Saturday, October 31, 2015

Pantser or Plotter?

Some authors create detailed outlines before they begin writing a novel. Others just start writing and see what happens. Plotting it out or flying by the seat of your pants.

I had an idea for a novel and this summer I just pantsed it. I sat down and wrote a lot of words, then after editing I ended up with about 20k that I liked and only half a story line. The latter half of my novel appealed to me, but the beginning did not. After many false starts, I gave up.

Until I heard another blogger mention that she was switching from nablopomo to nanowrimo this November. I only signed up a few days ago, but there is a fun energy in joining a large community that all has a crazy goal. It has already has pushed me to spend my daughter's naptimes drawing on my whiteboard. Making connections, thinking about the sticky points, and daydreaming has led me to something of a new outline.

So I am a pantser turned plotter and we'll see how it goes. Nanowrimo starts tomorrow!

Friday, October 23, 2015

Nanowrimo 2015

Here I come! National Novel Writing Month = 50k words in 30 days. I must be insane.

Things I am already dealing with in November:

* an active volcano at my doorstep

* homeschooling

* moving my family from one country to another

* and now, apparently, 1667 words a day.

But my story is in there, I know it. I just need to develop the writing chops to get it out. All I have to do to win is finish. It doesn't have to be any good, so the pressure is off.

The question is now... when will I write?

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Story Truth

From The Writer's Almanac today:

O’Brien’s most famous book, a collection of linked short stories about the war, is The Things They Carried (1990). The stories blur the line between fiction and memoir; they feature a character named “Tim O’Brien” — but O’Brien the author insists it’s a work of fiction. He wrote: “I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth.”