Best known for her aspirations as an epic fantasy author,
Rebecca has been working as a freelance writer and editor since 2004. She has
covered high school sports for a Los Angeles area newspaper group, published
articles and short stories in several print and online magazines, and placed in
the top twenty-five in the 2006 Writer’s Digest Short, Short Story contest. She
currently blogs Monday through Friday at A Christian Worldview of Fiction.
Her editing credits include non-fiction and fiction alike,
most notably four titles in the Dragons in Our Midst and Oracle of Fire series
by Bryan Davis and two novellas in the Mission League series by Jill
Williamson. You can learn more about her editing services and read her weekly
writing tips at Rewrite, Reword, Rework.
Writing instructors often divide
novelists into two camps — those who outline and those who write "by the
seat of their pants." The latter say they use an organic method of
writing. The characters "tell them" who they are and what they must
do.
I've long brushed aside such phrasing
because it's apparent that the characters aren't alive and the thoughts
"coming from them" are actually the author's own thoughts. Why, then, pretend that the story is coming from outside the author?
Well, maybe pretend is the point. After all, we are talking about fiction.
Certainly pretend is necessary in conceiving a novel, no matter what method
the author uses to find his way. The seat-of-the-pants writers apparently write
in a meandering manner, learning about their characters and discovering their
story as they go, though they may complete scenes they will later discard.
Outliners, on the other hand, aim to
accomplish the same thing by a simple outline. Some writers claim they cannot
outline because they would become a slave to their plan. I can't answer for
them, certainly, but I don't think the outline method has to be significantly
different from the meandering scene-by-scene writing — just shorter.
When I sat down to write my first
novel, I carefully outlined, as I always had with my non-fiction projects. The
problem was, as I began telling the story, I added new scenes and unplanned
characters. To compensate, I kept changing my outline to fit the new direction
my story was taking.
In subsequent novels, I've created a
thumbnail sketch of the story but only outlined in detail a scene or two at a
time. This approach alleviates any pressure I might feel to slavishly follow
the outline and eliminates the necessity to frequently redo the plan. According
to novelist and writing instructor James Scott Bell (Plot & Structure) — borrowing from E. L. Doctorow — this
outline-as-you-go method is the Headlights System. You shine the light of your
detailed outline ahead to the next major plot point, then write those scenes,
allowing yourself to make any necessary changes as the story demands.
In my first book, despite all my
deviation from my outline, I realized I didn't know my main character very
well. He was an arrogant sinner who needed to change. But how did he get to be
that way? What were his strengths that would win people over despite his
weaknesses?
As I understood my character better,
my writing became less generic and more specific, and I revised and revised
again. But all that work! If only I'd conceived a well-rounded character before I wrote that early draft. As a
beginner, however, not having studied how to write fiction, I didn't know any
better.
All this brings to mind some of the
writing instruction I heard in a seminar and even taught my own students:
writing is 75% pre-writing with the other 25% divided between writing and
revising.
Beyond a doubt, I work better putting
a large portion of my effort into my pre-writing. Nothing discourages me more
than not knowing who my character is or what will happen next. So I outline.
After I understand the basics about my protagonist, I sit down and ask myself,
what are the logical things that
might happen? I make a list. I ask, what are the unusual things that might happen? I make a list. I ask, what are
the most likely things that might
happen? These things I cross off my
lists.
Next I decide what else to throw away
and what to keep based on which things move the story forward. For example, I
may envision a fun scene in which my male protagonist stops at a burger joint
and exchanges flirtatious banter with the girl taking orders. However, if the
scene doesn't contribute to solving the over all story question or in some
other way contribute to the story I'm telling, it doesn't belong. I'll have to
cross it off my list. After I settle on the basic plot points I'd like to
include — the keepers — I can put them in order and then choose one at a time
to expand.
I'm shortcutting the procedure, but I
think you can see how much quicker it is to make lists than it is to write
whole scenes which may or may not work. As I see it, working with brief phrases
that represent the scenes I've imagined gives me more time to write and revise
the story — the one I now know going in, I want to tell.
Author and writing instructor Randy
Ingermanson (Writing Fiction For Dummies)
created a third, alternative planning method he calls the Snowflake Method,
which gives more structure than the meandering seat-of-the-pants intuitive
approach but less than the outlining process. According to this third way, a
writer starts small, with her premise stated in a sentence, then expands from a
sentence to a paragraph, to a page, to several character sketches, to a
four-page synopsis, and so on.
In all these ways of envisioning a
story, the author is imagining. She's creating characters and a story problem,
friends and obstacles, places and inner struggles, a background and a
resolution. In most instances, I dare say, the first conception of these
elements is not the last, no matter what method an author is using.
The important point is for a writer
to become aware of which process works best for her. Happily, the principles in
this book are not dependent upon the type of planner you are. They apply to
writers of all stripes, from outliner to pantser and all styles in between.
What process works best for you? Share in the comments.
What process works best for you? Share in the comments.
This post is an excerpt from Power Elements Of Story Structure, available on Amazon as an ebook. We're giving away an ebook copy to one winner. Enter of the Rafflecopter form below.
