Plotters, you may read this, because most likely you have some “pantser” writing friends, and they annoy the hell out of you. How can they possibly write a novel when they don’t do the intricate plots and boards and diagrams you do? Pantsers who haven’t yet finished that novel, take heart. Those of us pubbed pantsers made our way through, and you can, too.
A pantser is someone who creates the story as they go along – writing by the seat of your pants. That being said, I know some people are more like writing naked, no pants whatsoever, and this is strongly discouraged for many obvious reasons! Now that you have that nice visual in your head, let me say this: even a pantser should have a good idea of a beginning, middle and an end and the main character’s goal, motivation and conflict. Other things can change, morph and come to you like divine intervention, but these things are a must to ensure you don’t get to the middle of the novel, 40,000 words and precious hours into it to realize you have absolutely no idea what the hell the novel is about, what your character wants or how he/she will get there. Yikes. I did this in my teen and early 20′s and let me tell you, besides killing a few trees in the process, it frustrated the heck out of me. Yes, any writing is considered “experience” and you may hone your voice, but you do still have to have some structure to your novel.
I don’t have a fancy system, myself, and a lot of it is is in my head, where it’s fairly safe and sound. I do use “stickies” on my computer, only because stickies in real life annoy me and my kids would likely take off with them. When my Mac crashed last fall, my stickies went with them. Poof. Crying ensued. But I had a back-up plan – bookmarks on the resource pages I needed for research and thankfully I e-mail my manuscript and upload it to an online storage so at least the story is secure.
My belief is pantsers have to do more revisions than plotters – I usually do five drafts – because for me, the good stuff, twists and turns and big character a-has are revealed each time I go back through it. Right now I’m working on a hefty WIP that needs a whole thread of a storyline weaved back through it. Thing is, it would NOT have come to me even if I were a plotter. For me, I can’t force every intricate plot point in a brainstorming session. Just not the way the ML Brain works.
You might read Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell just to make sure you’ve got the idea down. For the Plotters, just smile and wish us good luck.
Thoughts?
by Malena Lott, author of Dating da Vinci and The Stork Reality, editor of A/B
