Planning, Pantsing, and Plantsing: Writing Tips for a Spectrum of Styles
Contents
In attendance
- 10 in-room
- Tim
- Daniel
- Katie
- Niraj
- Gene
- Steve
- Allan
- Tina
- Grace
- Dan
- Five online
- Maria Saddler
- Arianne Adams
- Gertrude Daly
- Robby Badgley
- Coral Sands
Intro
Planners, Pantsers, and Plantsers (Katie Lazicki)
- Planners plan out their story before they write it.
- Pantsers/Discovery writers (seeking the fun of writing)
- Plantsers - incorporates some aspects of both writing processes
Four doors to reading
- Different books prioritize different things:
- Plot - Dan Brown (Da Vinci Code)
- Character - Sarah J Maas (Throne of Glass)
- Setting - JRR Tolkien (Lord of the Rings)
- Language - Kristin Hannah (The Nightingale)
- Plot-driven vs. Character-driven stories
- some approaches are more prevalent in certain genres
- romance - character
- SF - setting
- thrillers - plot
- some approaches are more prevalent in certain genres
- Determine where your priority is and what you want to put your priority around
- Motivational systems
- product oriented
- deadlines
- daily word count goals
- process oriented
- habits and routine (break it into smaller chunks, make it more possible)
- dedicated writing time
- accountability (being accountable to someone else)
- write-ins
- trackbear tracking
- product oriented
- Learning styles
- visual
- youtube channels
- visualized story outline methods (Dan Harmon’s Story Circle, Hero’s Journey)
- Writing workshops
- Nichols Library has Kanopy to watch informational, nonfiction videos
- pinterest, collages, character art/references, world/town maps, mind maps
- auditory
- Youtube channels, writing podcasts, writing workshops (Kanopy, Writing Journey)
- music playlists, ambient noise (rain), story wall
- read/write (the craft of writing)
- writing guide books
- how-to websites and articles
- writer blogs
- outlines, mind maps, handwritten/typed notes and researhc, notebooks, paper, etc
- kinesthetic
- Write your novel!!!
- visual
- Introduce yourselves (name, new? idea)
- Katie, cozy fantasy
- Tina (short things about own experiences), no plan for Nov (but want the skills to have the tools)
- Grace (haven’t written in a long time, want motivation)
- Daniel (writing for a long time, with the Journey for 15 years, doing NaNo/Novel Quest)
- Steve, non-fiction, but for November, something with fiction (probably related to the Civil War, love history)
- Allan, newish, want to write a novel about a family mystery or a crime mystery
- Gene, relatively new to writing (had a blog), want to learn how to tell a story (would like to do a memoir)
- Dan, long-time reader, first time writer, want to try writing, working on a story that is vignettes, an annual friendship retreat (a group of friends go on every year), looking back and ahead
- Niraj (writing a year ago, just 1-2 pages), topics and things happening in my life (3-4 pages). Would like to write something longer like a novel. Have an extended family member just diagnosed with brain cancer (a year to live). Thinking through what he wants to do with his remaining time (have come up with thoughts on this)
- Tim, Twisted Westerns
- Coral Sands, Quest Guide for the virtual Novel Quest, writing for a long time, taking it seriously the last 7-8 years, working on debut novel (90% of the way done), putting it aside to start a brand new story with NQ (excited)
- Maria Saddler - back after a few years of ignoring things, been writing since sophomore year in HS. Managed to do a follow up to massive last NaNoWriMo win (65K words in 6 days)
- Gertrude Daly - a number of years writing - working on a non-fiction book (monarchy for writers)
- Robby Badgley - with the WJ for three years - pivoted last minute to a novella-sized project (30-40K words)
- Arianna Adams - writing for a long time (not finishing stories very often) - working on a fantasy for novel quest
- Outlining 101 - crash course on story structures
- do you need an outline? Or can you just wing it? It depends…
- you could start writing November 1st but I would recommend against it because you don’t know what you need until you know it
- you might be utterly lost without an outline
- even pantsers can benefit, but you need to know yourself and your processes (comes from trial and error)
- no harm to know the story structure and choosing to abandon it
- Framework examples
- 3 act structure
- 4 act structure (split the middle in half)
- hero’s journey
- save the cat!
