#planster

Thank you @willtheweaver for the tag! I especially like this one as a planster (someone who plots and pants!)

Share a tiny glimpse of your WIP outline. It could be a scene, a beat, or just a moment. Keep it vague or get specific. No spoilers needed!

Even if you don't outline - any note, braindump, or sketch counts.

For me, I've been creating my own templates based on Save the Cat! They are evolving as I'm still figuring out my process. I've included the first couple of pages of my outline of Draft 3 of The Blood Cleaners.

Tagging (no pressure): @kitkins13 @kaylinalexanderbooks @tildeathiwillwrite @winterandwords @forthesanityofstorytellers

One part planning, one part omfg this scene is so good let me write it down and fit it somewhere.

AKA why I identify as a Planster when NaNoWriMo comes around.

PRO

I make progress

Every bit counts, establishing the key pieces I want to appear in a chapter. Foreshadowing and all.

I have a plan, usually. Outlines galore.

These scenes are A+ and ready to be seen.

CON

Who wrote this?

Change the outline again, this doesn't make sense anymore

This scene doesn't fit??? It breaks the lore?? The lore I wrote?

Do I rewrite the scene to fit?? I DONT WANNA SCRAAAAAP

Getting Around Executive Function Malfunction - Make a to-do list - Number it - Random.org - set a timer for a number you like (I like primes so I do 17 or 31 or something) - do the task until A) the timer goes off or B) you are able to focus on it

Getting Around Not Wanting To Work - Have multiple projects going so you can procrastinate one by working on another - Reward yourself for progress... I like stickers so I have a sticker calendar. 1 sticker per X number of words written or 1 sticker per task

Getting Around Plotting Being Boring - Figure out your villains - Plan four plot twists - Make a list of scenes you really want to write so you can work towards them - Write the scenes you can think of first - Copy and Paste into a Frakendraft - Fill in bridge scenes where needed - You can also pants your way through, that works for some people, but I get frustrated rewriting and doing six drafts of edits because I meandered through the book so I'm a planster. - HERE is a beat sheet if you want one

Getting Around Time Blindness - Set a timer - Make a play list as long as the time you need to write/work/plot/ect and listen to it until it is done (this is good for setting your brain up to remember where it is because that playlist = that book and you can work until the last song). - Alarms on your phone to break your concentration when you get hyperfocused but need to do things like eat, sleep, parent, walk the dog, ect.

A pantser writes by the edge of their seat.

I did too.

In fact, I did it for a whole year, thinking that sitting by the edge would give the gravity more access to my creative juices and help them flow more. The only problem was I didn’t realize I wanted them to flow towards the laptop on the table in front of me, not the floor below.

So, when I signed up for NaNoWriMo, pledging by me heart to write as much as I can, I decided to change my strategies too. After all, NaNo is like a fight with yourself as a writer and it’s good to enter the battlefield with a foolproof plan.

I sat (not by the edge of my seat) and rubbed my palms together, preparing myself for the tedious amount of plotting I had to do, but determined nonetheless. I laid out everything I would need–pen, pencil, paper, highlighters, midliners, color pens, eraser, ruler, sharpener, scissors, graph sheets, a sketch pad and a life. Except for one thing–ideas.

That cyan blue color of the NaNo badge stared at me from the laptop screen, motivating me to think, think and think.

And I did!

Ideas hit me so hard, they almost knocked me out. Names for my characters flowed so smoothly, their backstories followed them closely, their appearances painted in my mind and all the dots connected perfectly. I was ready to send out my story for editing, beta-reading or even publishing. I was happy and satisfied.

Now I’d to only get it on paper.

But there are five more days for NaNo, I can always start on the first of November. I thought and winded up the day to get a peaceful sleep.

God knows what happened to my brain over night.

When I woke up, a new set of ideas for the same story line hit me. Now, the names changed, plot twists revamped and everything took a 180 turn from the last night’s plotting.

It’s been going on till now. Three days left for NaNo and I keep plotting something completely new everyday. Maybe it’s the pantser trait in me that won’t go away.

Now I plot by the edge of my seat.

I’m a proven planster now.

Here we are at the last week of October, and while a part of me is a little shocked and sad that time has flown by so fast, I can honestly say in the last few days ahead of NaNoWriMo, time can’t seem to go fast enough.

I can say that this year because I am feeling REALLY good about my novel project. So good in fact that it has been a bit of a struggle not diving into story creation. These past couple of weeks I’ve spent in novel preparation, fleshing out some characters, and wrapping my brain around the setting, etc. It’s been great practice getting back into the habit of daily writing, and for me having a strong sense of the minutia surrounding a story gets me fully immersed in the actual story that I’m telling. I compare the preparation work I’ve been doing with my writing to the paintings I create in my studio before I start adding the paper quills.

When I start a piece of artwork, I have a general idea of what I’m going to be doing, and I will spend quite a bit of time painting the background and laying the ground world of the piece. Sometimes I’ll sketch in a book if I’m working with a figure that’s giving me some trouble before committing that image to the canvas, sometimes I go forth boldly and paint. My work doesn’t ever truly come alive until I start working with the paper, and when I work with the paper I work completely organically. I don’t map out where each quill is going to go before I start cutting up my strips. I use the groundwork of the painting to guide me in the best way to integrate the paper.