The Alberta Romance Writers’ Association (ARWA) held a workshop last Saturday with a presentation by Mahrie Glab about the writing process. In an effort to make her writing process more sane, Mahrie has used various tools and templates over the years. Although Mahrie is a Plotter and I am a Pantzer, we both are “Template Collectors”.
Plotter? Pantzer?
On the continuum of writing styles, there’s the Pantzer who writes by the seat of their pants (without an outline) and the Plotter who writes after having created an outline. And there is every variation in between. Some writers even hop back and forth along the continuum.
I know one thing before I start writing a book. If I’m writing a romance, I know it will have a happily-ever-after ending. Or at least, happily for now. If I’m writing a cozy mystery I know that Good will triumph over Evil. That’s it.
Some writers find outlines helpful. Others do not. My brain dries up when I try to use that approach. I am impressed with writers who can “know” their story BEFORE they start the writing. I need to discover the story as I am writing it.
But I do use outlines. Very extensive outlines. AFTER I have written the words. A Plotter would say that I am doing it backwards.
I write the story as it happens in my head, a scene at a time. And then I take what I have written, edit it, and get it just so. Then I put it in point form and plop it on the outline. Then I do the next scene. And so on.
In this way, though I don’t know where the story is going, I can see where it has been. I have this tidy little summary so I can keep my world clear in my head.
What if I write myself into a corner?
That can be a problem because if something happens in one of my stories, it cannot UN-happen. It has become reality and I cannot change it. So I have to wait until the answer presents itself.
I know there are writers who decide mid-book that their story is going over a cliff. They are able to stop, lift out the wrong parts and replace them with an alternate reality. I wish I could do that, but I would not be able to keep my realities straight.
At any rate, it takes a long time for a story to move out of my head and onto paper. So, with each book I begin, I tell myself there has to be an easier way, and I set out to create The Perfect Template.
Spoiler alert: there is no easier way.
I have borrowed and modified many templates. Here are a few.
The Character Interview
One of the first things I tried was the character interview. If you’re a writer, I’m sure you have one. You can have mine if you like because I don’t use them anymore. I meet my characters as they meet each other. Other writers use various ways to gather information about their characters . A simple or detailed questionnaire. Pictures. Maybe a free flow ‘chat’ with the character.
Scene Cards
Remember those little 3×5 cards your teachers told you about? Good for organizing essays? ARWA member Lorraine Paton bettered this idea with the PowerPoint Scene Card approach. Doing scene cards in PowerPoint makes them easier to create and to sort. And you can have a lot more fun with all the pretty colours and fonts. You can even add pictures.
Here’s a portion of the PowerPoint Scene Cards I used in ON THE WAY TO A WEDDING. Note the 3 colours for the 3 points of view that appear in the story. I also used icons to represent “threads” I wanted to keep track of.
Relationship Diagrams
It’s helpful to know how all the characters fit together in the story. I made the hero’s relationships in blue, the heroine’s in pink.
The Hero’s journey
This is a 12 step approach created by Christopher Vogler. Again, I fill this in after the fact, and it helps me to keep track of what has happened so far. I see where my story matches up with The Journey, and that helps me to understand what is to come.
The Snowflake Method
Created by Randy Ingermanson, this is primarily for Plotters but I found the first three steps quite useful. This page will also take you to many other writing articles. Bonus: He has one of the best articles on “Writing the Perfect Scene”.
Find it all here.
Three Act Structure
I will probably always fall back on this one. I first learned about Three Act Structure from ARWA member Diana Cranstoun. I know that Act 1 will take 25% of the story, Act 2 will take 50% of the story, and Act 3 will take the last 25% of the story. There will be a 180 degree turn at the end of Act 1 and at the end of Act 2. At the midpoint of the book, there will be a Point of No Return. The point where the character is forever changed, although the character has not fully transformed until the end.
I dial in the length of the book I’m writing. Novella or Novel. And then I begin to write. And I fill in each square AFTER I have written that part. Again, I don’t know where I am going, but I can see where I have been.
