Comments on: A Trick For Plotters & Pantsers

By: marsharwest

marsharwest — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 13:51:12 +0000

Hey, Jazzfeathers. What a cute handle. :) And I love your term, "write on the flight" and "flying on the ideas." Good description of what happens when the "power," "muse," "inspriation," or whatever you call it takes over. I've never heard of "Liquid Story Binder" before. Like you said, always helpful to hear how others write. Even if after rethinking your own process, you decide to stick with it. You're stronger for the rethinking. Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing. :)

By: jazzfeathers

jazzfeathers — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 08:57:02 +0000

It's always fascinating seeing how writers work. I think I'm a mixture of both plotting and pantsing. I wrote down my entire trilogy flying on the ideas, but then I spent the last three years plotting it on the base of what I had writting the first time. I use Liquid Story Binder, which I understand is pretty similar to Scrivener. I love it because it allows me to creat a lot of notes, characters' sheets, timeline of events. For the first book (which I'm revising now) I wrote a journal of the events. And like you, Marsha, I break down a chapter-by-chapter and also a scene-by-scene outline (AFTER I wrote the entire thing) with POV and characters' arc (almost never the same thing). When I wrote short stories I never used any of these helps. I would write on the flight beginning to end. But I soon discovered I can't do this with a novel, and particularly a trilogy of novels. And besides, I find writing down notes, characters's sheets, timelines, characters' synopsis, any form of breakdown really really exiting and inpiring :-)

By: marsharwest

marsharwest — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 20:30:20 +0000

In reply to Jenny Hansen. LOL I don't know why I couldn't figure that out! Jenny, you've hit on what all of us have to do: find what works for us. Glad you have. :)

By: Jenny Hansen

Jenny Hansen — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 19:05:12 +0000

In reply to marsharwest. PITA = *pain in the ass* :-) All the gals here are linear too, and I just can't write like that. You've seen the inside of my brain by now, and it's a jumble in some spots. My writing is like that too, but doing it my way keeps me going forward, instead of having to stop. I'm always afraid if I stop, it'll be forever.

By: Laura Drake

Laura Drake — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 18:02:30 +0000

In reply to Normandie Fischer (@WritingOnBoard). You and I use pretty much the same Excel format, Normandie!

By: marsharwest

marsharwest — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 17:36:02 +0000

Hey, Jenny. Never late to a blog someone reminded me when I showed up after a couple of days. Blogs go on for ever. Aren't you surprised when a comment will show up quite a long time after a blog's been posted? Think it's pretty cool. I really should do more with WANA. I tried at first when I first got on, but I was writing a book, and it just fell by the wayside. Jeez, just what I need another piece of SM to focus on. LOL You do have a unique system for writing your books, Jenny. I've heard of others who write scenes out of order. I've only done that occasionally. Generally, it's when I've written the scene and later realize it's in the wrong place and needs to have other scenes before it. I'm pretty linear.:) I haven't been able to translate PITA, but figure it's not something you can write here. LOL I'm so pleased to get to be a guest here.I've long admired WITS. Y'all do great work!

By: marsharwest

marsharwest — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 17:27:44 +0000

In reply to Nancy. Hey, Nancy. I so agree with your statement about learning from each book you write. Looking back I can see what I was working on "learning" in each book. We're lucky to keep learning. Keeps our brains young. :) Thanks for stopping and sharing. Glad you enjoyed the post.

By: marsharwest

marsharwest — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 17:25:49 +0000

In reply to Brianna Soloski. Thanks, Brianna. Helpful info for understanding your process. :)

By: Jenny Hansen

Jenny Hansen — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 17:10:37 +0000

Marsha, I'm late to the party, but I am so happy to see you here!! One of my WANA sisters. 🙂

This discussion is marvelous. My gals won't even talk to me about how I trick myself into a finished book. I do a bit of both plotting and pantsing, but more on the pants side since I write completely out of order.

I write out a summary with the big events and turning points, write all the scenes I know. Check my 3-act structure and fill in the blanks. Critiquing me is a PITA, but they put up with me. Thank God.

By: Nancy

Nancy — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 16:50:47 +0000

It's always interesting to find out what works for other writers. Sometimes there are real gems to be found, and approaches that cause a reevaluation of what I'm doing. I seem to learn with every story I write.

Good post, Marsha. Thanks for sharing!

Nancy