Wednesday 3 October 2012

Insecure Writers, welcome to my Blurb

Well, it's that time of the month again... you know... the time when we talk about all the things we're

INSECURE 

about. So welcome to the Insecure Writers, headed by Ninja Captain Alex, blogger and writer extraordinaire! 

This month, I'm feeling insecure about the fact that my very favourite character has abandoned me. Merle has been with me for many, many years - his is one of the first stories I ever started with the idea of actually finishing it. 

Suffice to say I never did finish it. One of the reasons for this is that Merle, well, he just isn't turning out to be who I thought he'd be. He's grown, become his own person, and now the plot no longer fits. Which means Tessa back to the drawing board, I guess. 

And let me tell you, I suck at plotting. World building, fine. Plotting...not so fine. I'm mostly a pantser at heart, but through trial and error (lots of the latter) I've come to the conclusion that pure pantsing is not the thing for me because if I have no pot, the story gets out of control sooner or later. 

How do you deal with the whole pantsing-plotting issue? What side of the divide do you fall on? 



Photobucket

7 comments:

Ink in the Book said...

I plot and pan! I have to do both because my MC's are just as stubborn as yours. They change mid stream and I have to change with them.

So nice to meet you! I'm a new follower:)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Sorry Merle didn't work out.
I am an avid outliner. If I didn't plan everything in advance, my story would wander off and never return.

Unknown said...

@ Ink: Hi, nice to meet you, too! Yep, stubborn MCs are par for the course for me...

@ Alex: Oh I haven't given up on Merle yet, we know each other too well for that....

Golden Eagle said...

I'm a plotter, though I love coming up with stuff on the fly and derailed outlines because of that.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

I fall in the middle with a general plotting outline and then it's mostly pantsing.
Find what works for you.

Roland D. Yeomans said...

Have the ending in mind before you start the novel. If you find yourself growing bored, then it is for certain the reader will be, too!

Throw in a surprise in each chapter if you can. Go with your instincts ... which seem to be saying you need an outline! :-)

dolorah said...

Uh, well; I've started to do some plotting within a started WiP. I'm not happy about is as a pantster; but, I'm happy to have something about the story on paper . .

.......dhole

Looking for something?

Related Posts with Thumbnails