Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Plotting for Pantsers


by Mindy Obenhaus

Plotting. Some writers are meticulous about it, while others get heart palpitations at the mere thought. I’m a pantser at heart, however I’ve learned that I’m more productive if I have a good chunk of the story plotted prior to writing my proposal.

Most pantsers think of plotting as rigid and constraining. So the first thing we need to do is change our perception of plotting. Instead of approaching it as a hard-and-fast outline that you cannot deviate from, what if it’s simply a guideline to help keep us on task? That was key to turning this pantser into a plantser.

What does plantsing look like?

You have your story idea with your main characters. Perhaps you know how the story is going to end or you have a few scene ideas. Great! Write those down. I’m a visual person, so I use a very simplistic Word .doc with a chart that is broken down into the number of chapters with two boxes (scenes) per chapter. If I have an idea for the ending, I fill that in. I also add any other scenes I have in mind wherever I think they might occur in the story. Since it’s on the computer, whatever I write is easily moved to another chapter/scene later on.

With those things out of my head and on the page, I ask myself where the story begins. Every story starts with an inciting incident. That event that upends life as your h/h knows it and sets them on their journey. Like when a single mother runs into the father of her child. A child he knows nothing about. Or when a woman offers to help her neighbor who’s been thrust into the role of guardian for his five-year-old niece.

Great, we have an opening. Now what?
What’s at stake?

When the story opens, even before the inciting incident, your character has a goal (what they want), a motivation (why they want it) and a conflict (what keeps them from their goal). But what will happen if they don’t achieve their goal? That’s what’s at stake. Example: My heroine who learns her rancher neighbor is now guardian of his niece owns the local hardware store. Her goal is to expand her store before a regional building supply company moves into the area so she can establish her store as the go-to place for home improvement supplies (motivation). But her store is landlocked, so the only way to increase the footprint of her business is to purchase the building next door, but the owner has no interest in selling (conflict).  Her business is what’s at stake. If she can’t expand her store, she’ll lose business to the big box store.

Stakes are important and sometimes overlooked in the pantsing process. But if the stakes aren’t clear, an editor will likely pass on your story. I speak from experience. 😉

What happens next?

That single question is key to my plotting process. From one scene to the next I ask myself, “What happens next?” Then I write down whatever comes to mind. Sometimes it’s dialog, other times it’s just a matter-of-fact statement to prompt me later. However, there are those times when I have no idea what comes next. And the best way I’ve found to overcome that is with another question.
What’s the worst thing?

In his book Writing the Breakout Novel, Donald Maass says to think of the worst thing that could happen to your character in that particular moment and then find a way to make it happen. I blew that question off for years. Until I realized that it really works. It creates automatic conflict and ups the stakes. The downside is that it’s not always easy. Sometimes the worst thing takes us down a road we don’t want to travel. Been there, done that. I’ve ignored those nudges God kept giving me. It resulted in multiple rewrites. When I finally relented and gave in to God’s prompting, my editor loved the story.

Working backwards.

If going forward becomes a struggle, try working backwards. If you know how the story is going to end, work backwards from that point. Ask yourself what happened leading up to the ending.

By taking the time to think through my story, I’m able to fill in most of the blanks on my chart with at least some basic information (like scene goals, motivation and conflict and what’s at stake). Then that aids me in writing the synopsis and allows me to write the story faster because I know what’s going to happen.

Of course, the pantser in me cannot be ignored, so I usually write my first three chapters before I start plotting. And, when working on my chart, I always allow myself the freedom to write whatever comes to mind. Sometimes I’ll write entire scenes or big chunks of dialog. Then all I have to do is cut and paste. And yes, sometimes things change as I’m writing and that’s okay. Because plantsers don’t like rigid.

Are you a pantser who would like to be more productive? Consider trying something different. Even one thing that makes you more productive is worth a shot. Plotters, do you have any tips for pantsers that will still allow them the freedom they love so much?

I’m giving away another copy of my July release, A Father’s Promise, to one lucky commenter (U.S. mailing addresses only, please).

Is he ready for fatherhood?
He doesn’t think he deserves a family… But now he has a daughter.
Stunned to discover he has a child, Wes Bishop isn’t sure he’s father material. But his adorable daughter needs him, and he can’t help feeling drawn to her mother, Laurel Donovan—a woman he’s finally getting to know. But can this sudden dad overcome a past tragedy that has him convinced he’s not meant to be a husband or a father…and make a promise of forever?


Award-winning author Mindy Obenhaus is passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. She lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, two sassy pups, countless cattle, deer and the occasional coyote, mountain lion or snake. When she's not writing, she enjoys spending time with her grandchildren, cooking and watching copious amounts of the Hallmark Channel. Learn more at www.MindyObenhaus.com  


47 comments:

  1. You know, I use the working backwards thing for my mysteries.... Now working on a third series for the team at Guideposts, so I am the perfect example of "Never say never!" because I always said I didn't have a head for mysteries, but Mindy, I was wrong because once I see the ending... I can work backwards! I'd never thought of it that way and it opened a whole new world.

