Tip O'Day #447 - Writing Without a Net

Guest blogger Jamie DeBree on NoNoWriMo, Past & Future

Last November I set out to write a novel for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), as I often do. I gathered my things - my trusty computer, a blank character and a great first line - and I started writing.

I hear the collective gasp out there as writers everywhere shake their heads sadly. No outline? No synopsis? No ending? No plot? No way!

Actually, it's quite possible. I call it "Writing Without a Net," and it's really the only way I can write without losing interest in the story before it's done. If I have an outline, it means I already know the story, and I have no interest in (re)writing it. If I know how it ends too soon, aside from the general ending certain genres dictate, I see no reason to explore the rest of the story. That's just how my brain works. If I know too much about the story before I start, I lose interest in actually writing it. The fun is in the discovery for me, and the discovery is in the writing.

I can start with a general idea as long as I don't have too many details - for example, this particular story led to an idea for another based on a supporting character that I'll probably turn into a trilogy of stories just for fun. And for the second story, I know the main character's name and basic personality, as well as the main conflict (as set up in the first story). That's what I'll start with, and just see where it goes from there.

When I write, I let the characters just tell me the story. I don't tell them who they are or what they're doing or where they're going - they run the show. It's more interesting that way, because I'm usually just as surprised at what happens next as the reader will (hopefully) be. Once I get to know my characters personalities, I can generally predict the decisions they'll make, and thus start predicting where the story is headed. Scenes start forming earlier, and I normally have a good idea of how things will end by the time I'm two-thirds of the way done.

So what happened with my would-be NaNo novel last year? It's my latest release, Sleep With Me - a contemporary romance novella. Why a novella instead of a 50k NaNo novel? Because it didn't need to be any longer. When I start a story, I write until it's done, whether it ends up being shorter or longer than I'd originally thought it would be. I won't force a story to be longer than necessary - and likewise, I won't cut a story off short just to hit a certain word count.

Can anyone write like this? I'd say yes, but most writers won't. You really have to trust yourself to keep going, especially when you have no idea *where* you're going...and I think most writers are unable or unwilling to give up control to that extent. But I'd encourage all writers to be brave and try it, even just once. I think you might be surprised at just where this method of writing can take your stories - and your confidence as well.

Webmistress for local government by day, Jamie DeBree writes steamy romantic suspense by night, along with horror and erotica by her two alter-egos. From her world headquarters in Billings, Montana, she's published over twenty books through her own independent press, Brazen Snake Books. Connect with Jamie at http://JamieDeBree.com and check out her novel Sleep With Me at http://tinyurl.com/dxrxsud.

Tip O'Day #436: The Discovery of Drafting

Guest blogger Kourtney Heintz on the journey to find your story.

The first fifty pages came easily to me, but then I hit a wall. I’d laid out my initial conflict, had my inciting incident, and set my characters on their path. What came next?

I didn’t know. There were several directions the book could go in. It could be about them fixing up the house. It could be about their foibles trying to adjust to country life, but I wanted it to be more. Deeper. Darker.

So I paused and pondered. Spent a few weeks playing “what if.” Kind of like a Choose Your Own Adventure Book, except I would imagine each possibility to its rightful ending inside my head.

Generally, I’m a planner and a plotter, but this book didn’t want to follow the rules. Sometimes the story is waiting to be revealed. Mine took some unexpected turns, evolving into a literary thriller.

I had no idea this would happen. No clue when I first met my characters that we would all end up where we did. That’s part of the discovery of drafting. Even when you think you know where you’re headed, sometimes the story takes you in a completely different direction.

That unexpected detour enriches the entire novel.

Kourtney Heintz resides in Connecticut with her warrior lapdog, Emerson, her supportive parents and three quirky golden retrievers. Years of working on Wall Street provided the perfect backdrop for her imagination to run amok at night, imagining a world where out-of-control telepathy and buried secrets collide.

Her debut novel, The Six Train to Wisconsin, was a 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Semifinalist, and can be purchased for Kindle here.

Tip O'Day #424 - How to Start?

Guest blogger Jessica Knauss on “Creating an Exciting Beginning.”

I write in two genres. For short pieces and my contemporary longer fiction, I can honestly say that the first few lines drop into my head. It’s as if my muse says, Here you go. What happens next? It’s the most exciting part of writing and gets me enthused for the entire story, so I hope that enthusiasm is transmitted to the reader.

I was sitting at a table at my grandmother’s house, absently rubbing the bony part of my nose, when the first line of Rhinoceros Dreams appeared out of nowhere: “Allie had an outsized bump on the bridge of her nose that made her think she might be turning into a rhinoceros.” Although the story went through several drafts, the first line was a keeper from that moment.

On the other hand, the first line of Unpredictable Factors in Human Obedience involved the main character ordering vegetarian substitute bacon for the charity dinner that figures in the climax. Once the first draft was finished, I realized I no longer needed the part about the fake bacon. I cut it so the story starts with a hint at the main character’s self-absorption, but I’ll never forget that the story would not have come into being if not for that lost sentence.

My current WIP, a New Adult paranormal tentatively titled Middle Awash in Talent, begins this way:

When my little sister staggered through that rough-hewn doorway, blood still dripping artistically from the slash across her bellybutton where they’d sewn her up, and declared that she no longer needed my attention, she finally started to seem interesting to me.

Beth and I started off on the wrong foot.

That crazy image, written during that time between sleep and waking, eventually led to a vivid narrator, a world where some people train to use their telekinesis or other strange powers, and unexpected twists and turns at a breakneck pace all over the northern hemisphere. When I finish it as a novella or novel, I may change a few words of the beginning, but overall it has served the story exceptionally well.

