My brain hurts. I am way behind on words, having had to work at a trade show this past weekend. I am cranky, and it's hard to get my characters to do what I want them to.
But I am doing a little better than I used to at skipping scenes I don't feel capable of writing and moving on to the next thing. I used to have to write in a totally linear fashion--nothing could go down without everything leading up to it being laid out entirely.
I often hear people talk about "planners" vs. "pantsers." Planners outline, whereas pantsers write by the seat of their pants. But of course, nothing is quite that binary. Or, very little is. And nothing in the world of writing. At the latest Mystery Writers of America meeting last night, Chris Grabenstein talked about how he sets "tentposts" rather than outlining. These are the major plot turning points. That's almost an outline, but not quite. I couldn't do that, myself, because I don't know those plot points ahead of time. (I'm a true pantser. I'd written half of my first mystery before I even knew who the murderer was.)
This time out, however, I am trying to do a little better, to think three, or even five, scenes ahead instead of just one. What about you guys? Do you do any pre-planning, or just sit down and go for it? Do you write a complete outline? If I've asked you this before, forgive my brain-dead state. I've generated way too many words in the past eleven days.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
How's Your NaNo?
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5 comments:
One of these days I'm going to be a planner. yeah, one of these days.
No need to apologize. I've had many a day where I've used up all my words.
Not a planner. I see a scene in my head and take it from there.
Your head must be spinning while writing so many words in such a short period of time!
I like Chris's idea of 'tentposts." Thanks for sharing.
I'd love to be more of an outliner to reduce the stress. I lean towards the pantser method.
Good luck as you near the middle of NaNo. Keep up the good work.
LOL! I finished my first draft Nov 5th, and it's about 8K words longer than it should be. Do they have an "UnNaNo"? Because I'm tracking words I've cut, not added.
I was with Laura at Chris' program last night which I liked, because I do benefit from a basic plan, and I need milestones for knowing when to arrive where, but I also like space within that for deviation and serendipitous developments.
Anyway, on the train down to the meeting, I had started to suspect I had too much plot in my NaNo. The meeting helped me confirm that for myself, and just as I presciently dreaded on October 31st, I've written words and scenes I can't ever use.
However, at this moment, I don't know why I worried so much! After the mental threshing, I'm clear on what to include and finally understand the heart of my story. It only took 10,000 words to figure it out! Two years ago, it took a whole wasted 55k to figure out I didn't have even a slippery handle on it. So much for my experience as an uber-pantser, I think. College try and all.
I'll keep my ongoing word count tally for the sake of recognizing the effort-- which is part of the point-- but for all intents and purposes, I'm beginning my NaNo novel anew... now. NIFTY!!
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