Find the Right Method for Plotting Your Romance Novel

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(2) The seat-of-the-pants method. Sit down with a basic idea and just write a first draft, letting the story tell itself.

Pros: If the plot ends up being a lot different from what you initially thought it would be, that’s usually not a problem. And it can be fun to let the characters take over and dictate the story. Maybe you thought your story was about two people, and the story that gets written is really about three. No big deal. And your story grows organically, with fewer contrivances and more human frailties instead being only about the two main plot characters That’s great.

Cons: There’s a tremendous likelihood of writing false starts and dead ends and extra scenes that need to be dumped. What if you get very interested in a secondary character and let him or her take over too much? Then the plot becomes unbalanced. Or maybe you’re so busy describing dramatic confrontations that the story never progresses. For instance, you write the first meeting between the heroine and hero taking place on a city street, then change your mind and have them meet in a bar instead, or in an office. Meanwhile, they haven’t gotten beyond a first meeting. Sometimes, you skip around the story and write favorite scenes with little idea of how to connect them. Of course it’s fun to write a big argument scene that ends in the characters making love. But then you have to figure out where that scene goes in the story, and what goes before and comes after it. There’s the possibility that these individual scenes may not add up to a complete and/or cohesive story. And if too many scenes are written separately, they can end up being too dramatic and overwrought. During revision, each one of these missteps may mean junking entire scenes, even though they are well-written. That’s a painful experience for a writer.

Baffled by too much or too little organization and too few or too many options, you may end up walking away frustrated. Worse, you may conclude that you aren’t a good writer. Not necessarily true. Maybe you’re using the wrong plotting method. So, pick the style of plotting that appeals the most. But if it isn’t working, if repeated efforts are not allowing the characters to breathe or not clarifying the direction of the story, then consider switching to the other method. Even in mid-manuscript. It might be the boost you need to finish your romance novel.   

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