When I’m editing novels, one of my most common margin notes–particularly at the start of scenes–is “What’s the plan here?”
Providing the reader with insight into a character’s plans is an incredibly powerful storytelling technique. Plans build anticipation and suspense. They give the reader a sense of what’s at stake if the character succeeds or fails. And if the plan comes off–or, even better, if it goes spectacularly awry–you don’t have to tellthe reader things went well or badly. The reader already knows what good looks like.
Too many writers withhold plans, either because they are insufficiently crafting a character’s interiority, or they’re trying too hard to be mysterious and are withholding too much from the reader.
Sharpen those plans and make them vivid! Here are some ways they’re useful.
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog 