Giving up a little bit of my Pantser-ways

When I first began my writing, many many years ago I was a Pantser through and through.

Then as time passed and I learned more, I began to do little bits of planning. It was restricted to the odd note, maybe a page of notes, but not much more. At the start of the story I would relish this. Adore the fact that I was going on the adventure with my characters and couldn’t wait for the next surprise to greet us.

Yet sadly, frequently I’d have a shiny new idea halfway through the story and go back to rewrite the beginning to fit this. While doing that I’d have another idea and would thus began a vicious circle. Inevitably at some point I’d be sick of the whole thing and want to give up.

So at the beginning of the year I thought I’d try being a Planner. I read up on writing character profiles, world-building, researched everything, created detailed histories, chapter planning – the whole shebang.

Result? I knew what I was supposed to be doing but when distractions came my way I gave up on writing much more easily than before, because the thrill wasn’t there.

In the end, for much of this (and last year) neither approach would have kept me writing. There are amazing writers out there who will write through hospital visits, emergency phone calls, redundancy threats and whatever else Fate has in store that month – I am not one of them. Maybe one day I will be.

'No infant has the power of deciding..... by what circumstances (they) shall be surrounded' - Robert Owen

But as the end of the year neared I started to think about picking up a pen. I found a story that needs telling, characters to love… but neither approach seems to work for me.

Having decided to try Nanowrimo, I’ve been attempting to build a bridge between the two.

Yes, I have character profiles but they aren’t as detailed as before. Yes, there is world-building and research but I’ve kept it to a minimum. If I need to do more, I can always do it after the first draft is done. There is a history and a timeline but I have room to change things…

I know where my story goes, but how my characters get there is still an adventure.

In the dark…

This weekend I took my MC to a dark place. Afterwards, feeling suitably guilty, I wondered if I’d gone to far…

Broken and alone she’s sitting in a corner waiting for me to put her world back together again.

I won’t.

I’m going to build her a new one.

Meet your Stars

You’ve got your idea and the tools. Now it’s time to lay some foundations for your story. Personally I don’t think there is a wrong or right order in how to go about this.

I started with character profiles. Knowing who they were helped me create a story around them.

There are templates for writing your profiles all over the place, some basic, others pages long but below is what I pieced together for my WIP.

Character Profile

Name: ← full name, any nicknames
Age:
Eyes: ← colour, shape, etc.
Hair: ← is it short, curly, straight, brown, purple, simple or high maintenance?
Height/Weight:
Completion: ← freckles, dimples, are they fair or dark?
Dress code: ← is your character into their clothes, or goes for comfort?
Other: ← this can be anything that you deem important from burn scars to an obsession with fake nails

A basic history: ← knowing where your character came from, what impacted them in their childhood will help you plan how they will react to situations
Character strengths and flaws: ← is your MC easily lead or independent? Do they act first, think later?
Hobbies and/or Talents:

In relation to the story-

Character’s role in the story:
Relationships with other characters:
What does the character want/what are they prepared to do for this: ← think about this, would they betray a friend for this goal?
What makes this character happy: ← can be big or something simple like rainbows, cheesy pop songs, chocolate.

How does the character change over the course of the story:

Additional Notes:

You don’t have to fill in a profile for every participant in the story, but I recommend doing a full profile for each MC, as well as enough information for the supporting cast so you know why they react to your MCs/Situations the way they do.

I will… ROW80

I like lists, tasks as such… an order of things I plan to do.

I never got round to joining NaNoWriMo this year – being on another continent for half the month kinda put an end to that. Plus putting your RL on hold for all that time isn’t that easy, so I’m excited about A Round of Words in 80 Days.

I will:

• finish my outline & character profiles by the first week of January
• write at least 30mins for 6 days out of the week
• have, by the end of the 1st round, the first part of the story ready to edit/crit

 

If you’d like to join in, click here

Sushi Conference

I invited my two main characters* to dine with me. To give us a chance to discuss their story. (Don’t worry, I do know that they aren’t physically real. ) The purpose of this exercise is for me to get to know them better.

When you’re writing your characters are ‘trapped’ in their story. So your knowledge of them, to a certain extent, is based on how they deal with what you throw at them. How would they be in a “normal” setting?

This is how I picture it;

G1 has positioned herself on my sofa so that it’s impossible for anyone to sneak up behind her. Chop sticks in hand she’s picking out the sushi**-rolls because they are the easiest to eat.

G2 on the other hand is sitting cross-legged on the floor, with Merle (that would be the cat). Her back straight, and she has her selection of sushi on a separate plate. She’s being polite by not telling me this is supermarket sushi and inferior (I know this but I was to lazy to make any).

There are of course complaints about my story;

G1 is offended as to how whiney she sounds. (She’s got a fair point actually. I was just annoyed with her for keeping me up 3 nights on the trot.)

G2 finds herself too confusing, like she can’t settle on a personality (again fair point)

By the end of the evening I’ve learned that G1 is a lot more grown up then I gave her credit for and that G2 has a thing for gothic rock (completely unexpected, I had her down as the classical music type).

I doubt the gothic rock will make it into the story but this evening has given me a deeper insight, which will make writing about both of them easier.

If you feel quirky enough give it a go, try answering questions as your character – you might be surprised by what you learn

* I will introduce them properly in another blog

**I love Sushi – it’s one of my comfort foods