Writing the Map; or, How I Pants my Novels
I’ve spoken a bit about this before but it tends to be a recurring topic. Go to any writer’s forum and start a thread asking, “Should I outline my novel?” then sit back with the popcorn and enjoy the military grade drama that ensues before you’re banned for life.
The answer to the outlining question is YES.
If it works for you.
My friend Nerine Dorman has to work from outlines and she spends a great deal of time working out all her ideas and characters and plot threads before she even starts writing. Without an outline she feels that she’ll waste time in the actual writing. There are many books that help you learn to outline (Story Engineering, and The Anatomy of Story are just two of the ones I own. Why do I have them when I don’t outline? Because a) I have worked on outlining to see if it could help me be a better writer and b) because there are things to be learned from every process.) and if you’re interested, I suggest you start there.
There’ s not much money to be made telling pantsers* how to write**. After all, it’s not like there are steps to follow when you just sit down and wordvomit onto the page. But since this *is* how I write, I thought I’d talk a bit about my process, the pitfalls, and how I deal with them.
Everything here is simply MY PROCESS. Steal what works for you, ignore what doesn’t.
Starting the journey
Generally I have only the vaguest notion, but I have to start with a place, and a person, and something that causes a reaction.
As an example, I’m revising a book now, but when I first started it, all I knew was that there was a girl called George who was being haunted (she thought) by a ghost, even though the city she lives in was warded against ghosts. I also knew her mother was a necromancer who had been killed by the state. I knew it was the anniversary of her mother’s death, and that every year more stars disappeared from the sky.
I found out what the rest of the story was by following George around.
Getting lost
George and I made many missteps. This is what happens when you’re writing your own map. If you outline, you can snip all those pointless story threads before they waste your time, but when you’re pantsing, it can take a while to know you’re lost. I used to get so mad at myself when this happened because OMG I HAVE WASTED SO MANY WORDS AND SO MUCH ENERGY AND TIME, and usually after that I would vow to learn to outline again. But things work better for me when I take a more Buddhist approach to the journey. My goal is not a final polished book (well, it is, but it also isn’t). The journey is the goal. The wrong turns and extra story threads, while they may not make it into the final book, they were an important part of my process. The journey along the twisting path is as important (if not more so) than the peak of the mountain.
Getting lost also gives you room to play with ideas. Sure, something may not work for this novel, but perhaps you write the perfect seed for a different novel, or short story, or poem. Just take that ‘useless’ section, transplant it into another file or notebook and let it sit until you need it. Getting lost doesn’t mean losing work. It just means your map is wider and stranger.
Dead ends and Labyrinths
Not having a plan in mind can lead to getting stuck. Usually when this happens I do a kind of mini brain-storming and outlining session. I sit with what I know so far about my story and my characters, and, with pen and paper, I write down What If? scenarios. This is much more useful to me once I’ve already written about 15-20k, than when I’m going into a story cold. Usually I’m able to come up with some ideas I really like, and even make a kind of mini outline that gets me through the next few scenes before I need to what if? some more.
Sometimes my story becomes so Labyrinthine that it’s an utter mess. Just keep writing (sung in a Dory voice) is my mantra. My first draft is a kind of outline. Sure, it’s about 100k long and it’s a mess of poetry and typos, but it’s still not a story. It’s a vast map of the world I want to set down in a story. I’m not going to use everything on the map, but it helps to know it’s there.
Accept Rewrites and Revisions are Your Life Now
I’ve heard some people who outline say that it means they have to revise less. Personally, I think this is bull, and accounts for so many paint-by-numbers stories, but I’m also mean and picky so…. One thing I do know, however, is that pantsers can rarely get away without drastic rewrites and revisions to get their story in shape. AND THAT’S OKAY. Once again, it’s a part of the journey. Enjoy the creative process, and what rewriting allows you to do. You get to take your universe and reshape it. Destroy the things that bug you, build better palaces, better heroes, better villains. HELL, better and more interesting story shapes.
Finally, every piece of writing is different, and sometimes you’ll find the techniques and tricks that worked for you before aren’t working now. Never be afraid to try new methods, especially if you’re stuck. Sometimes a completely different approach is just what you need to jump-start a story or chapter.
Have fun, keep learning.
*I got asked what a pantser is: it’s the writers who charge off into story land with no idea where they’re going, armed only with idiocy and determination (and a pen), and write ‘by the seat of their pants’).
**One book I have found useful for pantsers is the Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook. I may not have written any break out novels, but the exerises taught me to think better and deeper when I was rewriting, so I think it can be a useful tool for writers who like writing exercises.
