Planning vs. Spontaneous Writing

I have always been more of a spontaneous writer than a planner. I tend to just start writing and see how my characters and plot develop as I go. Quite often this gets me into trouble and I end up writing a story that doesn’t go anywhere or doesn’t quite make sense. But, in my opinion, planning can get you into just as much trouble as spontaneous writing can.

I am going into my final year of university and am starting to think about my creative writing dissertation. Before the summer holidays, my supervisor told me not to write any of my dissertation until I got back to university and instead to just think and plan and do a lot of reading.

So I took her advice and spent the whole of the summer thinking about my intended story idea. And the more I thought about it, the more confused I became. As I dwelt on my characters and the situation they’re in, I realised how much depth there is to my story idea. I realised that there are a thousand ways I could broach the subject I’m planning to write about and I have no idea which one to choose.

I have thought of thousands of possibilities for my characters, a thousand different endings and a thousand different ways I could begin. I only have 6,500 words in which to write this story and there’s no way I will be able to include everything I’ve planned out over this summer.

So the question is: how do you find a balance between spontaneous writing and planning?

Obviously, the answer to this question depends on the kind of writer you are. Some writers need meticulous planning whereas other writers thrive with none. But whichever kind of writer you are, we are all in danger of, one the one hand, not thinking our story through properly and getting lost on the way or, on the other, over thinking it and becoming confused.

I think part of the reason I have become so confused about my dissertation is that I’m trying to plan out what my characters will do without knowing them properly. In my opinion, you don’t really get to know your characters until you start writing their story. I am sure that when I start writing, my characters will tell me what they want to do and they will take control of the story as characters so often do. Fictional characters are so organic and unpredictable, there’s no way you can plan out their entire existence before you start writing.

So here is my advice. When you think of an idea for a story, jot down the basics and then instantly start writing it. You can still plan the story as you go along. But, in my opinion, you can’t know your characters well enough to decide what they would be likely to do until you have started writing about them.

Let me know if you disagree with this advice in the comments. I’m interested on your thoughts on the matter. Thanks for reading.