Saturday A Few points on Plotting

Even the most realistic fiction is not like real life, life doesn't have a 'shape'. Plots are important to stories, they give them shape and direction, which is what keeps the reader turning the page. When I'm trying to write a story in my amateur way, as my plot thickens it becomes confusing and I wonder whether it continues to make sense for the reader, especially if I'm having trouble following it myself. In this session Ellie Marnie, Geraldine Wooller and Peter Timms told us how they go about plotting their stories.
Ellie informs the audience that there are two types of authors, 'plotters' and 'pantsers', that is, flying by the seat of your pants. She admits that she never starts with a plot, if she has a vague idea of where she wants the story to end up, she has no idea of how she's going to take it there. Her plot develops as an outgrowth of the character.
The characters are as important as the plot, the story relying on their credibility. A back story is developed for each character to explain what made them who they are, sneakily inserting a plot within the plot. And to write reactions that stay true to the character's character, Ellie says that she asks him or her questions such as 'how do you behave when you get angry?', 'what makes you afraid?', and 'what are you passionate about?' Peter suggests that a character can be an amalgam of different people you've known. Your characters don't necessarily have to be likable, but they do have to be interesting. People-watching can provide authors with new ideas for interesting characters. 
An important component of the plot is that the characters need to have evolved by the end of the story, which resonates with John Marsden's insightful quote that "we’re all born at a station called ignorance, but we don’t have to stay there... That real-life journey should be in the fiction."
During question time someone wanted to know how the authors decided between all the possibilities on how to bring their plot together at the end. Ellie said that this was the down-side to being a pantser: sometimes you just have to follow a plot lead until it peters out, and then try again. Which is kind of what has just happened with this blog post :/
And we all lived happily ever after.
There, that's better.