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I have recently started planning. When I was in 4th grade, my teacher told us to plan and I did it...but I hated it. When I wrote after getting out of 4th grade (which wasn't very often), I didn't planned anymore. Recently, I have begun to plan again, and its a lot more fun! I get to know and love my characters, see what they look like, and develop my story! The problem is...after I plan, I hit a writer's block and can't start actually writing the story. Do you have any ideas for how to get over this?
ReplyDeleteAlea, I referred a couple times in this article/chapter to "story problem." If you have a story problem, have your main character create a plan to solve it. However, make sure that the plan as she envisions it, doesn't work, forcing her to adjust or even scrap that plan for a new one.
DeleteSo let's say the story problem is, the royal heirs have been abducted. The hero's job is therefore to find them and return them safely. He needs to make a plan. How will he go about finding them? how will he rescue them once he knows where they are? If you keep your main character moving towards his goal, you should find the writing a lot easier.
Hope that helps.
Thank you so much, Ms. Miller!
DeleteI think that planning is good to point, but when I plan to much, it becomes boring and the imagination goes out of it. Generally I write an A4 sized plan and then get on with it. It's mostly the research that I do, that's kind of how I do most of my planning. Is there something that I could be improving about my planning method??
ReplyDeleteI'm half seat-of-the-pants, half planner. I do plan, but it is usually just a very rough plotline. I print it out, and during the course of writing the book, I scribble on it, add new points, new characters, new scenes, and cross out old points. The whole book (mainly the end) almost always comes out completely different and the plotline always ends up looking like the victim of an angry two year old who got his hands on a pen. But I like it like that, and it has always worked well for me!
ReplyDeleteLOL Liz! Hmm... I am like that too, but I do my drafts on the computer. What I take out I put it in red, or delete it, what I add in the original draft turns white, what I add in the rewrite is blue, and on from there. It's very effective, and you get to see where you were to where you got to!
DeleteYeah, Peter was doing one of B and W and it was around four pages long.
DeleteWell ... I sorta had it in a fancier, larger font so it technically wasn't THAT long.
DeleteI'm not sure what works for me. I once had a kind of outline (the main points I wanted to include in my story), but I didn't exactly stick to it, although it was sometimes handy to use it when I didn't know how to continue. But I also wrote stories (actually most of my stories are like this) without really planning scenes or something (although I think about a goal and conflicts and things like that, of course). So I guess I'm something in between.
ReplyDeletearendedewit.blogspot.com
I'm a plotter. I've tried to pants, but it never worked. If you pants, I would highly recommend you have your three major plot points planned out and have an ending in sight. All the events should lead to that ending. Which, is why I outline.
ReplyDeleteI outline character arcs, plots, scenes, and well, almost everything. I adore writing and this just makes it easier to focus on the writing instead of dreading, "What am I to do next?!"
I've only realized how important structure is for a story in the last few months.
I don't exactly know which I am.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time I've actually gotten anywhere with a novel. I wrote very, very, basic outlines for Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4, and then for awhile I was writing chapter outlines - more like lists, really - as I was writing the novel. Obviously chapters farther ahead in the story. I almost never stay true, but it helps me to have something from which to deviate.
I used to just write whatever scene or two my imagination had made up ahead. I didn't know much farther than that. Now I have a chapter-by-chapter outline. I'm sure it's going to change, but it's better than nothing. :)
ReplyDeletehttp://teensliveforjesus.blogspot.ru
Great post! I'm an outliner, and I use something similar to the method you described. I really like the idea of making lists, and crossing off the most likely scenarios. Totally need to try that. Thanks for passing that along!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lily. That "cross off the most likely" was a huge realization for me, too. It's so easy to go with the first or second thing that comes to our minds, but that's when we make characters or include plot points that everyone else makes or includes. The way to stand out is to push ourselves to go beyond the ordinary and imagine. Hope to see some of your work in print someday!
DeleteBecky
Really liked this post!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Keturah. I appreciate the encouragement.
DeleteBecky
Hey, everybody, got my first article published/posted!! http://bozemanmagazine.com/news/1/posts/2014/05/04/246_n-a-37
ReplyDeleteI totally write by the seat of my pants. I never try to come up with the whole story at once, I just pose interesting situations and see where they take me, how the characters develop. Sometimes things change based on research or a better plot opportunity but mostly it's just "he would do this in this situation" or "wouldn't it be interesting if"...
ReplyDeleteI write by the seat of my pants, for sure. It gets me in a lot of trouble though because I always write the whole story and then I get to the ending, and I have absolutely no idea how to tie all the loose ends together, so I end up going back and changing details so the story can end in a satisfying way.
ReplyDeletewww.alicekouzmenkowriting.blogspot.com
That's really cool that you edited for Bryan Davis. I know him personally. ^ ^ I'm plantster. I plan very basic parts of my story then write. :) Good post! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteStori Tori's Blog
I'm a pantser to the core. Generally, I know how I want a story to begin and end, and then I make the rest of it up along the way.
ReplyDeleteCool post!
Alexa Skrywer
alexaskrywer.blogspot.com