When I have reached the word count that suggests I am at 25%, I look around for that first turning point. Sometimes it’s not obvious and I have to wait a few days to see what it is. Sometimes it jumps out at me. Every once in a while, I print this chart out on an 11 x 17 page, so I can carry it around with me and stare at it.
Like Mahrie, I have collected quite a few templates in my search to discover my Writing Process. If only I could identify what worked, I could easily repeat it, right?
After a while, I realized that in my efforts to discover my process, I was developing a new template for each book.
In fact, I discovered that my process was to discover my process.
In doing that, no matter the template, I was focusing my logical Left Brain on a clear problem: how to sort the massive amount of data needed to create a story. Doing that allows me to get out of the way of my creative Right Brain so that it can figure out—without interruption—what the story is.
In the end, templates are methods of sorting, and sorting calms the mind, and a calm mind allows creativity to happen.
Do you have a favourite calming strategy to let the creativity flow?
fountain pen from istockphoto.com #000014549265
snowflake from photos.com #104240321
I like to consider all – although like you I’m more a pantzer. I really like Lorraine’s idea of using Power Point and might plan that for my next book. Now I usually write one sentence for each chapter so I can keep focused but it often changes as I write the story. I write romance but think if I wrote mystery I would have to plot it out – just to keep the story intriguing and to tie up loose ends – memory not being what it used to be.
I’ve never trusted my memory! That’s why I summarize all this stuff after I’ve written it.
Good luck with the PowerPoint scene cards. They’re lots of fun.
Suzanne – An excellent overview of the issues of process. I don’t equate process with “plotting.” I realized after the workshop that my scene cards were my “pantster parts.” I collected them writing in longhand because initially I was working with a typewriter or a primitive word processor. If I didn’t have my scenes written and in order with details hammered out, I could end up having to type to entire book numerous times. Without correction,] options, self-setting pages and cut and paste, Panstering was not nearly as easy or as much fun. And BTW, I am putting my current WIP on a grid like the one you showed me because I need a review before moving forward. Excellent process, excellent blog. Have a great writing day.
Mahrie – I think you’re really a Pantzer in disguise 🙂
Only one: trust the process. All the other stuff — scene cards, mind mapping, character interviews, character worksheets, and even the three act structure — just gets in the way of my process. I end up trying to make it fit some arbitrary thing instead of following the story.
and that is an EXCELLENT strategy! Sometimes I don’t trust myself. I need to get over that.
I’m so confused and maybe that’s why I doubt myself as a writer. I don’t think I follow any particular method of writing. I start with pictures/scenes/daydreams as they catch my attention and write them down as they evolve. Then I reorganize them into some form of flow and divide them into chapters. Once the chapters are decided on I micro-scene each so I have a very clear picture of how each chapter is going to flesh out, including snippets of dialogue I have as each character. Sort of a stack of mini-scenes that lead to the next scene and complete the chapter so there are no holes, no dangily bits, and no confusion as the story moves into the next chapter.
Maybe I should call it my “Stick Man” style of writing. Start with the bare bones and slowly detail each layer, bit by bit, until it looks like a fleshed out person, so to speak. Photos from magazines and cut/pasted from websites help keep me focused on physical character details. And I have a habit of attaching calendar dates to chapters to keep my timeline in order and consistent.
Ali – I think we all have times when we doubt ourselves as writers. It’s par for the course.
I can relate to your “Stick Man” style. I think you do your layers over the whole book and I do mine scene by scene. Whatever works!
What a wonderful article, Suzanne. I loved all the articles and diagrams. I tend to use scene cards rather than the powerpoint, but it looks really good, so I think I’ll give it a try on my next story.
Thanks Diana. The PowerPoint scene cards are fun and you can do lots with them, like adding those pictures. However, if your basic handwritten scene cards are working, stick with them!
Like you Suzanne, I am a Pantzer. Although when I began my current work-in-progress, I did force myself to write a point by point synopsis. I like discovering my characters as the words evolve on the page. I love the aha moments when plot weaves a surprise into my stories. Thank you for this article. It was well written and a joy to read!