- snowflake method
- 1 page outline (free resource)
- Freytag’s pyramid
- scene and sequel method
- character driven arc
- Dan Harmon Story Circle
- Find the story structure that works for you; you may need to modify it to work for you
- Character arcs (start here if you’re a character-driven writer)
- Star Wars, The Last Airbender
- moral ascending - Han Solo, Prince Zuko
- moral descending - Anakin Skywalker, Princess zula
- transformational - Luke, Aang
- Flat (often used in side characters) - Leia, Toph
- Desires - WHAT do they want
- Motivations - WHY do they want it
- Obstacles - what’s keeping them from getting it
- Bonus - is what they want is what they need? They may need to pivot.
- Plot driven stories, characters may not change
- Sherlock Holmes (genius, will solve the mysteries, didn’t grow)
- Good character arcs
- Sam Gamgee - transformational arc (gardener -> hero)
- Robby: Moral descending - Walter White (Breaking Bad) - revenge stories in general
- Maria: I start with the characters more – if I can’t figure out why the character needs to exist, I don’t know how to build the story around them. E.g., a main character has a bad dream and wants to stop it; her character arc is to figure out how to do this.
- Tina: I like character-driven stories, but it is difficult–you want to show and not tell. You want to have stories to show that; I lack the story to show what the character is.
- Katie: showing vs. telling - you might worry about it in the revising stage. How to show vs. telling. E.g., if someone is very vain. Think of actions she can take to demonstrate this.
- Dan Harmon’s Story Circle Structure (Rick and Morty)
- how the character changes over the process
- most often done in Quest stories
- order world vs chaos world
- e.g., Frodo starts off in the Shire, ends up with the Ring of power, it must be destroyed, he has to leave the Shire (is being chased by bad guys), afterwards, he has to return home but he is forever changed by his adventure
- stasis thinking to transformed thinking (midpoint of the story)
- four quadrants, fairly typical for fantasy/quest stories
- Three Act Structure
- beginning - Act One - the setup with the hook
- hook
- inciting incident
- 1st plot point (point of no return)
- middle - Act 2a - the struggle (things aren’t going their way)
- first pinch point
- midpoint
- middle - Act 2b - the pursuit
- they start doing something new
- 2nd pinch point
- 2nd plot point (Crisis point, darkest moment)
- end - Act 3 - resolution
- climax
- resolution
- beginning - Act One - the setup with the hook
- Plot point vs pinch points
- Plot point: major action taken by the main character (leading to irreversible change)
- drives the story forward
- Pinch point: actions of the antagonist/opposing force, raise the tension, highlight the stakes, forces the main character to re-evaluate their cause
- Plot point: major action taken by the main character (leading to irreversible change)
- Three-act structure works with movies, not necessarily with books
- Hook
- introduces the main conflict or question to be explored
- grabs the reader’s attention
- makes the audience care
- e.g., when Darth Vader shows up on Leia’s ship
- e.g., Jurassic Park: attempt to transfer the dinosaur results in the death of the worker, highlights the monster without showing it (main conflict: can man control nature or is it beyond man’s control)
- e.g., Mr Bingley moves to town, the mother wants one of her daughters to marry him
- Inciting incident
- sets the conflict in motion
- makes the conflict feel immediate
- can be coincidental, deliberate, or ambiguous
- Leia sends R2D2 to get to Obiwan with death star plans
- Dr. Hammond invites the researchers to visit Jurrassic park
- when Elizabeth meets Mr. Darcy (romance: meet-cute)
- different genres have different expectations
- 1st plot point (point of no return)
- main character chooses to engage with the plot
- characters can now move only forward to success or failure
- e.g., Ellie and Alan see the dinosaurs
- e.g., Luke comes home to find his aunt and uncle were killed by stormtroopers and he chooses to go with Obiwan
- e.g., Lizzy Bennet goes to Netherfeld to care of her sick sister
- 1st pinch point
- first obstacle involving the antagonist/opposing force
- e..g, from Fitzwilliam, Lizzy learns Darcy broke up Jane and Mr. Bingley
- e.g., storm is coming
- e.g., Leia is tortured for the location of the rebel base (she gives the fake response, has to watch Aldaran be destroyed)
- Midpoint
- everything changes!
