Pants!! (Or How Not to Plot)
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This is my second post for Critique This *YAY!!* and for this, I've decided to tackle a question most writers have to deal with quite promptly after deciding to be a writer:
Systematic Plotting
OR
Seat of your Pants?
For those of you who've never faced that question before (what what? you actually exist? kudos to you, I guess...), let me explain.
There's two general philosophies about how to approach your story - either you plan it from front to back, or you just start writing and let the story lead the way. Most writers I've talked to fall somewhere between the two, some more organized, some more intuitive, depending on their...ehm...let's call it mental constitution.
Do you know what you are?
This is not as weird a question as it might seem...I, for one, oscillate merrily between the two extremes (hey, this is a blogpost, not a novel, I'm allowed to say 'oscillate merrily' if I want to). I started my writing life as a complete pantser. An idea would cross my mind and off I'd go, writing and writing and writing. I want to say 'without rhyme or reason' but that's not (quite) true. I just didn't plan ahead.
The inevitable happened.
I wrote myself into a corner with no clue how to get out. Some would say I got a serious case of Writers' Block - I just think of myself as stuck. So, in order to avoid that, I turned myself from pantser to plotter. I set up charts of scenes and character development, plotted story arches, character arches, plot lines and whatever else I could think of. I basically plotted my pants off.
This had mixed results. I had my story right there before me, all sorted out. It told me, black and white, what was supposed to happen in Scene 3 and what was supposed to go on in Scene 198. Only, when I actually sat down to write, I could do Scenes, 1-5, maybe, but then it was all gone.
No spark, no inspiration, no nothing. A blank mind to match a blank page. No matter how many times I went through the outlines of my scenes, repotted...ehm...replotted arches, no matter how many scenes I switched around, my characters (and my Muse) went on strike. Picture them all sitting in a miniature picket line on my desk, holding up great big signs of "NO!!".
Ok, I thought. Great. There I go again. I'm stuck. Plotting is not for me.
Now what?
Here's the rub: I don't know. I'm currently forcing myself (and yes, some days it really is a pain) to write seat of my pants-style, the way I started. I do some world building when I get my first ideas, to set the stage, but that's about as far as I go. After, it's all
write, write, write!
No more, no less. I'm going back to basics, I guess. Back to the methods (if you can call pantsing a method) that started getting my creativity flowing in the first place.
And what am I going to do when I write myself into a corner again? Note that I said "when", not "if". It's going to happen again sooner or later, I just know it is. So I've formulated a plan (and no, that does not count as plotting).
If I get stuck, I will....
- skip a section of the story and continue with the next scene that occurs to me, letting it flow from there - holes can be filled later; OR
- write a little monologue for the character that's giving me trouble, to try and figure out motivations, wishes or even a bit of back story; OR
- do a little character interview with the trouble-maker; OR
- go back to a pretty much random point (perhaps a chapter, perhaps a scene, perhaps 1000 words earlier) and start again from there; OR
- do a little extra world-buildig and see if that can inspire me to get un-stuck.
- NOT give in to temptation and start actually plotting again.
Which option I choose will probably depend on the mood I'm in when I get to that point. It will also depend on just how stuck I am, but I think any one of those things (I think of them as un-sticking exercises) will help to some extent.
Ok, now you. Go on, spill.
Do you have any strategies for getting yourself and your story un-stuck?
Do you consider yourself a pantser or a plotter or somewhere in between?
Great post! Like you, I would say my writing style falls in between a "pantser" and a "plotter." For me, the idea isn't what comes first, though -- the characters do. They swirl around in my head for quite a while and I try to create strong character descriptions before I actually put these poor souls into a story. Along the way, the story could change -- but again, it's the characters who move it in another direction.
I do find sometimes, with this approach, that I do get stuck. When I do find myself "in a corner," I go back to my writing notebook and sketch out some scenes or add more info to a character. If I'm stuck it usually means my character doesn't know what's next because I haven't flushed out that part of her character. Make sense?
Sometimes I wish I was a strong PLOTTER. Easier to get to the finish line perhaps?
I am a pantser. I also start with characters, and I follow them around as they do their things. Occasionally I have to throw in events for them to react to, but if the original setting is rich enough I don't have to do much of that. I once got stalled for 6 weeks, because my characters were walking down a path and I didn't know what to do. Then I had a flash of inspiration while driving, and they were off again. Driving is a great way for me to get ideas, must be something to do with forward motion. Half the fun for me as an author is discovering the world with them, and trying to figure out what's going on as they do.
