Using pants...
Today, I'm flying by the seat of my pants, so bear with me if I get a little off-track. I probably will at some point.
I'm sure most of you have read/heard that there are two schools of thought on writing: the "pantser" and the "plotter."
The pantser has a loose outline in mind, but no set goals for a certain scene. From my point of view, this can make things seem a lot more fluid in transitions between various scenes. More organic, if you will.
I'm not saying that can't be the case with a well-plotted story. They certainly have a good place. I know some authors (notably Brandon Sanderson) that do plot out their books because they wouldn't be able to get anywhere otherwise. Think about it. If you have a 250,000 word book (about 1,000 pages), you need some sort of outline, or it's going to wind up next to incoherent.
But to contrast the two, I "plantsed" it (plotted/pantsed). It turned out fairly well. What I tried to do was have fairly clear transitions where the character was in transit somewhere and considering what had happened or what would happen next. It wound up feeling like a natural bridge between major scenes, and sometimes I could skip them entirely—they were literally in a transitory state. Simple.
The work-in-progress I'm on now is a little different for me. I know the feel I want for the book, and I know the basic shape it should end up like, but I have no clue about the rest of it. There are high points I want to hit, but that's all I've got. Looking at it scares the hell out of me though, because I've never done a project with nothing to work on. So I might just say "screw it, I'm plotting it out."
I think I might have to do that anyway, because the main protagonist is a twenty-something female artist. As a thirty-something male writer with a background in Japanese, I can only identify with her in that she is a human being.
I think I actually stayed on track fairly well today. I'm impressed. Maybe I should get into writing books or something.
As always, thanks for wreading! Leave comments below to let me know what you prefer to do when you write, or if you can tell when an author is doing one or the other.
Thanks!
Jeff
I'm sure most of you have read/heard that there are two schools of thought on writing: the "pantser" and the "plotter."
The pantser has a loose outline in mind, but no set goals for a certain scene. From my point of view, this can make things seem a lot more fluid in transitions between various scenes. More organic, if you will.
I'm not saying that can't be the case with a well-plotted story. They certainly have a good place. I know some authors (notably Brandon Sanderson) that do plot out their books because they wouldn't be able to get anywhere otherwise. Think about it. If you have a 250,000 word book (about 1,000 pages), you need some sort of outline, or it's going to wind up next to incoherent.
But to contrast the two, I "plantsed" it (plotted/pantsed). It turned out fairly well. What I tried to do was have fairly clear transitions where the character was in transit somewhere and considering what had happened or what would happen next. It wound up feeling like a natural bridge between major scenes, and sometimes I could skip them entirely—they were literally in a transitory state. Simple.
The work-in-progress I'm on now is a little different for me. I know the feel I want for the book, and I know the basic shape it should end up like, but I have no clue about the rest of it. There are high points I want to hit, but that's all I've got. Looking at it scares the hell out of me though, because I've never done a project with nothing to work on. So I might just say "screw it, I'm plotting it out."
I think I might have to do that anyway, because the main protagonist is a twenty-something female artist. As a thirty-something male writer with a background in Japanese, I can only identify with her in that she is a human being.
I think I actually stayed on track fairly well today. I'm impressed. Maybe I should get into writing books or something.
As always, thanks for wreading! Leave comments below to let me know what you prefer to do when you write, or if you can tell when an author is doing one or the other.
Thanks!
Jeff
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