Methods to Writing Madness

OK… trying to get back on topic after all of those essay posts. In previous posts I talked about Character Creation and World Building, and I still have a few things to talk about on those topics, but I wanted to still move forward over new ground as well.

So, if you go to writing workshops, conventions, seminars, panels, etc. you will often find people talking about Outlining or Not Outlining a book before starting. There have been many interesting phrases used to describe this dichotomy. Plotter versus Pantser being the most common. Another one that I like is Architect vs Gardener.

Plotting vs Pantsing

So as the name implies the Plotter is the person who likes to outline the entire novel before they even start. Figuring out PoV and writing out a guide to each chapter. All of the character arcs are realized and all the over all arc of the story is charted. The end of the book is completely worked out and the path the characters will follow to get there are marked across the entire outline.

Michael Crichton was well known as a plotter, his outlines also included all of his research into his related topics and the backgrounds of his characters, and his outlines were known to come in at several hundred pages. Another great plotter is Brandon Sanderson, Brandon teaches an excellent college level class on plotting, worldbuilding and writing over all. (The lecture series can be found HERE.)

The other term, Pantser, conversely is the person who sits down and starts writing. The story unraveling as they explore it on the page in front of them. These folks are often “surprised” by where their characters are going and how the story progressed. Stephen King and GRRM are well-known pantsers who just let their stories flow.

Pros and Cons:

Both methods have their pros and cons. The pantser usually gets into their characters deeply, as the entire story is driven by the interactions of the characters and the arcs/ ending aren’t planned. But on the Con side, the ending is NOT planned and often a pantsed book will have an odd or abrupt ending. Also, pantsers often have problems with revisions as when they go back to rewrite earlier work, they have new ideas and start rewriting the entire book instead of just tightening the prose.

With the Plotter you have the pro of knowing where you are going and having the ending worked out in advance, thus usually having a more satisfying ending. On the con side of things, some plotters find it impossible to veer off their plan, also some of them use the outline as a reason not to start the book itself. Spending lots of time working on the outline and then the world building or characters. Basically, it becomes another tool of procrastination.

Dual Path:

There is talk about writing in both ways… basically you sit down without doing ANY pre-work and come up with the basic idea of your story. You then just hammer out as much of the story as fast as possible. Pantsing a long meandering “vomit draft.”

You do NOT stop until you reach the end of the story, or at least as far as you think is the end. This first draft is not your outline. It is rough, with one-dimensional characters, and meandering plots, and probably with very terse description.

You then begin to break it down and build up the details of the characters, the plot, and you streamline or make sense of the meandering plot. You might add or subtract scenes, you might move scenes around, and you might completely change up the ending, you might introduce some new characters. But either way you now have a guide and basic outline.

So you pants the outline as barebones novel and then you become a plotter with the drafts.

A Third Path

But there is a third type of writer, the Hybrid…often called the Stones in a River, or stepping stone, if we want to use colorful words. Robert Jordan has been credited with creating that phrase, but I can’t find a full citation on that so take it with a grain of salt. Jordan claimed that he did his basic world building, created his characters, and then figured out a number of key scenes in his story. Everything between these key scenes was then pantsed, made up on the fly and only determined by the nature of the characters and the needs to arrive at the key-scenes.

So, if you’ve read my previous posts you would probably assume that I am a full plotter, but I am firmly in the Hybrid Writer School. I always start a story with character. The world building comes secondary… well not exactly, I tend to write epic fantasy stories that take place in a world I have worked on and used over a long time. If not writing a fantasy I often write horror or urban fantasy in a mostly modern Earth. So, my basic world building is always in existence, I’ve already done the work.

The Steps:

So, I have my characters, and I have my basic world information. Form that point I will begin working on more detailed maps and specific world information for the areas I want the story to take place within. While I’m doing this step, I will begin to have some ideas of scenes or events I want to write about. Maybe I just drew a hill on my map and suddenly had a great name for it, now I want to set a scene there. These scenes will go on a list and I then start to think about where I want to end up with these characters, what stories I want to explore. (I often pick different themes or ideas to explore with the various povs [Main Characters] of my story).

After a while I will have a basic understanding of the story of each POV and where they are headed and what the main arc of my novel will be about. I will have maps, character sketches, and a number of scenes/events/ encounters listed. At this point I will start writing the novel. In-depth characters and only a bunch of stepping stones across a mostly featureless expanse is all I have.

At this point I pants a lot of the story getting the characters into the action and starting on my path. Now… DURING my writing I will begin to write notes outlining the next few chapters.

Example:

It might look like this (well it will be hand written on paper as all of my notes are hand written):

• Chap. 1 (Keegan PoV) Boat trip arriving in the new world, establish the long past and deep history between Keegan and Slater. Explore Keegan’s emotional state and establish an excellent view of the New World coming into sight on the horizon.
• Chap. 2 (Caitlyn) Introduce the Steampunk Tech and Magical mix and also the DES, conflict in her group, have their ship power past.
• Chap. 3 (Rune) Flashback to 6 months ago, Imperial Marines, Prince Rune, action scene

These are just quick examples and close to the actual three chapters of my current WIP. The process is not the same in every book as I often change the POV structure, or only have a single POV. The point is I’m normally working with a list of stepping stones for each POV and with 3-6 chapters semi-outlined at a time. As I get a couple chapters finished, I then move ahead with outlining and plotting further. But for the most part I have a ton open, blank pages before me and I tell the story based on how my characters will react to the events. If you go back and read my world building posts you will see that I rely very heavily on understanding my characters. Understanding how their childhood, their environment, and their personal goals will affect their choices.

Character and World Development

To me these are the keys to making a great story, knowing all of these details allows you to get inside your character’s head and make choices that make sense. I guess its very similar to method acting, but instead of sublimating yourself into a role you’re just making yourself widely empathic to the characters in your story.

The stronger your foundation the better the building, right?

Anyway, I’m sure that there are other variations of writing mechanics/ styles… but these are the most common that I have encountered in my years of writing, talking to writers, reading, and seminars (workshops, panels, conventions, etc.) I welcome any commentary and LOVE talking to other writers about their process.