Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Pants vs. Plot and ROW80 Check-In

After much red ink, I finished the first round of scribbling and notes on my book. Here’s a pic as an example of the work I’ve done so far:


Next step: I need to make all of my changes in the Word file. Some of this is easy, some not so much. The rewording, removing of overused words, and fixing spelling and grammar isn’t so bad. The challenge is going to be filling in the spots where I wrote something to myself like “fill in Elizabeth’s backstory here,” and “figure out why this happens.” Nothing sucks more than a plot hole.

I’m planning to start with the easy stuff and work my way up to the bigger challenges. The more I read over the MS, the more familiar I become with what needs fixing. I’m also brainstorming new scenes, so by the time I’m ready to write them, I’m hoping to have a good grasp on exactly what is going to happen in them.

In general, I’m more of a pantser than a plotter. I prefer to write the first draft by the seat of my pants. I don’t have more than a vague idea of where the story is going. It’s fun to see what is going to happen as I write. It’s impossible to avoid plotting my way through edits though. Maybe that’s why I find editing more challenging – because it’s not exactly natural for me. Still, it’s going well so far.

Are you a pantser or a plotter?

16 comments:

  1. Hi Jennifer!

    That looks familiar! I'm finishing up edits to my Word doc, constantly paging through my now-tattered manuscript. I need to post a pic of mine to my blog; my toddler drew all over the front page. But you know -- pick your battles. :)

    I've become more of a plotter with each project. I HATE major revisions. They make writing feel way too much like work! I used to be worried I'd forget the feeling I had when I thought of the ideas, and never be able to recapture that tone. I haven't found that's the case. I do keep notes on my musings about different projects, including snippets of scenes that come to me, backstory and character descriptions. So when I get serious about a project I start pulling all of that together and daydreaming about it a lot, then I sit down and think through the story line I'm considering and what needs to happen when, and put it all down in an outline. Once I have that filled in as completely as possible, especially for the first handful of scenes, I usually get a huge adrenaline rush and can't help but write.

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  2. Haha. Pantser. That's a great word and so appropriate. I tend to jump between being a pantser and a plotter. My first novels in a series will all be done with a rough idea of overall plot of the series but will mostly be written as type. It's so interesting learning how other go about creating their stories. Good luck with the novel :)

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  3. @J.R. Yes, I agree huge revisions are tough! I'm trying to use as much momentum as I can to power through them.

    @Lan Everyone seems to have a different style to writing. I feel like I'm learning a bunch of different tricks and strategies by checking out everyone's ROW80 updates!

    Thanks for stopping by, everyone!

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  4. A copious amount of red ink there. Such a lovely sight. I'm in the middle of editing myself. Looks like you're working hard. Keep it up. Nice blog, btw. :)

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  5. Hi David, yes, I'm a fan of the red ink! It looks likes you're making progress when the changes look so bold on the page.

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  7. Hi Jennifer, great site! I'm reading your book right now, it was my first CMP book on the list.

    I found that I needed to become a plotter. This is so nerdy, but I set up my latest book as a chart and record the major events and scenes in the story using a vague sort of page count as a marker. I also write out my back story, major scenes, and character descriptions on index cards then arrange and re-arrange the cards so that I can make them flow better.

    Agnes Jayne

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  8. @Agnes That's a great way to work out a plot! There's a couple of computer programs that I've been checking out. I use StoryMill to keep character notes and keep my timeline straight. A friend uses Scrivener, which looks like a really useful program - you can write scenes and move them around on index card icons. I might give that one a try too.
    I hope you like the book!

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  9. When it comes to nonfic, I'm definitely a plotter. When it comes to fiction, I want to be a plotter, but I end up being somewhat of a pantser. I figure one of these days I'll finally be some sort of plotter/pantser mutt. :)

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  10. New follower here. I'm a plotter, but I have great respect for pantsers. I wish I could start a story and see where it goes as I type. I write every scene out in my notebook, transfer it to a word document, and then go from there. Outlining is a lot of work. I wonder how long it would take me to write a book if I skipped it.

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  11. Cricket, I'm with you. I really do want to be a plotter, but I'm just no good at it. Even if I do start with a good idea of the progression of scenes, I inevitably go off course during the writing and end up in an entirely different place!

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  12. Hi Emily! Good for you that you can do all of that outlining! I'd love to be able to be so organized, but I end up being not so much. I think if you skipped it though, you'd probably end up with a lot of extra work on the other end in the editing. I think that's where I find myself now.

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  13. The red pen of death! I'm fighting it this week too. It burns us...

    Anywa, ditto to what Emily said. I have to outline or it's a huge clustermess.

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  14. East Coaster, I had to laugh at the red pen of death! And, as you see, I really do have a cluster here... nasty editses! Tricksy!

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  15. I'm a plotter. I think I was born that way, and only ever pantsed when I didn't know how to build a story. (Glad to not have to face the massive rewrites anymore!) But I do understand the thrill and the joy of discovering a story that way. Good luck on your edits.

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  16. Thanks, Susan! I think I'm going to spend some time trying to do more plotting before I write the next book and see how it goes.

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