Calling All Pantsers

I am a die hard pantser. A writer who rarely (read: never ever) plans or plots anything. At least not on paper. Everything typically happens in my head. I get an idea, I may have a couple of plot points bouncing around in my head, and I have a vague sense of where I want the story to end up and then I start writing---by the seat of my pants. Hence, pantser.

Everything--well, ninety-five percent of everything I do while working on my story happens in my head and then heads to the first draft. You won't find a character map or a plot outline or a brainstorming sheet, synopsis, plan of any kind for any of my stories. Sure, every once and a while I get an idea for my work-in-progress when I'm not near my laptop and I just have to write it down before I forget. And so you might find a few pages in a notebook filled with random unconnected dialogue or disjointed sentences and scenes. But that's it. Seriously.

I like pantsing (boy that sounds incredibly wrong) for two reasons mainly:

1. I am easily bored.

Planning out a story to me is essentially telling the story. Even if it's just to myself. And once I tell the story, I find myself losing interest. If I write down every plot point and subplot point and create a synopsis or outline, I find myself seriously feeling over it. I feel like I have, in the barest form, already told the story. It's over, it's done, why do I need to tell it again? For any possible potential reader, yes, but when this happens writing begins to feel like work. Want to beat my head into the wall kind of work.

I even have to be careful with planning too much in my head. I find that if I'm just running rough cut scenes in my head and I go too far with it, I'll start to get really bored with my story. I have to keep things very in the moment, keeping my "head plotting" (that sounds wrong, too) to a very limited time frame in my story, the moments I'm currently working on and one or two moments after that, something a little bit further in the future to work towards but not too far. I can't talk about my stories for this particular reason, as well.


2. I like to be surprised by my stories.

Wait. What? Surprised by the story? You're the author. Aren't you supposed to know what happens in the story? Yes, of course, I have a general overarching plot. I know the big picture of where the story begins, what big things have to happen, and how it needs to end, but once I'm really able to get into writing and characters start to develop themselves on the page in front of me dialogue begins forming and scenes begin to erupt that I honestly never saw coming. It's part of what makes writing fun and exciting for me. When you write so much that the story begins to take on a life of it's own. And I think all authors, or most authors, even people who aren't pantsers experience this.

To quote Robert Frost:

What's your writing style? Are you a panster like me, or more of a plotter? Maybe somewhere in between? Plantsers, anyone? Let me know it the comments below what works for you and why.

Getting Started....Again

While teaching is my day job, writing has been the dream job since high school. There was a time when I wrote so often and with such passion that it seemed as essential as breathing. But then life happened in large quantities and the most I've written lately is a well crafted email to a co-worker.

There was a time when I was finishing manuscripts and writing query letters and daydreaming of the day I would find my name embossed across a glossy cover in the Young Adult section. But over the last few years, my laptop has felt more like an enemy than a friend, and writing has become as easy as uni-cycling uphill juggling chainsaws....backwards. Self-doubt, self-criticism, and I are bosom buddies now.

I told myself repeatedly that I will find my groove again.

I'm just too busy during the school year. I'll get back into writing over summer break. 

I'm just too tired from the day to day of taking care of the kids and the house and the cooking and the million other things we do as moms. I'll start writing again when I catch up on sleep. 

I'm just not inspired enough right now. I'll start writing again when creativity hits. 

Excuse after excuse after excuse...

And, then, life took an interesting turn for all of us, and I found myself suddenly teaching online and
homeschooling and having time to get caught up on all those things I usually spend my school breaks doing. So, I decided it was time to stop talking about and thinking about and wishing I was writing again and actually start writing again.

So this is it. The beginning of my writing journey. Or journey back into writing.

I have no idea where's it going to take me yet, but the first time in a long time I'm excited to find out.

Wish me luck!