Plot, or lack thereof, and the surprises that come with it

I’m a man on a mission.  I’m writing a book.  When looking at the history of our race, the thing it teaches about missions is you should have a plan.  Well, I don’t, sorta.

As I said before, I’m a concept guy.  I start developing a work based on a single concept.  One idea I had was a world where the gods rule with an iron fist, but they aren’t really gods, they’re just people using technology to manipulate and keep the rest of the race stuck in the dark ages.  Now, that’s not a horrible concept.  The problem is, what’s the story?  Will one of the gods become dissatisfied with the rest?  Will he turn on them?  Will someone from the ruled populace rise up?  Depending on what I decide, the story is going to be substantially different, even though the initial concept is the same.

My work flow is like this; Concept – Story (usually just bare bones stuff like whose point of view) – initial scenes (which I take notes on) – a few more scattered scenes (also duly noted) – write the first scenes – spend a few days mulling over where to go next – write some more – repeat.

What I’m finding is that this is horribly inefficient.  On the other hand, it is surprising and at times thrilling.

For instance, my initial 3 chapters on my current work in progress flowed very easily.  My ideas for them were strong and clear.  They led to my main character being in the hospital.  What I didn’t have figured out was what happens in the hospital to further the plot and given the nature of his injuries, how do I get him out of the hospital because the majority of my story takes place outside of there?  I kicked this around for a few days.  I put pressure on myself by assigning a deadline for a day where I had to continue writing.  What I came up with worked well for me.  I was surprised though, because it meant introducing two characters I had intended to bring on the stage much later in the story, heck maybe not even until book two!  Now I run up against the same wall, because where do I go from there?  Repeat the previous process of humming and hawing for a few days.  What I decide, and ends up working pretty well, is changing the last paragraph of the chapter I’ve just written to introduce a surprise twist that I hadn’t intended to reveal for a few more chapters.  But what it did was it provided a more satisfying and “hook” ending to the chapter and it allowed me to fill the reader in more of what’s going on.  Seeing as how I’m a quarter of the way through, it’s probably time I let the reader in, at least a little.

Is this the best way to write a novel?  I’m not sure.  I know this lacks a lot of depth because I’m crashing through it without a solid foundation.  Because of what I’m learning about the story and the characters as I progress, I already know the intense level of rewriting that is going to have to occur.  At the same time, there’s something fun about coming up against a wall, having a single idea for a solution, and suddenly a whole chapter flows out and leaves you thinking, “damn, I didn’t see that coming.”

Ironically, the reveal that I’ve introduced early actually makes a later scene I have planned work much better and flow more organically.  I had my main character overhearing a conversation.  It’s an important bit of reveal that he needs to know.  My problem was, how do I get him there?  Well, I’ve created the perfect solution unintentionally by doing my earlier than planned reveal.  Funny how that worked out.

So in the end, this is my sloppy way of working through a novel.  I know far more experienced writers suggest a full plot outline, and to be honest, I would feel more secure if I had one.  With a plan, I might be able to write on a more frequent and consistent basis as I wouldn’t need all the head scratching time between chapters.

I think I’m going to try and plot out the rest of the book from this point.  I’ll let you know as I go along which seems to work best for me.