Those are really good! I like the style. The perspective of the ship is really well done. I’m still confused about perspective. The only thing I can draw really well is railway tracks disappearing into the distance with trees.
Here’s a rundown of the three types I’ve heard of so far. I’m not telling you to choose one. I’m asking you which one(s) you feel like you are. Note that each of these types has a spectrum. Some people are extreme planners or pantsers, and some people might jump between one or the other depending on the story. I’m a pantser through and through.
Pantser (a.k.a Discovery Writer, or the Gardener): Writes on the blank page. Not scared of it, particularly. Embraces chaos. Goes with the flow. Might have notes on things, but zero planning. Didn’t even expect that one side character to have a major role. Didn’t expect the romance either. Does not care about the plot holes. Plot holes will be dealt with…eventually.
Planner (a.k.a Plotter, or the Architect): Might have a wall of sticky notes. Plans according to some form of story structure. Outlines everything, sometimes even the dialogue. Can meticulously plan EVERYTHING. Might worldbuild until there are no stones left unturned.
Plantser: Outlines a little bit. Has some sticky notes. But when it comes to writing, lets the writing flow, and if a character decides not to be evil after all, that’s fine. Will make adjustments. Might be meticulous about some worldbuilding here and there. Might deal with plot holes right away or, might deal with them later.
I think I’m somewhere between pantser and plantser. I have an idea of how my stories start and end, plus some key scenes, and I keep notes on my characters, world, etc but they’re not very detailed.
I let the writing flow in the sense that I have no idea how the characters proceed from one scene to the next, how large the final cast will be, or how they will develop. I often adjust scenes I had planned at the start when characters inevitably go in a different path than expected. That or end up scrapping and inventing new scenes.
Plot holes happen, but I don’t fix them until later. I prefer having the whole story written out before tackling those.
Definitely a plantser. I want to be a planner, but it takes so long to outline things that I usually just give up and start writing the book already. But if I could outline the whole thing beforehand, it would make writing it sooooo much easier, and no writer’s block! ٩(˘◡˘)۶
I’m planner. On a microscopic level. It’s beyond just the ‘plot’. I choose every word, how it sounds when you speak it out loud, when you listen, the flow of sentences. All of it.
Do you world build before you start or not at all? And do you have maps? Or know how long it takes to get from point A to B?
So, you 100% believe that outlining will really help you? Why do you feel that way? Have you succeeded before or is it intuition because you know what will generally work for you?
Microscopic Planner
There it is, another type
@SmokeAndOranges (idk if they’ll see this) can be a planner and I remember them talking about outlining down to the dialogue in some cases.
So, you mean to say, you go beyond that? What does the planning process look like for you? When are you ready to write the story? How do you know when you’ve done enough?
Nope, I’ve never succeeded before, but where I waste the most time while pantsing is trying to figure out where the story goes next. It’s like working with a multiverse with infinite possibilities, so which one would make the most sense for this story? And I end up writing out like three or four different versions of the next chapter. It just feels like I could save so much time if I figured out the most interesting and logical next step before I wrote all that out. __〆(..)
I am sometimes a planner, but it varies by book! My most intensely planned works get a zero-draft—basically a really intense chapter-by-chapter outline that can reach 20-25% the length of the finished book. Dialogue is sometimes involved. Other works of mine are totally pantsed, or very nearly so. For my most popular book (Red Rover), I went in knowing the core flaw of each main character and the core idea of the “monster” they were up against, and that was it. No plot, no plan. Some ideas of what would be fun to write, of which I used maybe half, in no particular order.
Other books are somewhere in the middle. Light outline, medium outline, no outline but a lot of preparatory flash fiction, “signpost” outline with milestones I need to hit but no idea how to get there… I’ve been all over the map. In general, if I want to write fast? Plan. If fictional politics get involved? Plan. If the book smacks me upside the head at 3am? Pants. Super uncooperative chaotic MC? Pants. Any combination of the above, or anything else?
Not a straightforward answer, but I have a lot of books
I start with a one-page outline: beginning, middle and end (the easiest bit lol). Then I do an exegesis, which goes over the philosophy & themes of the story. Then I begin worldbuilding and fleshing out the background of the major players going into culture, power. daily minutiae etc.
After that I begin outlining chapters, starting with key scenes, their mood, and then going through step by step of what happens (the fun bit, like assembling a puzzle). Then I write short passages to scope out the vibe & writing style. I select which passages I want to keep for reference. I note down particular voices for characters, narrator, phrases I want to use.
And then I begin writing! I use a poetic method so it involves a lot of revisions and selecting which words to use.
It looks sequential but in practice it’s simultaneous and subject to change. The only thing that doesn’t change is the initial outline.
Sounds like you have a good strategy for every type of idea that comes your way. Do any pantsing books turn into planning halfway through or not at all?
That sounds like putting a puzzle together starting with the edge pieces. The edge won’t change, but the inside is going to be switching around and maybe you’ll be working on multiple sections at the same time.
Curious to know… You seem to have a method that works well for you, but have you come up against any cons or flaws in your system?
I can say that while pantsing works for me and I’ll never be a planner, pantsing does sometimes lead me off into a tangent and then deep into a plot corner that I have to write myself out of, or decide to delete. As I improve, I’ve gotten better at recognizing when the tangent is happening and I’m able to more often stop myself and my characters from going too far into one direction.