Going to Plan. Or not?

I've gone a little bit off-plan with my current novel, The Perilous City, and I'm slightly freewheeling just now. That's not necessarily a bad thing. I don't think so. Is it? Until now I've pretty much followed the chapter plans I've mapped out in advance. That's not the same as my overall plan. I said before that that has had to change as I've gone along, and is necessarily fluid. But before I start writing a chapter I try to have a good idea in my mind of what it will contain, and the rough sequence of events.

That approach has broken down, slightly, with the last couple of chapters, and I'm wondering why. I'm finding it a bit hard at the moment to see the chapter ahead clearly. I know where I need to get to in a couple of chapters, and I have a list of events that have to happen in between, or that I want to happen, but I'm finding it hard to take the bull by the horns and order them explicitly.

I think some of that is planning fatigue. Just fed up of too much planning. Some of it comes from being slightly surprised by how long it is taking me to get to the end of the second part of my novel. Perhaps I don't want to plan it out because I'll see how much I still have to fit in. Also I'm in a slightly hazy area now, where the relationship of certain events to each other is time crucial, but I'm finding it hard to line them up straight. I may even have to go back in the editing stage and shrink the time frame - make less days happen between point a and point b. I want a shock to happen for the City, but it looks like happening on Friday and I could do with it happening on Saturday.

However, never fear, instinct takes over. Instead of following the plan I'm writing from the characters. I'm letting the characters lead me in these chapters, and I'm pulling in events I had planned as it makes sense to do so. So, for example, Rennie has time to kill after the trial at the Tollbooth, after he has heard about it from Jinty. I didn't plan for him to see Jack, but that's what he would do. He's at a loose end and he feels guilty about leaving Jack unable to get around. So of course he would. And where would he take him? To the tavern, of course. And that gets round my problem of when Jack finds out about the challenge that Rennie has accepted. Because of course someone in the tavern mentions it. So, my conclusion is that sometimes it's alright to follow your instincts because then you're following the characters, or letting them lead, and that can't be a bad thing. Just as long as you keep your plan to hand. And at some point I will get back on track and cover my list. I promise myself.