You see, I’m a bit of a mix between a plotter (someone who plans and outlines her story before she writes) and a pantser (someone who has no plan, but simply writes by the seat-of-her-pants, thus the term “pantser”). In the beginning, once I have a general idea of setting, character and scenario, I prefer to write without a set plot, to simply see where my imagination takes me. It’s during this first fifty to one hundred pages that I get a feel for the story, for the narrator, and can decide whether the idea is going to work. If after twenty pages or so I become bored with it, or decide I don’t really care to tell the story, I can move on to something else. If, however, I do like it, if it excites me, if I’m chomping at the bit to write more, then I know I have a keeper. 

 

This strategy works for me because in the end it saves me time. Too many times I started out with detailed plans for a novel, plans I spent weeks working on, only to feel stifled and unenthused about the project before I’d even written one word. So being a pantser, at least in the beginning works for me. It doesn’t mean that everything I wrote before I pause to plot will remain the same. I often make significant edits to the beginning of my stories. But it gives me a good start. 

 

Then about a quarter of a way through writing the book, I usually stumble to a stop, having come to a point where I have some significant choices to make, and I know I need to sit down and begin serious plotting. Particularly since I write mysteries, it’s almost necessary to do some planning at some point. Where will I throw in the clues, the suspects, the suspense, the red herrings? And what of foreshadowing? Some of this comes out naturally as I write, but most needs to be carefully plotted and executed. 

 

This is usually the most agonizing period for me, because there are so many decisions to be made. If I go this direction, then I can’t go that direction. If I use this plot device, then I must lose that one. I have to make some difficult choices in order for the story to move forward. And I’ve never been good at making decisions. However, once I force myself to choose, there’s another patch of smooth sailing. Until I near the climax of the novel… Which we’ll discuss Friday.