What on earth could you mean by that, Mysty? Planning your story saves lives?
Allow me to lay out a scenario for you. You, who have not planned out your dramatic story, continue to write it anyway. Things are going okay, you guess, but then you realize you've been wandering. The story isn't focused, it's dragging, something needs to jump off the page and focus you and the reader. Something BIG needs to happen.
Then blam, you kill someone off. That always works, right?
Not really. You've basically written the clunking jalopy of novels.
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Your story rambles, stops and starts, and rocks all over. It's flashy sometimes, but it mostly blows smoke. And you might kill someone randomly, which is a bit yikes.
When you don't plan ahead, you may find yourself pressured to write things you otherwise wouldn't have (e.g. killing off someone you had no intention of killing, splicing a hard turn into your characters' romance, splashing in needless sexual violence). You will feel pressured to "fix your mistakes" and "set things back on course." You'll begin to replace thoughtful, well-paced storylines with eye-catches and "twists."
Wouldn't it help if you didn't need to fix anything? Wouldn't it feel better to write something powerful and subtly built, which grows and grows, instead of bombing your story flat with cliches?
If you haven't planned ahead, what you write may or may not be the best path for your characters and story. You might create a story that isn't so great after all. On the other hand, if you plan ahead, you can lay out really interesting storylines that work. And you have the flexibility to remove any problematic bits before they become a problem.
If while "winging it" you realize oh this direction for my character is not a good one, your only option is to try to fix it. On the other hand, if you plan ahead and realize oh this direction for my character is not a good one, you can just... well... not write that direction in the first place. You can restart planning from square one.
In other words, the best way to avoid writing yourself into a corner is to not write that corner in the first place.
In terms of our car analogy, you want to build a safe and sexy ride.
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Naturally your story will evolve as you write it. I don't advocate an unyielding roadmap for your writing, but rather a helpful roadmap. Enjoy the evolution of your story and characters as you write! But know this: in the end, even your "winging it" will be more fun if you have a good idea of where you're "winging it" toward.
At the very least, have a purpose for your story, an end to your story,and an end to your current chapter in mind. Even if those evolve as you go, that's much better than no evolution at all.
