It is important for a new writer to consider structure.
But the most important thing for a new writer is just to write.
I think we get paralyzed by all the different things we think
a story should be doing,
that we don’t just sit down and write the first draft.
And without a first draft, it doesn’t matter if the idea
for a structure you have is good, if you haven’t executed anything.
The content really dictates the structure. So as counterintuitive as it may seem,
a writer has to write their way into something in order to be able
to see what the shape is. You know, I always say to my students,
what does it want to be?
Not what do you want it to be. What does it want to be?
If you work on telling a story, expressing an idea,
remembering an experience… that is actually going
to structure you more than almost anything else.
And the thing is is that you don’t know how it’s going to form you
or structure you, or where it’s going to bring you.
And that’s actually what’s wonderful about all the arts.
You discover through the work itself.
So for me I plot like two or three times during the book.
But I do like to kind of be in the story and actually sort of figuring out
what the story is before I really commit myself.
Because I do find I’ll take a left turn and it’s better
than what I had thought of previously.
So I don’t like to be too tied-in to a certain thing.
I really want to be able to kind of move with the story.
For me, that’s the fun of writing is telling myself a story.
So if I plot too long, I feel like I already told myself
the story, and I don’t want to write it anymore.