Discovery Writing (or Pantsing) World Building - How it Informs your Plot and your Characters

Otherwise known to me as gardening. Bizarre gardening, but gardening none-the-less.

Imagine, for a moment, a plot of land. Nothing growing, nothing there but fresh, fertile soil. The sort of soil that smells of cows and sweet rotting things.

You pick a particular corner, and you start building a path. As you build this path, you scatter seeds around you, plant trees, roses, place streams and rocks down. But you only really create the garden around the path. You sort of make it up as you go along. The things you just planted inform what you next plant, but if you decide to just go ahead and whack a gum tree in the middle of a bunch of roses, no-one will stop you. You decide to maybe plant the roses in a nice circle, framing the gum tree, so it makes sense.

Your path will have offshoots, and you'll set up the garden around those offshoots, and then come back to the main path. When you finally finish the path, you'll look back, adjust some things, plant some things in the gaps that are visible from the main path.

Your first visitor comes along, and you take them through the path, down all the little offshoots. You notice they're getting tired about halfway through, so you resolve not to take your next visitor down the little offshoots. The plants are still there. You can still point them out to the next visitor if they want to know.

And maybe some of the other visitors ask about the bits beyond the garden they can see. So you think about it, look what else you've done, then plant some more stuff.

This is essentially what my world building looks like. The path is my story and plot, the offshoots are little plot bunnies I chase that don't really come to fruition, and the friends I'm showing through are my alpha and beta readers. I make up the world that informs the plot first, then fill in the rest later. I make it make sense by looking at what else I've created, and fitting new information into that. If something seems totally out of left field, but I love it, I'll just go and make the world building around it fit.

Notice the offshoots. There are many many times when I'm writing something and it makes no sense at all on the read through. So I change it, or get rid of it, or rebuild my plot. But that offshoot had value because I learnt more about my world and my characters while writing it.

Another important thing to realise is that your characters reflect their world. When your character does something, think about why they do it, and that might give you your next clue for what to plant next. If you get stuck, take a step back and look at where you've come from. Maybe build a stream in the middle of everything so when you show people around this garden of yours, they have to jump over it. World building can cause complications for your characters just as much as anything.

And if something random pops up, justify it. Sometimes you'll just be coming up with bullshit. And sometimes it will present new character motivations, political manoeuvres, and plot points. Discovery writing is literally about that - making shit up and seeing if it works. If it doesn't work, then that's fine - you've learnt something about the story you're writing, trust me. You've learnt something about your characters, about how they react to the other people and places around them.

The trick in pantsing and discovery writing isn't finding a plot. It's recognising what is plot, and what isn't. It's figuring out which part of the garden you've created to show to people, and which part to keep in your own files, for your amusement and joy. Because while pantsing can be frustrating, you can't get closer to that joy of creation, because you're literally creating everything, all at once.

Happy Holidays  All,

Sian

Multidrafting! (Or the Most Insane Fun you can Have With a First Draft)

I have never looked forwards to a blog post with more anticipation. Here goes.

This is how I approach the topic with multiple drafts - generally with much dancing and skipping around in happiness. This approach may turn some people green, but it is how I do it.

The first time I ever wrote an entire, original novel, I approached writing like this: write what ever comes to your brain, fix it afterwards. This is all very well and good, as long as you don't mind at least 6 total rewrites (I kid you not. And by rewrite I mean starting from page one on a blank sheet of paper).

Another method I have devised, which seems to work better for me involves three stages: Planning, writing, and fixing.

Planning, for me, consists of knowing what happens at the first major turning point, knowing my characters, and that's it. Nothing more - otherwise it just kills the story for me. It must also be noted that I do a lot of "percolating" before hand, where I think about the story and the characters non-stop for about a month. Some would call that planning in the head, but I think that's different. Planning requires structure, and there is no structure to my thoughts. They just... are.

Then I sit down, and write to the first turning point. I know what this turning point is, and I don't worry about the quality of writing to start off with (this is we the other drafts come in later). I don't really worry about world building either - if I have something fantastical/out of the ordinary that I have to describe, and don't know how to, I'll do something like this

(Insert description of slum here).

I do this because I know any attempt to describe it will be crap, unless I take a significant amount of time and put a significant amount of thought into writing it. There isn't place for that in my first drafts - it slows me down, and it makes writing hard.

