I have OCD. Well, I've never had a medical professional tell me for certain, but I'm pretty sure the tendencies are there. I use exactly three pumps of soap to wash my hands. Every time. Three. And I count them. Same with swipes of deodorant (twelve), locking the door (two), and handwashing gets a thirty count. I plan. I make lists. I count. I follow routines.
So, naturally, the title, "Plotter," fits me.
At least it did in the beginning.
I'd been stuck trying over and over to write a full-length fiction novel and I couldn't make it happen. Then, in 2010, I had the amazing opportunity to meet one of my favorite authors. I had just learned the terms "Plotter" and "Pantser,"and I asked her which title she claimed. She got a terrible look on her face and said, "Plotter through and through. I lean toward OCD."
And I knew, right then and there, that I was one too.
Yippee! Hooray! I'd found my people.
I embraced my new philosophy and managed to make it through the first manuscript in six months after three years of unsuccessful attempts.
Yes!
But when it came time to write another manuscript, my pantsing critique partners said, "Just try it. You might like it."
And since I consider myself an open minded individual, I did.
*gasp* It worked. I made it through the second MS in under 90 days. Huh.
It was a fluke. Had to be. I COUNT things. I'm a PLOTTER.
Then, I sat down to plot the next project and ran into a wall. I spent three months (I counted) plotting a novel, but when it came time for me to begin, I was blank. I had invented a whole culture of people with a religion, their own language, and a written history. Seriously, I have two binders full of notes. But in the end, the story wouldn't come out.
Why? Because I had wrung the neck of my story, choking and choking it with details until it expired. However, I had to keep writing and forced myself to move on to something else.
Once again I took the advice of my critique partners and, with only a speck of concept in mind, I ran with it. Now, I'm almost 14,000 words in after less than a week and it's amazing. Will I plot in the future? Yes. Some stories have to be handled that way. Will I obsess over the minutia? More than likely, but I will try anything as long as I get it written.
The lesson here, for me at least, is to not put a label on yourself or your technique. Hell, don't even claim one camp or the other. Screw the debates, the theories, the tips, tricks, and utensils. Eat with your fingers. Allow your characters to move and breathe and live without your direction. Let boxes arrive at their doorsteps from unknown senders. Push them off of cliffs and into battles. Give them voices and flaws and annoying quirks like counting how many strokes of deodorant they use. *grin*
Plot it, pants it, do both. Just WRITE.
Follow your characters into the darkness and throw monsters at them.
Among those monsters, you might find a home.
So if I am reading this right, a Plotter works the entire story out in advance via notes and outlines (this was how LM Montgomery did it by the way, I read her journals and she called it "doing spade work") and a Pantser just sits down and writes without much pre-designed structure or plot?
ReplyDeleteThat's right. There's even an variety in the middle that's a combination. When I read, I always think about it. With the story I'm working on now, all I had before I started was a character.
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