I confess that I used to be a complete pantser. I had an image of characters in my head and that was all I needed. But sometimes I found that I as I wrote, I added bits and pieces, traits and hobbies to the characters and then it was hard to keep things straight. I often forgot what color hair my heroine had or whether the hero’s eyes were green or blue. Once I renamed the hero halfway through the book and only caught it in editing (thank heaven). I knew I needed help.
Creating a character is a little like chemistry: a little of this and a little of that, and you have a character that’s memorable (and keeps the same name all the way through the book!). I found a how-to guide that had character sheets in it, and I adopted it to fit what I wanted to know about my characters. Suddenly, I had a form to fill in for height, hair and eye color, hobbies, education, family members, etc. I added elements for conflict and goals, too. I assigned each major character three adjectives and then wrote three things the character might do that represented those adjectives. I found the character sheets helped keep me in line and on target.
Lately, I took two courses with Laurie Schnebly Campbell through Writer University and learned a lot! Laurie’s help was aimed toward plotting through character motivation.
I ended up with much of the same goals/motivation information I had using the guide sheets, but it’s much easier to come up with. I think I will still use the guide sheets to track physical characteristics but use Laurie’s process to find motivation and apply it to plot. By the way, if you’ve never taken a course with Laurie, I found her to be a real pleasure—fun and helpful.
So, am I no longer a pantser? Well, I haven’t gotten to the point of detailed outlining, but I have found a couple of methods that help me hold my stories together better. I hope…
Read the next blog in the blog hop by going here.
Dee
Naval Maneuvers When a woman requires an earth-shattering crush of pleasure to carry her away, she can’t do better than to call on the US Navy. Sorry, Marines!
I used to tell my students that outlining is not what they taught us in high school. Forms are tools, and not everyone needs the same ones. I ended the talks by putting forth the thought is that both plotters and pantsers do some basic organization and plotting in their heads. They don’t always just write it down.
Helen, you’re so right. I have to have a mental map to follow before I can write a shopping list! Thanks for your comment.
Yep. I agree with Helen… regardless of how it’s done, as a writer, we all plot and plan to some extent. Especially if we want our writing to be consistent, as you pointed out in your post. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for your comment, Raine!