Pantsers, plotters, and a trip to Liverpool

Until today, I didn’t realize there were actual terms for people who plot and outline their novels before they write them, versus those who dive straight in and let the book tell itself. I’m sort of in the middle of the road on this one. I put together ideas for scenes and how things will link together but I’ve never plotted out a whole story on paper before writing it. (During and after, yes.)

I started reading books about plotting novels because I have two half projects that are waiting to have a crescendo and a resolution. So I need to get some ideas on how to start making a good outline (not just a bunch of notes in bullets or Roman numerals) to get at least the current project’s first draft finished.

My question is, do you plot or fly by the seat of your pants? What do you think about either method?

I know King said he doesn’t plot, but he had The Shining solid in his mind before he started to write it. I’ve read books about formatting novels that were so dry and formulaic that there was no sense of artistic creativity at all. But a couple of books that I read the free samples of both were saying that plotting helps you be more productive (Lord knows I need help with that.) It can save you a ton of messy editing (I hate editing) as well. If you have the plot ready, scene by scene, then you know what to write. I’ve also been trying the method from 2K to 10K that suggests at least writing notes about what you should write for the day before actually going back to the novel. That helps.

Here are some books and articles that I’ve found on the subject so far:

• Plotters vs. Pantsers: How To Make Sure Writers Block Doesn’t Kill Your Dream
• Rock Your Plot: A Simple System for Plotting Your Novel
• Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success

PD James said, “Don’t just plan to write – write. It is only by writing, not dreaming about it, that we develop our own style.” I agree that just thinking about writing doesn’t do the job, but isn’t planning worth something?

I also found this quote from Ten rules of writing fiction article too:

Only bad writers think that their work is really good. ~ Anne Enright

And our trip to Liverpool was great. We visited more of the Pick family, saw the beach, saw the Irish Sea, saw Wales (in the distance), and the wonderful City of Liverpool itself. The ride on the train was fine but, as usual, stupid people ruin the whole experience. (Why are people so loud and obnoxious on those things? Do they just not care?) Anyway, each day was sunny, warm, and perfect for a holiday. I’ve added my photoset HERE.

Beta readers and writing thieves

I think a lot about Henry Miller’s writing commandments about how you should finish what you’re working on and not think about the other things you can write later. I know it’s common to just get bored, or stuck, or burned out on what you’re doing. I have great ideas, then stop and second guess myself (this goes for a lot of other things I do as well as for writing.) But I’m trying to read more and get myself through the project even though I admit to dabbling in something else yesterday.

Of course, I wrote a bit, felt guilty, and will go back to the current work in progress.

So, I was reading an article on beta readers at The Creative Penn. I don’t really talk about what I’m writing, except here and there to my husband or immediate family. I’m a fairly private person to begin with, so spouting off ideas to the wide world of Twitter makes the magic seem to disintegrate. (Stephen King had a quote about that in On Writing, but I can’t find it anywhere.) But I asked Twitter about it, and people said they’ve found their beta readers in old friends in real life as well as on Twitter.

I distinctly remember a girl on Twitter a while back saying that she had a “good friend” steal her book idea. It was something about how she would talk to this friend about writing, told the girl her ideas for her next book. Later on the friend has a new book with the same exact plot line as the first author. Of course the first author was appalled and hurt by the whole betrayal, but what could she do? Especially in the realm of self-publishing if you had someone read a draft of a novel, couldn’t they feasibly life the whole thing and make it their own? Would there even be any kind of way to copyright that (not like you’d get any money from it, but the whole idea is pretty wrong so you’d want to get the thing off virtual shelves.)

My questions today are:

• If you have beta readers, how did you find them?
• Have any beta readers or even supposed friends taken your ideas and used them as their own?

A Case of the Mondays on 29 Apr 2013

It’s so nice today, so I’m eager to get our plans underway.

• Monday (today) I had a dentist’s appointment. Everything is a-okay, and I just needed my front bottom teeth cleaned up a bit (I blame the Starbucks coffee.) I also have to update my bookblogarama. I also have Sims 3 to play, because that’s a huge necessity, of course.
• Tuesday and Wednesday I’m free to take on any supply teaching jobs that may come my way. If not, on Tuesday I can go swimming finally for the first time this year, and Wednesday evening I have a chiropractor’s appointment.
• Thursday is driving. Friday is hair appointment.
• Saturday we’re probably going to look into getting a washer/dryer (I didn’t know such wonderful contraptions existed) and a bike for Steve.
• Over the May Day holiday, we’re taking a trip to see Steve’s family. I love going on the train. I know it’s over-priced and a pain when you can’t sit down, but it’s just something that I really find interesting. Plus, I get to see sights. I could see sights with a car, you know, whenever I get one. Anyway, I’ll take pictures and video and post it here later on. Fun stuff.

