Please move if this is the wrong section. I am a pretty good pantser when I do fanfic, but with original stuff I always get stuck in the middle, so I tried outlining my last project and it worked well. But now, I feel stuck trying to do it again. Any online resources or tips you have for going from pantser to plotter? Last time I started with a scene list of things I wanted IN the story and then rearranged them into chapters/story flow. Is this how you do it? I also try and add different points to introduce a piece of lore or something, so it's not just dumped on the reader. But in short, I am struggling to outline again and I would love some advice. I know you need a little bit of both, but I really want to get this stupid book done already! Thanks for your help.
Hey Gravy, here's one approach to plotting for pantsers: I don't know if this approach appeals to you, but if you search youtube with the words plotting and pantsers you'll find a bunch more.
There are definitely people who write entirely without an outline. I did this for my first project and it was torture because I had to basically brute force my way through story structure. I worked draft after draft after draft after draft until the story resembled a typical one I would read or watch. Obviously, that's a very inefficient way to write. But I think other writers would handle it a lot better. The video @Xoic linked is good if you want to do a minimum amount of plotting. I did this exact thing the first time I tried to outline but I didn't feel like I did enough outlining, so I looked into the Snowflake Method. I mention this because you wrote that you made a scene list. The Snowflake Method also involves writing a scene list, but there are a couple of other steps besides that to help shape your scene list into something a lot better. There seems to be a couple versions of the method floating around the Internet. A very thorough ten-step one and a more minimal eight-step one. I did the eight-step one recently for my new book and I really liked it. That's because I like to do some discovery work; I don't like too much outlining. But I don't like too little of it either. The original concept and version was developed by Randy Ingermanson and he's got it on his site. But he's also written a whole book about it. Good luck with your book!
I don’t outlive because it doesn’t work for me, I tend to find that I’m writing a completely different story that the one I outlined that said I do have some idea where I’m going in the loosest sense like my PI is going to catch the bad guy, get the girl and save the world ( or whatever) For the OP I’d tend to suggest that you treat outlining like you are pantsing a story in very spare detail
For me it has to do with how complicated the story is. If it's simple and doesn't have complex twists and turns, I don't need to plot, I can just play it by ear and have fun with it. However, I've reached a point where I feel it's important to understand how plotting works and what the elements of it are. Understanding that can be very helpful whether you're going to plan a particular story or not. Just understanding what an act is, a turning point, the inciting incident and the denoument etc helps you understand how story works, whether you're going to plan it all out or not.
Haha, I relate to this so much. I will try and outline, but then the plot will go astray because it does. I think you're onto something with the loose outline, because I also love when a story surprises me. I think I should try your advice of pantsing with very little detail.
Hey, I’m not necessarily a pantser, but when I’ve had trouble outlining in the past, what really helped me was writing something called a “Draft Zero”. Others have explained the Draft Zero far better than I can so I’d recommend just googling it and checking out one or two articles on the subject, but I will say that it was far more freeing and helpful than merely outlining and then trying to jump into a first draft. It even allows for plenty of experimentation as well so I think it’s a perfect way to find the structure of your story for a pantser (and plotters too, because we need to tie up our inner editors and lock them in a closet somewhere so we can relax and let our creativity flow). I think you’ll find writing a Draft Zero extremely beneficial. Best of luck and don’t forget to have fun writing.
