The Plot

I have been quiet for a while as I have been reading what seems like every book ever written on plot. The majority are 'how to' books which I skim through but to be fair there are elements within them that are useful. I am really using them as triggers to help me get deeper into the two novel structures that I am working on and to identify key scenes. It is very hard work, particularly as I am developing two at once but it will be worth it. I can see by the changes that I have made to the various structure drafts, that if I were to have launched into the writing after a first draft I would have wasted a lot of precious time. There are issues around the fact that as you write, new ideas will come to mind, characters will develop etc. Indeed, separating the character from the plot is another issue - does the plot lead the character or does the character drive the plot. The key is that the plot provides something by which the character can show a change.