If you ask me, and you didn't, but I'm going to pretend you did anyway - plotting a novel, or story, or screenplay is a lot like baking. Take my recent efforts to whip up some Halloween treats, for example.
I started with a solid foundation - basic sugar cookies cut into appropriate shapes (characters / setting / theme), all the tools I might possibly need to explore creative possibilities (paths the story might take / tropes and cliches to twist / writing craft skills to apply), and an ultimate vision of what I wanted the cookies to kinda-sorta look like at the end.
Then comes the actual writing. The first draft - akin to the first layer of icing on said cookies. The things are iced - they could be consumed as is...but they're nothing to write Count Dracula about.
And so you revise. Extensively. Adding layers and depth to your story and characters.
Sometimes the cookies crumble. Plot lines are tossed out with the trash or you simply let the dog eat them. Or maybe they're expanded. But in the end you produce a story - perhaps not exactly as you originally envisioned - but uniquely your own. Complete with both eye candy and a rich taste TO DIE FOR that will leave your readers / eaters wanting more.
So get out there this HALLOWEEN and bake up some spooky-assed stories. I dare you! And if you're looking for some paranormal tales to ring in All Hallow's Eve, check out the other me, Judith Graves, hosting The Crossroads Blog Tour. 22 paranormal YA authors. 7 blogs. 1 wicked cool prize.
SIDE NOTE: if you're looking for a killer "literary" way to celebrate Halloween, check out the amazing Neil Gaiman's All Hallow's Read program. This October 31st - give someone a scary book!
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