Pantsing or Plotting?
I am a total write by the seat of my pants kind of author. I never know what is going to happen in a book as I'm writing. I go into it with a basic idea then my characters take over.
Lately I have been struggling. My characters aren't talking to me and I'm in a writing slump.
I recently listened to Take Off Your Pants by Libbie Hawker on audible. It was a great book to listen to and it was very informative. I also have been reading Save the Cat by Jessica Brody. Hoping to understand story structure and outlining.
Outlining has always overwhelmed me for some reason. I don't know why. One would think it would be easy and helpful. I've talked to lots of authors that use Scrivener and Plottr to help them outline. I will try both to see if it helps me get organized.
I'm hoping that this shift in writing methods will help me get out of my writing slump.
I am just like you, T.K. I start with an idea, flesh out the main characters and go for it. Somewhere along the way it comes together, but not without a lot of anxious, overthinking, believing it's garbage days in between. For places where I'm stuck, I find turning my attention to something else, such as cleaning or walking, helps jog the brain and get the ideas flowing again. Hugs and thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI started out like you - a general idea with the characters and scenes evolving as I wrote. I'm still that way to a point, but I've learned the value of spending time plotting and working out more of the details ahead of time. My writing goes faster if I don't have to stop and research or decide things so often.
ReplyDeleteJami Gold has some great free worksheets for authors on her site. One of them is a Save-the-Cat-style plotting worksheet that you can adjust for your target word count. It helps you hit the major turning points in the story and not have a saggy middle, etc. I bet you'd find it helpful with your slump.