From Pantser to Plotter

For most of my writing life I’ve been a pantser, at least I’ve regarded myself as one. When I begin a mystery novel or short story, I have an idea about a character in mind, and from that I populate her or his world and the kinds of problems that person would face. This can be a slow process, at least it is for me, so I’ve learned to make note of possibly useful ideas as they appear whether I’m ready for them or not. This means I usually have a list of author lines, scene details, questions a character would raise, and the like. But in my latest work-in-progress I’ve been doing things differently.

 

Peter Dickinson once said that by the time he started writing, his outline was so detailed and fleshed-out that there were no surprises awaiting him as he wrote from chapter to chapter. I can’t say I’ve approached that this time, but I understand what he was talking about.

 

A couple of months ago I had an idea about a pre-teen girl being witness to a man dying from a hunting accident. Called as a witness in a criminal trial, she was aware of undercurrents in the questioning and managed to steer clear of them thanks to solid preparation by her father. I thought this sounded promising and made a note. Two days later the threads from this initial idea began to run outward, and I made more notes. By the end of a couple of weeks I had a tight synopsis that covered several stages in the development of the plot, half a dozen characters playing significant roles, and a climax that was a little hazy but, I was confident, would become sharper as I went along. I set the synopsis aside and let the idea germinate some more. 

 

The publicity around NaNoWriMo came at just the right time, when I was wondering if I should begin writing or set the idea aside as already stale. One of the pleasures of being a pantser has always been the moments of discovery, when a character surprises me or a turn in the plot gets more interesting than I expected. But with NaNoWriMo nipping at my heels, I decided to open a new file and follow my synopsis. I finished NaNoWriMo with 40,000 words (I took most weekends off—that’s the competitive writer in me, covering for failing to reach the 50K goal) and I now have 54,000. 

 

The twists and turns of the story, the discoveries of character and alliances forming and tearing, the questions of truth and justice were an added layer I hadn’t covered in my synopsis. Right now I’m on the home stretch—I can see the end becoming richer and more interesting, no longer hazy and predictable. But I can’t rush it without damaging the larger story.

 

Writing this new mystery is the closest I’ve come to being an plotter. So far I’m pleased with how the story idea developed and the writing stayed close to the original idea but I can’t say I’m confident that this will be my path forward from now on, in both short stories and mystery novels. Nevertheless, it’s a change, and I’m all for change if it means growth and discovery. 

NaNoWriMo Final Report

Image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay

This is the first year I’ve tried NaNoWriMo. In   October I came up with an idea for a new suspense  novel, a stand-alone featuring a character with some problems I wanted to explore. Over the coming days various scenes and aspects of the story came to mind, so I jotted these down and soon had a list of moments in a scene, or a number of scenes. Enthusiastic now, I wrote a short synopsis. With this in hand, I figured I could stay focused on just moving forward with the story rather than going back and rewriting and adding, etc. NaNoWriMo seemed to arrive at just the right time.

 

I ended the month with 40,508 words. After taking most Sundays off and an occasional Saturday, I averaged 1,558 words a session. The low daily count was 825 words on November 1, and the high was 2,296 on November 16. If it weren’t for NaNoWriMo, I probably would have set my daily word count at 1,500 words, which has been average for me for years. 

 

This month of working on my new novel, tentatively titled “Renee’s Trial,” included time spent on short stories. I worked on the novel in the morning, and on short stories in the afternoon. I don’t get much in the way of a word count after writing the first draft of short fiction. My short stories usually go through a dozen drafts and sometimes end up totally different from what I originally had in mind but the word count changes little. Four stories were published this year, so I don’t mind the slow process.

 

I signed on for the Sisters in Crime FB NaNoWriMo group but never participated in their “write-ins” and other events. It was enough to know they were out there. I checked in to see how my fellow writers were doing, sharing my totals when I could. The program created a definite buzz and energy and I’m sure that helped keep some of us going.

 

Would I do this again? Yes.

 

NaNoWriMo worked for me because I used October to prime myself to focus on something specific rather than a general idea of, Gee, I think I’ll write a novel in November. I knew where I was going and much of the path I wanted to take. Because I wasn’t doing any editing along the way, or at least very little, I was adding words instead of deleting them (an all-too-common practice for me). So, yes, in similar circumstances in the future, I would definitely sign on for NaNoWriMo again.

 

Right now, as I look at my draft and my list of total words per day, I’m estimating that I can finish the first draft before Christmas, and bring it in at 75K words or more. That will be a very good ending to an otherwise miserable year.