So, Happy Monday to you all. Enjoy your next Monday off!

Video games, books, and cars

Ah, it’s a nice, rainy day in England. I’m still wondering when a full attack of Spring will be upon us. I’ve been turning on the oscillating fan in the living room on at night, so I guess it’s getting a bit less like winter. Still chilly and windy so I need some sort of coat when I leave the house. After living in Florida for all those years, even if I wasn’t an outdoorsy beach person, it’s hard to live in a place that doesn’t have an inviting kind of day that makes you want to go outside.

Anyway, I’ve been playing The Sims 3 a lot lately. This has been my go-to obsessive game for years. When The Sims first came out, my poor PC couldn’t even handle it and I had to reboot it over and over. But the game was amazing fun, so it was worth it. There’s no skill involved in playing The Sims either; you just mess around in a little pretend world and screw up characters’ lives. Fun. Plus there are so many expansion packs, I’d work a couple of days just to buy them all. (No, I’m not kidding.)

Actually, I screwed up my back initially when I started playing The Sims again in March. I sat here at the computer desk for hours, leaning forward, then when I was on the coach watching The Hunger Games, I realized it was a bit sore. By the next week I was out for the count. Sims are fun, but not worth all that.

Also, I moved my book reviews and weekly reading memes to a new site: bookblogarama. I needed a fresh start because I see so many really well done book sites and I wanted one too. So I’ve started adding things to the Tumblr site too. Projects are nice to have, especially when they give you something to look forward to every day, and reasons to investigate things.

I went to City Library on Tuesday to investigate World Book Night. I wrote on my netbook in the cafe over my £2 Americano while I listened to the music in the atrium. I found no free book giving though (unless you could the books that you can borrow for free anyway.) I did check out Me Before You from the World Book Night display by the cafe so my mission was complete. I had to meet up with Steve so I didn’t stay for the Murder Mystery event they were having afterwards – that seemed fun.

And I’m still not test-ready because stopping on hills in a manual-shift car is just not an easy thing to do. So I keep practicing until I have this down pat, or I throw in the towel and opt for an automatic (which, in most cases, is considered a mobility vehicle in the UK.) But in order to keep my options open, I’m sticking to the stick shift and the steep banks. Incidentally, I found an article on USA Today called 10 cheapest cars: Why (almost) nobody buys them. that are supposedly they cheapest. They claim that, “the bottom-price model has a manual transmission. Few can or will drive a stick-shift nowadays.” Just the opposite goes for us in England. Also, USA Today sites issues with insurance that is different here too. Insurance is based on size of the car and its engine, so like a Fiat 500 is in the lowest price bracket.

But when I get my license, I’ll try plenty of them out. Now that both Steve and I have hurt our backs, I’m thinking a little car that sits low to the ground may not be the best choice. Sorry, Mini. Cute, fun, little Mini.

A Case of the Mondays on 22 Apr 2013

I’m going to start a new label for my posts on Monday, just to keep myself focused on starting the week right. It’s so easy to slack off when you don’t have anything planned, or the written proof of that plan.

The following are my aims for this week:

• Monday and Friday – driving lessons
• Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday – available to do any supply teaching work that comes up. (The teaching agency told me they’d been quite busy, so chances are they’ll call me. Problem is they call in the morning when I have no clue what bus and where exactly I’m to be by 8:30. (Hence my need for the driving lessons.)
• Wednesday night – I could go to one of the meetings through Northumbria University to look into EYPS training. Since I am not doing very well at full time teaching work as is, maybe having some training in England will help. However, Early Years includes nursery schools and changing nappies (diapers); something I’ve not done before when I was training to read, write, compare, catalogue, and shelve books all day.
• Sometime during the week I’m going to have to go swimming, go to the gym, get some writing done at the cafe and such various other tasks that are standard for each week of my life.
• I will end up playing Sims 3 as usual too which I see as a stress relief mechanism rather than a time wasting activity.

Happy Monday!