Writer Wednesday: Process
I call myself a plantser, meaning I outline in broad strokes like a planner and then make it up as I go along within those lines like a pantser. This has worked well for me. When I get a little lost I just drill down deeper and give myself more keywords to keep me on track.
My goal is to finish the first draft of Sexy Steampunk 2 by December 1st. Fellow writer Karla Doyle shared with me how she kept herself on track when she had a deadline for her last book. She would write every scene onto a post-it note and not leave her desk until that scene was done. So I went along and made this
This happened a week ago. Now I am here
You can see that I have only taken down 2 post-its. However for the second post-it I wrote nearly 6k from three different points of view. This tells me that I have to be more specific and not just transfer my plantser outline that says “have sex” or “Big Black Moment”;).
Still, I like this new process. It is visual and gives you a good idea as to where you are. It is very satisfying to tear down one of those notes, so I will probably continue doing this, just flesh it out a little bit more.
What about you? Do you keep track of progress through word count or do you have a visual component?
BTW, the notes look I’ve crumpled them up, but that is just the style the manufacturer made.
Posted on November 20, 2013, in Writing and tagged helpful, interesting, new idea, pantser, planner, planters, post-its, process, satisfying, worthwhile, writer wednesday. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.
Hi Tina, How satisfying to stand up, tear a note off the wall, and throw it away. All I do it put a big pink check mark and word count in an Excel spreadsheet. Pretty, but not dramatic. Maybe I’ll try yours next time. Hmm, I wonder if there are Post-It labels for my printer?
Lol, I am sure there are post-it labels for your printer. There doesn’t seems to be much out there that isn’t available in some way or another;). I pulled another one down last night and it’s a great feeling.
True to my obsessive nature, I use word counts, I outline each chapter, and I use visual components. For the most recent chapter I sketched the archeological dig where the action heats up. I just couldn’t see the lay of the land in my mind but once I put pencil to paper, there it was!
That’s so cool! I need to do that for my rooms. I keep coming up with random tables or shelves that I am not sure actually would fit;).
Thanks for sharing!