Planning and Improvisation in Fiction

Planning is an important part of writing fiction. It plays a key role in ensuring that the plot, characters, setting, and ideas all fit together to deliver an engaging story. However, it is also important to remain flexible. No matter how much you plan out everything, it is extremely rare (if not impossible) for everything to go to plan.

The main reason for this is that writing works on several levels. Someone might be impressed by the overall direction of the plot but be put off by the actua...