After I reach the first turning point, I stop, and think about my second turning point and end. By this stage, I know my world and my characters, so I think about where I want both of them to end up. I think about potential conflict between characters. And then I sit down and write. And write, and write, and write. I don't describe anything that's too hard, I do a terrible job of the show don't tell rule, and my writing is generally atrocious.

But that doesn't matter - as long as the character motavations make sense, and the plot keeps going, all is good. (First time I wrote The Manda, I ignored both these things. Thus the 6 total rewrites)

Then comes the fixing : I look through the book, try and make sure I get rid of any plot holes, any character discrepancies. Large chunks, especially the middle, will be re-written. This is the second draft. I still don't bother with the writing all that much.

Now we're into third draft territory. This is where I sit down, realise no-one else is going to be able to understand this, and go through the entire thing slowly, chapter by chapter, filling in all the descriptions I left out, doing all the research necessary.

Then I leave it. And come back to it. This is the fourth draft - it isn't a rewrite like the others, but a revision. I strike out all the descriptions that hold the story back, rewrite the ones that don't work. By this stage, it's about ready for Beta readers.

They will find a heap of problems with it, I'll go and fix it, and the whole thing will start over. By the end of the Beta revision, I am done.

And that, for me, is multi drafting. Each draft has the possibility of extending into multiple versions of itself - for example, I may have three second drafts, each for a major plot hole or character inconsistency.

But for me, multi-drafting presents me with an immense amount of freedom. I can stuff up some stuff while I get the other stuff right. I'm only concentrating on one thing at a time (notice also that I start with the hardest things - plot and character - and work my way down to concise sentence building) It won't work for everyone, but I find it immensely helpful.

Enjoy creating~

Sian

Can You Learn How to Write?

My answer to that is: well, depends what you mean by write.

If writing is stringing words together in a way that it summons an image in a readers head? Yes, you can learn to do that. If it means plotting, and the sweep of story, and how the characters evolve? Then yes, you can learn how to put a plot together, you can learn how to make realistic characters. You can learn how to come up with ideas, to extrapolate those ideas until you have a plan, and then you can learn how to put words on it.

But in my mind, there is one thing you cannot learn. And that is how to get the characters to talk to you, how to get your books unfolding in your head. You can learn all the separate elements of this, you can learn how to twist plots, how to formulate characters, how to write well. But you can not learn how to put those together. You can learn how to put them together better than you already do. But there has to be a certain level of "story cohesiveness" that is acquired by instinct.

My reasoning for this is simple. A story is made up of so many different elements. Truely, there are more than I can think about and know of. To learn how to perform all of these elements and then to try and figure out a way to tie them all together using a plan or a method - it would make your brain explode, truly it would.

Imagine a musician. You can learn how to hold an instrument, you can learn how to make sound, you can press keys, make notes, perform music on a sheet of paper. But when it comes to creating something of your own, you either manage to create art, or just sound out notes.

I beleive that anyone can learn the tools and value of writing. But you must intrinsicly have storytelling in your being. Now, if you're a plotter, with every point and character twist plotted out, this is not writing by numbers. It simply means your first draft is in a form that is different to my first draft. If you have to figure out characters before you start, then this is not what I'm talking about.

regardless of the amount of information you have to have before you can start a story, regardless of how hard it is to put a story on paper, regardless of how many times you fail - this storytelling ability is there. You know you have it the moment you put it on paper.

Because you are writing. You are writing and characters, or plot, or your outline just speaks to you. there is no proper way to describe it. It just happens. Maybe only for a chapter. Maybe the rest of it is a terrible slog through nothing. But for a couple of brief moments, you feel as if the thing is alive.

This doesn't mean that your characters are running away from you and making their own decisions. I know plotters who have never had that happen to them. But their ideas are alive for them, the way they think about things are alive for them. For discovery writers, things have to be alive from the get go, otherwise you're never going to progress to the next chapter.

If you want to prove me wrong, if you have the need to write, although you haven't had things come alive for you - well, chances are it's already happened, maybe only for a brief moment, and you missed it. Because I can't think of any other reason why someone would put themselves through the agony of writing a story.

Characters - Nothing Without Decisions

Okay. You have an idea. You've either done a plan, or you haven't. Each to their own.

What next?