Thanks Shelley! We all love those aha moments when the story takes over.
Loved your article! Very clear and concise and some good ideas – but not for me. Characters come to me, I figure out ways to make life difficult for them and then how they can possibly overcome their problems. I decide how many words my story will be (based on whether it’s a novel or novella) break that down into chapters and then write one line for what is going to happen in each chapter. Then I write. Yes, sometimes I lose the plot and have to go back to the beginning to re-fix my compass, but I get there in the end. The rules of grammar or finite, the rules of writing are not.
Hi Vicki–
Apparently there are no RULES for writing, only TOOLS!
And you definitely know how to make life difficult for your characters 🙂
I’m somewhere in the middle of the Pantzer — Plotter continuum. I think of myself as a Planner. I can’t get as detailed as Plotters tend to be; my stories, and my characters, evolve too much over the course of the piece. But I’m not quite as free-wheeling as a true Pantzer!
I do some of the Plotter stuff. For my WIP I had to create a pretty substantial backstory timeline, because my main characters had first met some years before. I needed to understand that encounter even though it never appears in the story.
I have to understand my characters, so I do some profiling. It changes over the course of the WIP so I update the profiles.
I use Scrivener to write, and one of the features I really like is the corkboard. It’s like those index cards or the PPT slides. I can rearrange them. They start as just a scene title and general idea. Like you, Suzanne, as I write a scene I go back and update the cards to reflect what I actually wrote!
I have a lousy short term memory. If I don’t write it down, it’s gone. So my scene cards are kind of a general outline that shapes the WIP as a whole — subject to change without notice!
I think most writers are somewhere ALONG the continuum, rather than at either end. I’ve also heard that if you hit a bump, it’s a good idea to try your opposite approach. The Plotter would pretend to be a Pantzer for a bit, and the Pantzer would try to Plot for a bit.
I’m learning Scrivener now. Not playing with the corkboard yet but I love the way this thing creates a synopsis for me on the fly!
Love this! I was wondering about snowflake method. Someone else I know mentioned it. GREAT idea about the colors for POV and the icons for threads.
Very smart.
L
Thanks Lori! While you are over on the “snowflake” site, be sure to read that “how to write the perfect scene” article. It is Excellent.
I’m definitely more of a plotter than a pantser. I like to use scrivener to help me sort out my general outline scene by scene, keeping the 3-act structure always in the back of my mind. It’s a process that has worked better for me than any other I’ve tried. Thanks for sharing all of the possibilities for creating structure. This will be a good resource.
You are welcome, Tami!
I’m finding Scrivener quite useful as well. It’s easy to set up for 3-act structure. And, I love that little counter in there that tells me how many words I’ve written each day.
I LOVE the powerpoint idea. I’m totally going to try that. And your statement “I discovered that my process was to discover my process” is amazingly insightful. Thanks for the great post!
Thank YOU, Liv! Have fun with your PowerPoint Scene Cards. And watch out, they can become addictive 🙂
I’m somewhere along the spectrum as well. I think. (I’m still figuring it out!) The first novel I wrote without any sort of outline, and it never quite worked, because I didn’t have an intrinsic understanding of story structure. I spent a lot of time subsequently trying to fix it using various of the above methods – retrofitting structure and rewriting, so to speak.
Most recently, I began with a broad outline – as in the main turning points – and half planned, half pantzed my way along. I think it worked for me better to have the main arc in place, but I still discovered the story, because I didn’t know the detail before hand. I couldn’t imagine anything worse than the snowflake method, which if you do it properly leaves you nothing to discover.
I’ve been thinking about writing a post about my process too actually. Will have to refer back to this post if I do. 🙂
Because I watch a LOT of movies, and most screenplays follow 3-act structure, I think I have that structure in the back of my mind as I write. Maybe that’s why I don’t plot.
And yes, if you did every step in that Snowflake Method, it would leave nothing to discover. I don’t think writers fill it out in THAT MUCH detail. Maybe some diehard Plotters do. But most leave room for those surprises.
I look forward to YOUR post on Your Writing Process!