Milestones are very important. I'm not talking about those in life, or even your job or writing career, but rather those to be found within your story itself. Let me explain.
In your notes, or in your head, you will have your beginning (where, when and with whom the story starts), an ending (if not the definitive one) and a number of scenes that simply have to be in your story (you may even write these first). Taken together, these are your milestones.
Imagine now you have a flat surface in front of you and your milestones are threadable plastic beads you have glued to the surface in the right order. Now consider your story as a long piece of string. Thread the string through the beads and knot the two ends. Now you will notice two things: the important bits are anchored in place, but the string can go where it likes between the milestones. This is why I hate rigid planning - it kills off the ability to introduce new and better ideas, especially those that paint the hero into yet another corner - there is no safety of a wiggly piece of string, just a some taut tightrope you are likely to fall off. Yet with the milestones we can do what we like and yet never lose sight of what really matters.
Jack Orchison
February 28, 2014.
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