Now, this depends on what type of writer you are. In my limited experience, those that prefer discovery writing will pick up a pen, and start. Maybe not on their book. Maybe they will. Planners won't start yet. Or if they do, it will be character profiles.

But whatever type of writer you are, eventually you're going to come across your characters. You can't have a story without them. It's impossible. Maybe they're not human. Maybe their inanimate dining chairs that want to do ballet. But you will need something.

Of course, if you wish to experiment, be my guest. But generally speaking, a story needs characters.

Some writers will just start. I would recommend that if you're going to do this, start with a character doing something that forces him to react and make a choice. It will tell you, as a writer, about your character. It will give that character a distinct voice from others, as those others make different decisions.

In the end, your characters will be the decisions they make. That's it in a nutshell. If the chair decides to slide along to a ballet class and watch from a corner, this leads to questions. Why isn't he trying it outright? Why did he sneak out of the house? Why hasn't he told his family? If his family disapproves, then why is he still doing it? What inspired his decision?

Every decision has to have a reason behind it, a cause. And every decision will have consequences, will influence the development of your character, change/challange/affirm his moral values. Decision are every thing when it comes to thinking about characters.

After that, everything else is window dressing. What movies they like, what they read, what sports they play - if it matters to the decisions they make, then it is important information. Otherwise, it goes back to being window dressing. Sometimes window dressing becomes important information. The chair likes soccer, he makes a decision to go watch a soccer match, and finds another chair there who wants to do ballet.

Window dressing also differentiates the characters for the reader before the characters start making decisions. While decisions differentiate characters, you can't have major, life changing decisions that show your characters moral compass, religious and cultural identity ever five pages. They will do other things. These other things become important in forging a connection between character and reader.

If you don't start by diving in, you can start with character profiles. You can do a mock interview with your characters. You can chart their entire life history up to this point if that makes you comfortable. If you do plan out who they are before you write, make sure the character fits the type of story you wish to tell. Characters must have motivation for what they're doing - otherwise they become cardboard cutouts. And not many people wish to read about cardboard cutouts.

If you don't plan, my advice would be to start with conflict. It doesn't have to be explosions on the page, it just has to be something that shows us about your character. This start might not nessercarily be part of your book by the time you're finished. some writers start their books and discover their characters as the plot unfolds. There's nothing wrong with that (just be aware there will be editing later). Some writers have to know what their characters will have for breakfast before they can even start page one.

But above all, make your characters memorable. Don't make them perfect (more on this later). Don't make them evil without making them interesting. But make them memorable. I personally will put up with a plot full of holes, as long as I like the characters.

Enjoy creating,

Sian~

Character Profile : Dylan Amser

This is the protagonist of my new Nanowrimo novel: Dylan Amser. This was free-written, with no thought as to plot or anything else, just so I can get his voice in my head. Bits of it may make their way into the book, or they may not.

Here it is:

It starts with the watch. Always, the watch. Dylan has long come to realise that the watch means change, means doom, spells wonder and amazement.

The watch makes his father the most powerful man in the world. But once a year, it also makes him the most vulnerable. Dylan cannot understand why he does this to himself – each year, back to the same place. A little church in Wales. A trip back to the time that my mother lover the best – the end of the Norman period, the start of the Tudors. Dylan remembers his mother standing, half torn between revulsion and wonders, on the edge of the battlefield. He remembers clutching her skirt, peering around at the blood and misery. He remembers the three of them travelling to the small church, his father and mother disappearing into one of the side rooms. This happened only ever after they thought Dylan asleep, but still, he heard them, whispering to each other, snuggled together in the choir seats, talking about the events that were taking place, the societies that were being made.

Dylan never had any interest in societies, or how they were made. He didn’t see the point, didn’t recognise the significance. Now, he recognises it, but he’s not in awe of it. He’s seen Significant Points so many times that he now recognises them for what they are – a mere blip in what he assumes is a giant plan. There are no reversals, no harkening back – history and future is just a giant circle, with humans either trying to cling to the animals they originally were, or trying to find the spark that god made them to make them human.

It is the in-between bits that Dylan finds the most interesting – the relationships and events that are achingly important to those that have them, but have no effect on the world around. It’s why he likes soccer – a game filled with what feels to be significant moments, but is really just colour and flavour to the great scheme and no more.

