I’ve…never been good at organization.  If any of my previous English teachers are reading that sentence, they are muttering to themselves that it is the single greatest understatement in human history, ranking up there with “the Beatles were a pretty good band” and “maybe Hitler was not a very nice man.”  I’d like to blame it on my ADD (like that guy from AWOLNATION, who capitalizes the entire band name for some reason?  Maybe that’s the ADD’s fault, too), and it’s probably a significant culprit, but executive function has just never been my bailiwick.  It bleeds over into my planning and plotting on a book, too.  A few months ago, I wrote a guest post for Hart’s Romance Pulse where I talked about plotting by the seat of my pants.  I’m not going to completely rehash what I’ve already said pretty clearly somewhere else, but I did want to address it a bit here on my own site.

Some authors, of course, craft very detailed, very specific outlines, with plot beats planned and scripted in a rigid text that is to be adhered to like a holy book.  I am not of their ilk.  A lot of my plot beats are created in the spur of the moment, following a general theme of, “I’m kinda stuck at the moment, what if someone started shooting at the protagonist?”  It’s served me pretty well so far.

Generally speaking, when I’m writing, I’ve got a couple of plot points that I know have to happen.  I usually know how the story will end.  What will happen between my starting point, those important plot beats, and the ending?  Only God knows for sure, and He likes to make me work it out for myself.

Mostly, it’s a lot of bad guys shooting at the hero.