To plot or not to plot? That is the question…

I was talking to a friend on Facebook when the question arose; “How do you write a story? Do you plot everything out before you write a word?” I pondered the question and this is the answer…

I was originally taught to plot everything from A to Z, something the teacher did!
I discovered, over my years of non-production, this way of writing stifled me…

Now, when I set out to write a story I have a faint idea of the opening, obviously something has sparked the idea in the first place to suggest a story…
Then, because I have the quaint idea that the ‘goodie’ always wins, I know the end.
I know nothing about the whys or wherefores before I start writing the story, and I have no idea who the characters are, or their names, until I create them for the immediate plot of the scene.
The characters then develop themselves as the story goes along, with the character backstories writing themselves as the plot develops.
So now, when I start to write a story, I just write one scene at a time then, just like the Bible, one scene begats another scene, then that scene begats another etc… you get the idea…
I write until I reach the end of the story and my hero or heroine wins…

There is one difference, and that is when I write a series, I already know the characters and the direction the series is going, but other than that I have no idea where the story episode is going…

So, my book is finished!

Now… the hard work begins!!!