Hi,

I'm running a new course from May - first draft of a novel in a year. Planned the course outline, students have signed up and I'm happy with it, except for one thing. I want to emphasise to students that there is no one right way of approaching a book. And I also want to emphasise that the most common failing in first books is lack of sufficient story.

Dilemma is: if student is a natural pantser, I don't want to get them to structure the story in advance as that will put them off. I'm a plotter not a pantser. So pantsers, do you have an end in sight? A vague goal to move towards? If not, how do you know the story isn't heading up blind alleys? How do you know there is a story worth telling. If there isn't, by the end of draft one, do you then go back and rework to make one?

I'm interested in how to guide pantsers without over-structuring the creative process for them, but making sure they aren't beavering away only to discover at the end of the year that they lack a story.

I'm going to suggest for the first term that each section they bring in to class ends on a cliffhanger, however subtle, and has three minor hooks sewn into it, just to establish plot development. Is that too prescriptive for pantsers?

Pantsers, you are as mystical to me as symphony composers. I have no idea how you do it. Please enlighten me.

x S

I don't know if I'm a pantser, but how about getting them to write a very focused, two or three sentence description of the main tension/theme/question at the heart of the story they want to tell? And then have that above their desk or whatever, to keep in mind as they go.

Those both sound great ideas, Susannah and Leila.

It's probably obvious to an experienced writer but not everyone when they start writing longer pieces realise that every scene needs a beginning, a middle and an end.

And that in each scene there will be conflict, even if it's 'will someone catch the bus or miss it?'

Plus, as I've just been reading in a book recommended by Caroline, "Save the Cat" there should be a plus and a minus for the character's emotion. So that, for example, if they start the beginning of the scene on a high because they've just been promoted, they should end on a low because they discover the cat's died. "Conflict" is defined as two people at opposite ends of the room who have to push past each other to get to the other side for a reason of their own. He also says one scene, one conflict or your story becomes just too muddy.

By having the story defined in one or two sentences, as Leila suggests, that will focus the mind. So you may not have a real plan but you know, for instance, that you want to write a scene in which a dinner party goes horribly wrong. If, written in your notebook you have your story's premiss then you can ensure that the dinner party scene won't go off the rails and veer off into another story.

If it keeps doing that then you might decide that you're writing the wrong story, of course, but sooner - maybe half a dozen scenes in - rather than later.

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Feel a bit of a fraud writing this because I don't write novels. But I think writing a serial is the same structure and also writing a radio drama, which I'm half heartedly attempting.

It helps to have an ending to aim for, and to have a central premiss, &/or 'what if's. It also helps to start putting together a synopsis/outline as they get into the story.
If they get a third to half way through and still don't know how it's going to end then they're probably going to be in trouble.

Naomi, I agree, it helps to have an ending to aim for, but I'm concerned a true pantser might feel stymied by this. I don't want to be prescriptive, but I DO want them to recognise that they must give the reader a story.

Thanks Leila and Jem. Leila, that's a good idea. If they haven't got that, at very least, it would be hard to make an energetic start.

I would stay well away from synopses. There's nothing more constricting for pantsers!

Agreed about encouraging them to think about where they want to end - I often liken it to seeing the top of the hill you're walking to, but by way of lots of buried lanes and twists and turns which you can't see at all, so you have to plunge in and make individual choices of turn without being sure how they'll lead.

And the opposite: I think that not doing much planning of the whole novel, or not really knowing where you want to end up, doesn't much matter if you pay real attention to each link of the chain as you get to it: that it's convincing, compelling, interesting. Then, even if you don't know where you're ultimately going, the chain of cause and effect will be convincing, and the reader will believe that one thing really could and did spring from the previous thing.

I blogged about how to think about the work you need to do before you start, if the idea of planning puts you off:

http://emmadarwin.typepad.com/thisitchofwriting/2011/02/jigsaws-pants-and-doing-your-prep.html

Also, is there any scope for something like my planning grid, NOT for them to fill out completely at the beginning, but to do it as and when something occurs to them, or retrospectively as they write? In pencil. Just to keep track of ideas, not to straitjacket them?

Emma

Naomi, I agree, it helps to have an ending to aim for, but I'm concerned a true pantser might feel stymied by this.

Well I'm a panster and I have 3 unfinished mss in the bottom drawer waiting for an ending, so maybe at least advise them to try to come up with something or risk the whole thing grinding to a halt two thirds of the way in.

I would stay well away from synopses. There's nothing more constricting for pantsers

It helps to have an overview of the storyline before you write all the chapters and then risk filling it with too much detail. You don't have to stick to it, it's more of a marker for where you've come fromn and a roungh idea of where you're going to.

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No need to be prescriptive, but at least give them options and point out the risks.

It helps to have an overview of the storyline before you write all the chapters and then risk filling it with too much detail

Sure, but there are less restricting ways of doing this as Leila mentioned with her one sentence summing up and I mentioned in my post.

I often think that if you're a pantser and you've written the synopsis, you lose interest in writing the story because what's to be surprised about?

I'm running a new course from May - first draft of a novel in a year. Planned the course outline, students have signed up and I'm happy with it, except for one thing. I want to emphasise to students that there is no one right way of approaching a book. And I also want to emphasise that the most common failing in first books is lack of sufficient story.

One suggestion is why not get them to try out approaches at each end of the bar? Get them to utterly plan out a novel (there are lots of frameworks for this, as I'm sure you know); then get them to try one without planning.