My muse hasn’t been so generous with my historical novel. Although I’ve finished the first draft of The Seven Noble Knights of Lara, the really inspired passages take place well within the book. In fact, I put so much pressure on myself to write an awesome beginning that I started with Chapter II. I’ve now gone back and forth with the beginning four or five times. Can it start slowly? Should the beginning with a bang be an entire chapter, or just a prologue-type fragment? How much of the bad guy should I show up front? What will draw the reader in? Once the novel gets going, all my beta readers have reported feeling like they’ve been transported to the year and place and can hardly put it down, but I’m far from figuring out what would make a new reader turn the first page.

I hope my editor can help with this decision. There’s still a chance the right beginning will drop into my head when I’m least expecting it, but that doesn’t seem like a very reliable method, if it’s a method at all. I’ve written The Seven Noble Knights of Lara much differently than anything else – it was well planned, while my contemporary stories are purely pantsed. So when I do figure out this beginning, I hope it’s a technique I can use for all the other historical fiction I’m planning. Wish me luck! Any suggestions are welcome.

Jessica was the first person to interview Dixon as a writer. She blogs at this link and provides updates about The Seven Noble Knights of Lara here.

For those unfamiliar with the word pantsed, this refers to the spectrum of writers, with planners at one end, and those who write by the seat of their pants at the other end. Thus, some authors refer to themselves as pantsers, and their prose could be said to be pantsed. Class dismissed.

Tip O'Day #295 - Plotter or Pantser?

Guest blogger Jeannine McAllister on Pantsers vs Plotters.

Not long ago, a colleague wrote about how lost she was in her story. I asked her if she was a pantser or a plotter. She said she was a pantser.

Pantsers are writers who sit down and create a story by the ‘seat of their pants.’ They can write linearly from beginning to end, figuring things out along the way. Being able to write whatever comes to mind without any guide is a skill. They construct the book in their mind and just type. The problem with pantsers is they generally spend a lot of time in editing after the first draft. Also, it is not unusual for them to loss their path along the way to the end of the book because there is no road map.

Plotters plan the book from beginning to the end before they start writing. It is said that prior to computers most writing was done in chunks. Plotting allows you to work non-linear in chunks. Plotters need for how much planning they do varies; from a hand written note on a napkin, to a notebook full of handwritten scenes, to a thirty to fifty, maybe a hundred, page typed outline. Generally, they know something about each chapter, sometimes each scene, before they start writing. Plus, they have done character and location sketches. Plotters may spend three or more months up to years developing their plot outline. That’s a problem with plotters. They can spend so much time plotting, getting every detail perfect, that it ends up never getting finished, or they end up with enough material for a ten volume series before they start writing.

While plotters spend a lot of time before they actually start writing, the advance time often decreases the time they spend editing in the end. Pantsers don’t spend much time, if any, in the beginning; they spend it at the end editing.

If I sound biased towards plotting it’s because I hate editing, but I’m also envious of pantsers.

For further reading, check this out.

Dixon says: I like Jeannine's analysis of the difference between planners and pantsers. However, I suspect that the majority of writers are found somewhere between those two extremes. I'm sure there are very few writers who sit down without an idea what they're going to create. For an extreme planner, I'm reminded of Margaret Mitchell, who plotted out Gone With The Wind to the smallest detail. Then, first of all, she wrote the last chapter. Many writers do that, to make sure they'll have a satisfying conclusion. Then Ms Mitchell wrote the next to last chapter. And then the one before that. And the chapter before that. She wrote the entire saga backwards. Now that's a dedicated planner.

In my novels, I have a very good idea of what will happen in the first 3-4 chapters, and a vague concept of how my story will end. Then I "write in the headlights." With each page that I write, I can see a bit further up the road. When I wrote The Assassins Club, I had a moment of clarity about two-thirds of the way through, when I could see exactly how the final two chapters would be choreographed. The final version of those pages varied little from that original vision. Thank you, Voices In My Head.

Tip O'Day for Writers #115

Guest blogger Walter Jon Williams says know where you’re going.

Try to know the end before you start. It saves a lot of time and anxiety and wandering down dark corridors in search of the plot. You can aim each scene at the ending, and that means that every scene will contribute its own energy to the resolution, and the resolution will thus have more impact.

Dixon says: Good advice. I subscribe to the “writing in the headlights” school of fiction, midway between Planners and Pantsers (as in ‘flying by the seat of your pants’). When I start a novel, I know generally how it will end, and I have a pretty clear vision of what will transpire in the first 3-4 chapters. As I progress, the headlights expose more and more of the plot details along the roadway and my understanding of the climax grows progressively clearer.

For me, discovering exactly how everything will work out in the end is one of the most exciting parts of writing. Besides, my characters keep doing unexpected things, the rascals, and the plot I envision when I start is never exactly what transpires.

Writing Tip O'Day #55

Laura Joh Rowland and Roquel Rodgers are planners, not “pantsers.”

Laura: "Write a synopsis before you start your book. It will be your road map and your chance to test-drive the story before you invest a lot of time in it. Also comes in handy to show editors and agents. A lot of people would rather 'fly by the seat of their pants' but I'm not one of them."

Roquel: "For first drafts - S.I.O. (S**t. It. Out.) Just get it out on paper, let it flow, and go back and fix it when it's all down. But before the s**tting - outline, outline, outline."

Dixon says: I met Roquel at the 2010 Flathead River Writers Conference in my home town of Kalispell, Montana. A lot of the discussion there was about whether it's best to be a planner or a pantser. I think those two positions are at the edges of a wide spectrum and most of us toil away somewhere between those points. Some genres are fairly anal in the plotting requirements, and in some experimental styles you can't find a plot. A lot depends on your personality as a writer, your genre, and your market.