I’m more or less happily writing Chapter Six of The Graveyard Book. I say more or less as I’m at that place where I hope that the book knows what it’s doing because right now I don’t have a clue — I’m writing one scene after another like a man walking through a valley in thick fog, just able to see the path a little way ahead, but with no idea where it’s actually going to lead him. Neil Gaiman
This comment from Neil Gaiman really caught my eye because it speaks to a continual conflict of mine. That is, how much planning is necessary for my students to create well-formed Cinderella stories? I have found that without some direction many of them flounder (and do so even with an outline), but some are talented enough to chaff at any sort of planning requirement. My solution is to ask them to plan their stories and then work with them individually so that those who don’t want to stick with the plan feel free to fly off and those who need the plan to move them along get my help with that as well.
Here are two Horn Book articles offering opposing views on this issue:
“Blood from a Stone” by Jennifer Armstrong
“The Subconscious and the Writing Process” by Nancy Werlin