I do something in-between. I have to start with a powerful need to write about something that inspires me. This can be a theme, emotion, true story, concept, whatever. Then I spend quite a lot of time lying on the floor, thinking the plot through. I often make lots of plot-line notes, even though I know I won't use them at the point. Once I feel my subconscious is fully loaded with a) plot ideas and b) my serious intent to write the damn thing, I take off. I aim to do it in one draft - because I find that primes my instinct to really go for the creative gold. If I knew this was just a rough draft, that wouldn't happen.

But if you're teaching people, I think the first question has to be what are they writing for? They might, for instance, want to be purely commercial writers who see books as products to make money out of. Nothing wrong with that, as long as they're honest about it then find the best way to plan such books. Or they might want to write in order to express something magical, elevating with the odd transcendent moment, and not be too bothered at the size of their audience.

I totally agree on your last point. I see this a lot. Without training, new writers tend to have a short story idea which they stretch to novel length. I see it more so with children's/YA writers where the relative shortness of novels tends to make this more of a possibility. The problem is, it takes a lot of skill to write a short novel with just one plot-line: needs a lot of character and scene enrichment around the edges which amounts to sub-plots - something new authors don't tend to notice, especially when the writing is good.

Terry

And the opposite: I think that not doing much planning of the whole novel, or not really knowing where you want to end up, doesn't much matter if you pay real attention to each link of the chain as you get to it: that it's convincing, compelling, interesting. Then, even if you don't know where you're ultimately going, the chain of cause and effect will be convincing, and the reader will believe that one thing really could and did spring from the previous thing. I blogged about how to think about the work you need to do before you start, if the idea of planning puts you off: http://emmadarwin.typepad.com/thisitchofwriting/2011/02/jigsaws-pants-and-doing-your-prep.html Also, is there any scope for something like my planning grid, NOT for them to fill out completely at the beginning, but to do it as and when something occurs to them, or retrospectively as they write? In pencil. Just to keep track of ideas, not to straitjacket them?

Marvellous stuff, Emma, all of it. Thank you so much!

Hmm, there seems to be some consensus that suggesting the pantsers have some goal in sight they are then free to reach it by any path they choose. If I can persuade them to mark goals along the way and reach them freely then we're heading towards troubleshooting the plot-free novel before it's written. Ooh good. Still very keen to hear from more pantsers. Is Manic around anywhere these days? I'll have to track her down on Strictly...

Terry - your first suggestion is exactly what I plan to do, providing it genuinely helps the pantsers' ideas come alive. I want to spend the first term helping them individually to find the right way to progress rather than shoehorn them into a one-size-fits-none structure. My concern is that whilst plotters can get a great deal from writing freely into the blue, pantsers may feel stymied by any form of planning. I have a maybe undue fear that by encouraging them to even explore planning it will kill the magic for them. What i don't want is for them to discover what will happen in the book, thereby killing the creative juice that enables them to write it, if you see what I mean. I'm so ignited by planning - find it so creative - that I want to ensure I don't unintentionally foist that enthusiasm onto people for whom it is the kiss of creative death.

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A huge thank you to everyone answering. WW comes into its own on questions like this. Having experts and working writers around to dish out advice freely is such a superb resource.

I want to spend the first term helping them individually to find the right way to progress rather than shoehorn them into a one-size-fits-none structure. My concern is that whilst plotters can get a great deal from writing freely into the blue, pantsers may feel stymied by any form of planning. I have a maybe undue fear that by encouraging them to even explore planning it will kill the magic for them. What i don't want is for them to discover what will happen in the book, thereby killing the creative juice that enables them to write it, if you see what I mean. I'm so ignited by planning - find it so creative - that I want to ensure I don't unintentionally foist that enthusiasm onto people for whom it is the kiss of creative death.

I think this shows your students are in good hands. You clearly want to help them improve but not at the expense of their creativity; which is exactly what I'd look for in a teacher.

A lateral view, maybe: it could just be that plan/don't plan your plot is a bit of a red herring. I say this because I once wrote a book where someone else provided an incredibly detailed story-line. Much to my suprise, I found this a very creative experience. While I had to stick to the exact sequence of events, I was free to develop the characters, dialogue, etc, within that. I found that not having to think about the plot, and having a set storyline to push/rebel against, was almost liberating! (But I'm still not sure why . . . )

Terry

Glad you approve.

The other thing with the pantsers (and I agree, I get off on planning, so struggle to inhabit the other mindset, for novels at least - will fairly happily pants for a short) is for them to recognise that for them the first draft is going to be... not a novel, but one monster plan.

What we're really saying, perhaps, is that both planners and pantsers have to work out what they're doing on paper: neither kind know what they think till they see what they say. It's just that planners do it in charts and diagrams and notes and things, and pantsers do it in continuous prose which just happens to look a bit like a novel... Only it isn't, it's a first draft.

That's okay. Shitty first draft 'n all...

(And yes, of course there are some writers for whom the shitty first draft principle operates at sentence or paragraph level, and they get each unit on to third or fourth or fifth draft before moving on. But unless your beginner writer is hugely talented and technically capable by instinct, that's unlikely to produce work that does their talent justice)

Emma

I'm a kind of pantser in that I tend to plunge in without plotting a great deal, but I do have a destination in mind, together with a few stopping off places en route, and I tend to plan a few scenes ahead in my mind.

I do compare it in my head to a journey, and yes, there are blind alleys. The trick is to recognise them as you get to them (or afterwards when you're editing) and feel no compunction about cutting them out. I quite frequently write a chapter, then delete it and write the one I should have written. But it's not wasted, it's all there as background in my head.

I suppose, to continue the journey analogy, sometimes when you are following a route you do take a wrong turn, but you may see interesting things along the way, or maybe the false turn tells you something important about the route you should have been following.