When he told his father this, his father offered to take him back to the soccer games that spiked revolt in Ireland. Dylan remembers shouting no. It was the only time he ever really wished he had a door. Soon after that, he learnt how to deal without one.

Dylan has never had a proper home. He goes to school, and when that is finished he goes travelling with his father for half the night. He spends time in the great cities, on the outskirts of great laboratories, on the edge of the aftermath of great battles. Then he falls to sleep on his father’s lap.

Once a year, on the day his mother died, they go to the place where they scattered her ashes – that one church where his parents stayed up late murmuring to each other. Every time, Dylan’s father leaves him at that place in the present, and travels by himself, with the watch, to the age where they scattered her ashes. He comes back on the strike of six, drunk and reaching for his son. Dylan sleeps with him on those nights, his twelve year old body curled up beside his father’s; his heart-beat loud in his ears.

His father has never been violent, or done anything else when he is drunk. But he clutches that book to his chest. That book is unmovable – if you write something in it, the words will never change. Ever. If you change the timeline, you can still read about the previous timeline in that book, no matter how many times you change history. Dylan has never been able to read the book. He knows only that on the first page, written many times is one sentence.

I have a son. This must never change.

Some part of Dylan knows that his father does not stop his mother’s death, because doing so results in Dylan not existing. He does not know why. But he knows that every year, on that day, his father sits staring at the first page. And every year, he makes the decision not to wipe Dylan from existence.

Plotting and Discovery Writing

Okay. So you've got an idea. You may/may not have characters or setting. But you've got an idea, and it's something that you're excited about.

Now what?

There are many, many different type of writer out there. How they deal with an idea is going to be different. But, generally speaking, there is this line:

Discovery Writer <-------------------------------------------------------------->Plotter.

Most writers will fit somewhere along that line. It's an important line to be aware of, because in my mind, everyone should try both ends of the scale at least once.

A discovery writer (or pantser - I prefer the term discovery writer) will get an idea in their head, sit down, and just write. They won't plan out character backgrounds, or plot points, or worldbuild. They'll come up with all that as they go along. They will almost definitely have to do re-writes, because many things will pop up in the first draft that they haven't considered before.

The first time I wrote anything it was discovery written. I came up with major world building information 3/4 of the way through the book. I put that in, and kept going. I came back to it in the next draft, and wrote it into the story.

The problem with discovery writing is that (in my mind at least) you eventually have to take stock of your story. You've got to sit back, look at the pages, and decide what version you want to keep to. And then you've got to revise what you have to fit that version. Which is where both the fun, and the frustration begins.

Plotters - extensive plotters anyway, seem to come up with less drafts. I say seem because I've never been an extensive plotter. I've never had to come up with the characters, the turning points, the tension and so on before I start. These days I sit more to the middle of the line. I like to know who my characters are, what motivates them, and the world that I'm writing in. I also like to know the end, and work towards that.

Extensive plotters have use for mine maps, for post it notes, for index cards. The ways that a person can plan out a book is about as varied as there are people. I can't tell you what they do, or really offer advice to plotters, because I don't write extensive outlines. The closest I get is thinking extensively about the characters in my mind.

But I can talk about discovery writing. It is a lot of fun to discovery write, to be surprised by your characters. But eventually, one of two things will happen. You'll reach a point where you just don't know what comes next, or you finish the book, and realise that while you understand all of your draft, no-one else does.

To fix the first problem, I recommend identifying the promises you've made so far. For example, there is an idea "checkov's gun". The idea being that if you have a gun in your first scene, you better use it later on. Discovery writers can often figure out where their next peice is going by identifying the "guns" or promises that they've made in their writing. When you write, every description and character sets something up. If you get stuck, it's sometimes because you're not sure of what you've set up and where it's going to leave. If so, go and figure that out.

The second problem is solved through good beta readers and revision. It will be painful. There will be a lot of swearing and "how the hell don't they understand this?!" going on. Some people leave their draft alone for a while, then come back to it with fresh eyes. That's fine for prose, but when it comes to story and characters, my eyes are never fresh. My mind just fills in the blanks, whether it be 6 weeks between reads, or two years. It just doesn't happen.

I have tried plotting. It murders a story for me. But pure discovery writing is too hard - I enjoy it, but there are way too many drafts involved. So these days I generally hover somewhere in the middle of that line. I would recommend trying both at least once, if only for a chapter or so. Just to check what works.

Sian~