Stephen King and plotting

I'm not a huge fan of Stephen King, and I think this is mostly because I haven't yet gotten around to reading those books of his that would most suit my taste. But he is very good at what he does, and On Writing is one of my favorite books. One thing he says in it made me rethink my preconceptions and my approach to my own work.

He never plots.

For me, finding out that someone I consider a plot-heavy writer doesn't actually plot was a minor revelation. It made me feel like I had permission not to do it either, which was lovely, because I'm one of those "figure it out as you go along and hope it all connects" writers. My inspiration doesn't usually come to me as an idea; it comes in the form of a character in a situation.

The problem I'm having now is that a story involving time travel kind of has to be plotted out, or else you'll lose track of things. I think my characters can't really change that much about what has happened. Changing history takes a light touch, and you really have to know what you're doing. It's like trying to alter a tapestry that's already woven - you can fix detail work, but you can't redo major sections. (I know, tired comparison, but it makes sense.) If someone goes back in time to do something, it has always happened that way, whether or not anyone realizes it in the original timeline. And, like in Prisoner of Azkaban, you have to be able to go back and see that it has always happened that way.

Gah. I know my subconscious is working on this story, because last night I dreamed that Ewan MacGregor was playing Calvin in the movie version. (That's not how I picture Cal, but it does kinda work.) I just hope my subconscious actually tells me what it has figured out instead of skipping ahead to the red carpet. :)