I'm a panster, don't ask me to write a synopsis, don't ask me to write a partial, it's not going to happen. If it does it's not going to be even close to presentable. I have to complete the entire book to the bitter end.
I've finished, I just wrote 'THE END'. Okay get out all the worksheets from all the workshops I've ever taken on How to write the perfect query, right? WRONG. Nope not even close to being ready.
Now it's time to read it through and find any plot holes. Did I leave the reader hanging, and forget to go back and tie up something? Do I have a back story dump in the first chapter? Is my first three chapters even necessary? If not, I need to cut those suckers out.
Now it's ready? Nope. Still not even close. After all that slicing and dicing, it's probably 5000 words short of my target publishers word count requirements. Now it's time to layer, add in all of the emotion, tension, and anything else that fills out the characters. And hopefully I'll have added in the cut out word count.
Whew, now it's ready? Nope, now comes the grammar time to go through and make sure all my sentences are complete, no fragments! No dangling participles--I'm not even sure what that is, but I better not have any.
Now I've gone through it three times, it must be done by now? It is, it's now ready to send to my critique partner. She'll tell me where there are holes or sagging middles. And point out all the places I've left something out because I knew what was going on and didn't need it. Unfortunately the poor reader had no clue.
Once it's back from her, now it's time to go through and polish it. And maybe just maybe after a final quick read through it's ready. And now the synopsis and query needs to go through almost the same process.
After that I find my target agents and send it off. Then I wait.
No wonder it takes forever to get published. What is your process? Are you a plotter? Do you move on to the next chapter only when the first chapter is spotless?
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7 comments:
I used to be a panster, knowing the basic story but letting the words on the page dictate which direction I would take to get to the end. But now my stories involve a lot more plot and being a panster involves a lot more rewriting. So now I plot a lot more than I ever used to. Although I am still somewhere in between.
I try to fill in as many chapters that I can come up with in my outline, then I start writing. I usually end up plotting about 3 or 4 chapters and writing them, then I will plot the next 3 or 4 and write those. And I usually revise as I go to cut down on major revising at the end. And even if I know what is going to happen later, I still can't write it until I get to that chapter.
I love revising! That's the fun part where you get to add all the sparkle. Speaking of that, I'm off to finish revising my own WIP.
Good luck!
I am definitely a plotter. I have colored stickies all up and down the wall in my office. I have the 3 arcs of the book, each in its own column. Climax points. Character issues (in different colors). Internal and external conflict. The whole bit. You'd think the book would be done by now- nope still fussing.
You pansters might have it better.
Kari, I love to revise and add too. But no matter how hard I try I cannot plot it out.
And Cassy, this comes what you've said. When I try to plot my characters go on holiday. Off somewhere to another part of the world where I cannot contact them. And the refuse to come back.
If I tried to do an outline or use color stickies. I might as well give it all up. When we went to Europe I decided I'd plot out my chapters of my next WIP while on the train. I still have my journal and I STILL have not written that book. That was in 2006. Yup I think my characters stayed in Italy.
I am definitely a plotter. When I don't know what comes next, I stare at the blank sheet of paper. And yes, I have to have the chapter nearly perfect before I move on to the next. (It never really is, as I find out in the final editing stages.LOL) My critiquing style is to send each chapter to my 2 CPs who look for inconsistencies, grammar problems and places where a single word can say what I am trying to say in two sentences.
The final manuscript then goes to several beta readers who are doing a cold read. (This last book went to my hubby, son, and DIL, none of whom has read anything of mine.) I was amazed at what each one was able to find even after two trusted writer friends went through it.
The finished project then goes to my agent who is yet another great set of fresh eyes and can pick up things no one else has.
The final beta read is my editor who is really the only one I have to please. I'm waiting patiently for her approval as we speak.
You pantsers truly intrigue me!!
I'm turning into a pantser hybrid. LOL I start out totally flying by the seat of my pants, but once I've got a sense of my characters' personalities, I start to think about where they're going and what kinds of things they need to encounter, etc.
So I do a plot-ish kind of thinking. LOL But it's still on the vague side. I don't want my characters to leave, like yours did, Mary. I know mine will feel confined if I plot out their lives too much. :)
No Donna, it's not fun to have your characters leave. I would still like to write the book I plotted out. But the inspiration is gone. Though my main character is still fun. If I can coax her out I may use her in something else.
Liz, you plotters amaze and intrigue me! Knowing where my story is going, takes the fun out of it!
I'm late!
Just back from vacation and did no writing at all.
I've alsways been a pantser and just spent a month trying to plot... oh dear... glad to know who's characters are hob-nobbing with mine in a foreign country.
I've decided that my muse is a hampster, like Janet Evanovich's Rex. When he's happy he's got that wheel spinning out plot, story, characters and the works. But the minute I start trying to plot? The crafty little sucker dives headfirst into his soup can and refuses to come out.
So, I'll stay like you Mary, editing my brains out.
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