process.
Working out the key beats of your story ahead of time means you can see the future. It helps to safeguard against getting lost or frustrated during the writing process.
You can spot any potential pitfalls before they have a chance to happen, saving yourself hours of rerouting – and rewriting!
You will always know exactly where you are heading next, and exactly how you are going to get there. This will give you the confidence to keep driving forwards, the next plot point firmly in sight.
And this confidence? It will give your writing pace, keeping the energy and tension of your story high – and your reader gripped!
Because of course, if you feel lost and aimless in your writing, your reader will as well. Planning first ensures that all your key plot points are in exactly the right place to keep your reader turning pages.
And keep you writing pages, too! With a clear-eyed vision of the road ahead, you won’t be weighed down by endless decisions. You’ll have made them already. Far from slowing you down and restricting your creativity, planning will speed you up and set you free to fly from chapter to chapter.
If you run into trouble, no sweat. You’ve got x-ray vision. You don’t need to read the whole book, just go to the plan to quickly see the problem with the bare bones of your story.
See? Planning is your superpower. Use it wisely and enjoy the ride!
Your next
chapter awaits
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