Plotting V Pantsing

And how I'm writing 'The Silver Child'

Many of you will be aware of the two methods of going about the process of writing a novel - Plotting and Pantsing. Plotting is, obviously, where you plot the main elements of your story and Pantsing or 'Seat of the Pants' is where you start with the beginning...'Once upon a time...' and write the story out of your brain through your fingertips onto the laptop hard drive, finishing up with...THE END'

With both methods, you end up with a first draft that has to go through the editing process in exactly the same way, it's just how you get there that's different. 

In the first novel of the Agathan trilogy, Return of the Burning Man, I plotted the whole process from 'Inciting Event' to 'Resolution' each step plotted so that I knew what each character was doing in each scene in each chapter, from beginning to end.

Now, I have to say now, that the story for this book has been in my head since about 1976 so it's had a long time to develop. You might think there would be little that needed planning but I didn't feel confident pantsing the multi-layered story especially the complex climax. So I wrote out the main plot lines first and filled out an entire index box of cards planning the story scene by scene until I had it finished. When I was writing I found I needed to make small adjustments to the story but this just needed me filling out a card or two and getting back to writing. Then something horrible happened!

As I was writing the final scenes of the final chapter, I realised the motivation of the antagonist made no sense! My whole writing week went in meltdown, but then I remembered that because I plotted everything that happened I would be able to devise a more convincing motivation and find all the places where this would have an effect, using the index cards, and rewrite the new scenes bit by bit until I reached the climax again. And it worked! I finished the climax, wrote the resolution, and ended the book - THE END!

And now, looking at it from this end I wonder if the same problem had occurred if I'd pant's the novel, would I have been able to cure the major problem I had with the antagonist's motivation as easy? I'll never know, but thinking about it, I don't want to find out because I wouldn't want to try and find all the little plot sections where the new motivation needed to go. It would be a never-ending job in the editing stage and I wonder if it would ever be resolved.  

So having said all that how am I going about writing The Silver Child. 

Well the answer to that is, I'm using a hybrid method. And for tomorrows post I'll tell you how I'm going about it

Thank you for reading this, and good luck with your own writing.

Best wishes

Stephen

Angerydad Creative Writing.