What Duvet Covers Have To Do With Writing

Changing the duvet cover yesterday led to the same old argument as to the best method - I'm a 'feed the ends in, hold tight, then shake it down' person, my other half is an 'inside out and flip it over' afficionado. It struck me this is a little like writing a novel. Do you plan extensively, or simply go with the flow?

Each method has staunch supporters. I once read an article about Ken Follett that said each novel started with a full synopsis - full being about 300 pages. Stephen King, on the other hand says that he sets out with an idea and sees where it leads him. I'm somewhere in the middle. I like to know a few key moments that I can aim for - woman falls in love, woman falls out of love, for example - but the how and the why and the what are all mysteries to be solved along the way.

I've only once tried fully planning a novel, and the result was that, although I loved all the planning and plotting, I never actually wrote it up. It lurks in all its colour coded wonder at the back of the writing cupboard, having absorbed all my writing inspiration into its perfect plan. For me, extensive planning was a substitute for actually writing a novel.

Other authors can't imagine embarking on writing a story, let alone a novel, without having it plotted out in great detail. I remember when I was speaking at my first writing conference and talking about my non-plotting approach, immensely successful romantic novelist Kate Walker - who was also on the panel - was amazed with my levels of re-writing. She didn't have time for all that faffing around, she was too busy with the story telling.

My method does take time, but there you are - it's my method and so far it seems to be working out. In the end, it doesn't really matter how you change the duvet cover, so long as the bed gets made.

Which Comes First - Cream or Jam?

I'm being side-tracked at the moment by sun and beaches and cream teas.  Which leads into the riveting discussion about the order you put your strawberry jam and clotted cream on your scone.  Is it jam first, or cream?  

I've always been a cream first person - the cream = butter, and that comes first - but this afternoon I got seduced into trying the jam before the cream.  It looked aesthetically pleasing (and tasted delicious).  Perhaps there isn't a right, or a wrong way, only the way you've always done it.  

Bit like writing a novel.  To plan, or not to plan?  Does it matter how you write it, so long as you get it written?  The answer has to be, no one will care, so long as your work is good.  How you pronounce scone, on the other hand - now that does matter.