Writers gonna write, write, write and then delete everything! I love to write; that’s no secret to anyone that has followed me for some time now. Writing is my escape, the thing I do to rewind after the day. But frankly, sometimes I hate it… like right now. I had been posting updates on my Instagram of my progress on my new novella, and I had just met my goal when BAM everything went wrong. I reread it and realized my plot didn’t make sense; my characters were unrealistic, and it just wasn’t heading in the direction that I wanted.
What now? You ask. Well, I am starting over. Yes, you read that correctly, starting over. I’m not ready to give up on writing, but I need a break from it to refresh and rethink. Something that I have learned through this whole process is that I need structure, I need to have my entire novella planned out before I even think about writing it. It may seem like a simple change, but to a pantser like me, it isn’t. I still plan on keeping my characters the same, and some of the plots will be the same
I have looked at different methods of plotting and came across one that was very thorough it’s called the snowflake method. You start small and then build up until you have something that resembles a story! You can read more about this process on the website. I am looking forward to giving this method a try, and I will report later how it went.
Another way that has helped my plotting this time around is a storyboard. I have a secret board on Pinterest with all my ideas for my story. From character inspiration to settings, to even quotes and research. It’s helped immensly as I try and picture the character in the different settings.
How do you plot your stories? Any advice for a pantser like me?
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