Why planning is important, but irrelevant

I like having a faint bit of predictability in my work. a faint bit, though. I like knowing how things are going to pan out, sort of like knowing the destinations, even though the paths may vary. It is not a hard and fast rule this. Many a times I have ended up with almost the opposite of what I wanted to do. Still planning in advance helps.

 I have already talked about how I reached the figure of fifteen chapters and three parts for this book I’m writing. It helped, really it did. It helped getting the first couple of chapters underway. It helped knowing that I had to finish it in four days. It got a sort of momentum going.

Beginnings are difficult, they always are, that is when friction is at a maximum. If you’ve read elementary physics, you know what I’m talking about. When motion is about to begin, that is when the opposing forces are at a maximum, but once the motion actually starts, static friction ceases to exist. And stiction is one of the really bad(good) boys.

SO yes, all the planning helped build momentum, and got me through difficult parts. But then something else happened. Almost a collapse. I realized I could not, and perhaps should not include the second part. A third of my planning had just been flushed, also making sure that the rest of the structures were reeling too. That should have made me drop the idea; or put it on the back-burner. Believe me I’ve dropped stuff for less. A lot less.

But to my surprise, that did not happen. I was in a great rhythm. I had established the characters, and now they did not need me. They were going ahead on their own, creating their own stories. That I think is perhaps the best thing that can happen to a writer.

P.S. Somewhere in the fourth chapter. Cruising. Till the time I need to plan again!