This little distraction is about my writing process, and the next (probably) novel. Let’s cut straight to the chase, shall we? I’m what other writers call a “pantser” rather than a planner. Authors tend to fall into two camps; those who meticulously record plot, backstory, characterisations and interdependencies before they start writing a word of their story; and then, there’s us!
A “pantser” (writing by the seat of your pants) may only have a character, a situation or two, or a vague idea before they put finger to keyboard, and we discover what happens in our books as we write them. We channel the characters, and are often as surprised as the reader when a book ends up in a totally different direction to the one we were expecting. For me, it’s a far more enjoyable method of creating, and leaves huge space for flexibility and change. We “pantsers” often train ourselves to complete an entire first draft (almost, there may be ‘holding paras’ – “insert explanation of why she’s doing this when I know”, “reflects on the catastrophic event and how it affects people”) before we make a single correction or change. It would only be at that stage, re-reading, that I’d start to draw up character sheets and timelines, and start to add details and links that are needed, or possibly rewrite earlier sections in their entirety.
If you want an example, a planner may already know exactly what happens in a key scene, when character A admits to their partner that they’ve had an affair with character C, a work colleague, and a separation ensues, to set up the following events. In my version, I may know there’s been an infidelity, but with who and when, and how it all comes out, are unknowns. So when it seems a natural (or exciting) time for this revelation, a key detail might slip out, the phone might ring for an unrelated reason but character A doesn’t want to answer in case it’s their lover, and suspicion begins. The affair might not be with character C, who the partner suspects and blames, at all, but the truth is more shocking so character A admits to a fake affair instead. It’s thrilling when my characters speak and say something even I didn’t suspect about them. It can end up with more work (and a lot more editing and fact/timeline checking), but I think it definitely makes for a more interesting story.
This happened with Hope is a Six Letter Word (working title). The book is the story of a young man, Will, who encounters a girl who only speaks French. Wonderful for misunderstandings, mystery, plot development, but she had a tendency to fall into the ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’ trope, which wasn’t my intention, so I wrote a separate section from her perspective, telling her story, and the reasons for her actions. I loved it, and it quickly got up to about 10,000 words, and really added to and explained some of the situations in main narrative. That left me with a tricky choice. If I integrate her story into the novel, it lessens some of the tension and dynamic, and splits focus, when this particular book is meant to be Will’s story. So my working solution at the minute (and after consultation with some beta readers) is to use this new chapter as an appendix. It’s really great backstory that puts a whole new angle on events in the book, but this way a reader can follow Will’s story, and then, via an author note, decide whether that completes the tale for them, or they want to know more. And it really does add to the motivations, and makes the book a lot darker than Will’s story alone. So in this case, “pantsing” a new chapter made a huge difference to the book, on the plus side.
Part 2 of this post follows what happened next, and knowing when to stop.
Stay safe,
Kit