For me it has started to blend. I used to plot and be a mechanical being who tried to fit ideas and events into a predefined template of a novel (I must have x scenes, my bad guy must have one redeeming quality, I must enter the innermost cave, I must I must I must). Then I got stale and so did my writing.
So now I sketch a general plot but leave plenty of holes, and I often find my mind taking me in a different direction when I get into the zone. It's keeping me fresh and it is more FUN!
So I think that makes me "planser". Okay that was bad I know but it is early. :)
Great post.
Ha, good post! I'm a panster ... period. I don't plot at all. When I get stuck, I wait it out until it comes to me. I don't jump around (that would drive my ocd crazy!).
If I had to plot, I probably wouldn't write because then it would take all the fun out of it! That's just me though. ;-)
~JD
@ Gwen: It varies with me. Sometimes it's the ideas that are the most vivid thing in my mind, and I start by sticking some unfortunate character into the middle of it. Sometimes the characters themselves come to life and demand a story. And I like the "going back to the notebook" idea. That's pretty much what I usually do.
@ Author Guy: my muse once visited me on the motorway whilst I was driving. Stupid muse (if you're listening, Mr Muse, that was your predecessor - you're NOT STUPID AT ALL!).
@ Jill: I'm trying to avoid the whole plotting thing exactly because I end up mechanically sticking things on paper, and that just doesn't work for me. A "planser", huh? I might have to try that...
@ Justine: Pants! Pants! Pants all the way!
I tried to plot once . . . that sucked. And I definitely "pants" myself into corners, so I either call my sister (who doesn't even read my books, but somehow helps) and tell where I'm at. She gives me her bad ideas, which give me good ones! OR, I delete what I've recently written and go in another direction. I've been known to get my best ideas in the car, though. Something about turning off the radio and just thinking. 90% effective.
My novels have started with a character in my head when I wake up. As I think about the character, I get glimpses of their story. Once I sit down to the keyboard, they start showing it to me, movie style.
So, yeah - I'm a pantser.
But once the story gets going, I'll have flashes of past or future events and I'll make note of those so that I don't forget them. My world building evolves along with the story.
But I never commit to planning out what's going to happen next. I trust the character to guide me, and they trust me to tell their story the way they want.
So far, it's worked out pretty well. The only problem I've had is when I finished my first novel and thought the characters were going to give me a break (they really do haunt me throughout the writing phase), they came back and said, "Nope! Start working on Book Two...Now!"
Damn stalkers...
I prefer to outline and if I get stuck, jumping ahead usually gets me unstuck.
I am a pantser and plotter. It just depends on how much I had in my brain regarding a specific story before I started it. I sit on ideas and let them wander around in my head. The longer the wander, the less I need to plot.
Good subject!
Nice post! My unsticking methods are similar. If I'm hung up on a certain scene or part of a scene, I jump to something else. I don't force myself to write in a straight line. I can fill in the gaps later. Some writing sessions, I leap all over the place just to keep writing.
I'm somewhere between pantsing (great word!) and plotting. I do a little planning before I write but I love not knowing everything. So I only go so far with plotting and then I just write to figure out the rest.
I'm a bit of both. I always like to have the ending in mind, along with several key scenes along the way, but the rest of the time I pants my way through it.
Wow I was reading through that list and I do the exact same thing when I'm stuck. I'll skip parts and come back to fill it in later. Never tried doing a character interview though.
Excellent post! I'm a pantser with my first draft, then I shift to plotter. Plot means to mark a route. I don't see anything wrong with plotting my route AFTER I know where I'm headed. I have pantsed myself into a corner once or twice, but I keep writing even if it doesn't make sense. For me, editing is everything. I know I'm going to hone every line, think twice about every word, so I don't worry if the first draft is a little rough.
I am the opposite. When I try to plot, I end up boxed in the corners with no way out.
If I pants, even when things make no sense to me, they work out in the end.
I am done with plotting.
Great post, Tessa!
It's good to know I'm not the only halfling here :)
Once I get an idea or character, which ever comes to me... I roll with it. Until my fingers refused to pound out another word. Then I'll look back on everything I have and start plotting.
I think the hardest part of being a halfling is editing out things that don't fit with what I've plotted. It's like cutting out a piece of my heart and just tossing it in the trash.
Ooh, I'm definitely a pantser. The only time I plot is if I have confusing time line stuff. Although, I usually write out the basic scene for the last two or three chapters, because I tend to get the most stuck on them, and I need scenes that I can cross out as I write them, so that I feel accomplished.
Enjoyed the post! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.