- turning point of main character’s transformation from old thinking to new thinking
- shifts story from reaction to action
- flips the script on the whole story for the characters
- inevitable to the readre based on the hook
- e.g., power goes out, T-Rex starts eating people
- e.g., Luke and Han Solo and team arrive at Aldaran, find debris, get pulled into the Death Star
- e.g., when Darcy proposes to Elizabeth (completely unexpected) and she says no. Initial hook of the story: a rich man with a house must be in want of a wife–inevitable to the reader
- there can be scenes that happen between from pinch point to midpoint but it does help to setup the midpoint
- 2nd pinch point
- setup that sets Act 3
- showcases antagonist’s / opposing force’s power
- e.g., saboteur is killed by a dinosaur - no chance of the park’s systems being put back into place
- e.g., Star Wars
- e.g., Pride and Prejudice
- 2nd plot point (Crisis point)
- leads into the highest stakes of the story
- either a painful defeat or win with high cost –> darkest moment
- breaks into act 3
- e.g., rebels escape but Ben is killed
- e.g., Ellie gets the power back on, but she may have killed Timmy
- e.g., Lizzy learns Lydia has eloped, ruining her and her family’s name; she chooses to tell this to Darcy
- Climax
- the moment the whole story has been leading up to
- make or break moment
- e.g., JP: when Ellie, Alan and the Kids are chased by velociraptors for T-Rex to fight with the velociraptors allowing them to escape
- e.g., Luke flies with the rebels to try to destroy the Death Star
- e.g., Darcy’s aunt tells Lizzy that Darcy is engaged to my niece and you must never get engage with him and Lizzy refuses
- Resolution
- story comes to a close
- tie up loose ends
- underscores the theme
- relieves the tension
- see how the journey permanently affected the characters
- e.g., award ceremony for Luke and Han
- e.g., Ellie and Alan have escaped
- e.g., Lizzy and Darcy get engaged and married
- Inspirational Games and Tools
- ideas from
- real life
- creative writing prompts
- media
- dreams
- other
- ideas from
- Poll
- no ideas
- real life/media
- mostly media
- real life / creative writing prompts
- real life / creative writing prompts / maybe dreams
- real life and other
- real life
- real life
- dreams and daydreams
- Maria: media, dreams, other (magical girl genre–so big but a lot of stuff hasn’t been touched on) - Infinity Castle movie came out and was an inspiration
- Arianna: creative writing prompts, media, dreams
- Robby: media for larger products, shorters: creative writing prompts
- Coral: real life, creative writing prompts, media, dreams; but current story idea came from an episode of one of the veterinary shows (if I could transform, I would be a moose)
- Generating ideas
- no ideas
- too many ideas (plot bunnies)
- Activity: DIY idea generator
- list 4 of each the following
- beloved stories (books, movies, shows ,plays, myths, folktales, faerie tales)
- interesting charcters
- subgenres you read and/or write-in
- list 4 of each the following
- e.g., stories
- Cinderella fairy tale
- Pride and prejudice
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Community
- e.g., characters
- Han Solo
- Joan of Arc
- Katness Everdeen
- Anne of Green Gables
- e.g., subgenres
- cozy fantasy, epic space opera, detective gunshoe mystery, wholesome YA romance
- Stories
- Dresden Files, Jim Butcher
- Harry Dresden
- contemporary urban fantasy
- Amber Chronicles, Roger Zelazny
- Corwin
- multiverse fantasy
- Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
- Sam
- fantastical/mystical SF
- Arthurian tales
- Sir Gareth of Orkney
- historical fantasy
- Dresden Files, Jim Butcher
- See what they have in common
- complex, flawed characters
- subtle magic
- heroes and villains
- action and adventure
- Recurring tropes that you enjoy?
- Take a four sided die and see
- Amber Chronicles
- Sir Gareth of Orkney
- fantastical/mystical SF
- Spark ideas
- how would Anne of Anne of Green Gables deal with a mystery in the setting/plot of Pride and Prejudice (love interest: quirky woman trying to solve a murder but the detective doesn’t want anything to do with)
- You can use
- types of conflicts
- tropes
- character archetypes
- themes
- content
- audience (children, adult, YA)
- narrative format (epistolary, first person, nonlinear)
- If you don’t meet your goals, how to get back on track
