Writing Magazine

A Happy RELATIONSHIP

To plot and plan… or just wing it and sort out the problems in subsequent drafts. This is the perennial question for many apprentice novelists as they hone their process. However, it sometimes seems that even plotting doesn’t help as writers get lost in mazes of their own making.

Romantic novelist and WM reader Anita Faulkner has tried both methods and here discusses what she’s learned along the way.

How do you typically approach writing a novel?

‘I’m definitely not one for just winging it when it comes to a project as huge as a novel. I know it works for some people, but I used to be a solicitor in my pre-child days so I need to know I have a plan and that I’m in control. Even if I’m clearly not! I tend to read a lot of “how-to” books, adopt all and

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