    Love this post!!!

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    1. Ruthy, good points. I never thought I had a "head" for mysteries either, but this plotting method puts them in a different light. Maybe someday...

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    2. Ruthy, you should never say never. That's just enough to make God go, "Oh, really." :)

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    3. Hi Ruth:

      I've long agreed on the value of writing the last chapter first.

      First: write a great 'stand-up and cheer' ending with cascading surprise HEAs (unfolding as forgotten loose ends are tied-up -- ala Hallmark romance movies).

      Second: let that ending, serving as a 'shining city on a hill,' guide and motivate you with the knowledge that if you could only write your way to that ending, you'd have a great romance.

      Third: rejoice and revel in the knowledge that a great ending sells your next book!

      What's not to like?

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    4. Ruthy with my mysteries I ended up at the last second...and totally pre-planned after struggling with the first one, of SWITCHING the killer. I forced me to drop red herrings so anyone could be guilty and I'd write the whole book with the killer in mind, then in the last chapter TADA it's someone else.
      It worked for me. (maybe!)

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  2. This is kind of my method for plotting as well, Mindy. I am instinctively a pantser, but after several years of never finishing anything--and reading KM Weiland's book Outlining Your Novel--I was convinced if I had some sort of structure I could finish a project, which led to my first NaNoWriMo "win". Mine are usually loose outlines, meant to give a little direction so I don't get lost, which I inevitably do. Thanks for another great post!

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    1. Glynis, if being more productive is the goal and loose helps, then stick with loose. You are obviously a stronger woman than I am. I've never even contemplated NaNoWriMo. The concept has always sounded like pure torture to me. So you go, girl!

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  3. Good morning Mindy and good post. Much to think about.
    I'm a plotter, I love lists and charts and outlines. For my epic saga I'm even buying a United States map and using push pins to tell me where everyone is at a given time. Color-coordinated push pins, of course.
    I really think the key is knowing your characters inside and out before you write a word. If you're a plotter it's easier to plot what they're going to do, and if you're a pantser it's easier to let them loose and know it will make sense because that's exactly what they'd do, right?
    That said, I haven't "plotted" anything from scratch in a long time. My second full-length novel with Pelican grew out of my first, with Pace Williams clamoring for his own story, and both my Christmas novellas were also loosely related to that series. My epic saga WIP takes Jenny Thatcher out of that milieu and puts her in a whole new world, but after two books with Jenny as a secondary character, I know how she'll react to just about anything. Her love interest White Bear took a little more time to develop but we're in a pandemic, right, it's not like I had anything better to do.
    I wrote the first draft of the saga in linear fashion because it's fairly complex and I wanted to be consistent, but I have also been known to write the ending first or dramatic scenes from the middle. Whatever gets these words on to a page.
    Don't enter me in the drawing, I have the book. I love saying that.
    Kathy Bailey
    Aiming to be Kaybee to the world

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    1. Kathy, if I were writing an epic saga, I'm pretty sure I would need all those lists, charts and outlines, too. One would need to in order to keep everything straight.

      You bring up a good point about secondary characters. They are sometimes easier to write because we've already glimpsed their persona. We feel like we know them. Of course, then we have to dig deeper and find out what really makes them tick. And that's just about the time they decide to be tight-lipped. Brats.

      How is ol' White Bear coming along anyway? Do you still have the teepee in the yard? ;)

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    2. Kathy, now you've got me wondering what people like Michener did with their giant books. Or Tolstoy! If readers have a hard time keeping track of all the characters in War and Peace, how did he do it?

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    3. Mindy, White Bear is well. There are some pictures of him on my Facebook page, or of the actor I picked to be him. Michael Greyeyes in the80s. Sigh. Still auditioning "faces" for Jenny.

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    4. Cate, I know, I know. I have enough trouble keeping details straight in a regular romance. But we do it. Because it's what we do.
      Don't know about Tolstoy, but Michener probably had a research assistant, which is going on my list if I can ever afford anyone besides me.

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    5. Ooo... He looks like a fine specimen, Kathy. ;)

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    6. I love his eyes...They hold both passion and pain. He is definitely worthy of Jenny.

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  4. Not being a writer, it always amazes me all the things you writers have to think about as you endeavor to pen a story! Kudoes to you. Just keep doing what you do because we readers love it!!

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    1. Thank you, Anne. You know, if I would have known all that goes into a story when I first decided to try my hand at writing, I probably would have thrown my hands up. Instead, I wrote an entire story before attending a writer's group where I quickly learned that what I really had was a bad first draft. But, because I had actually finished the story, I knew I could learn how to make it better.

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    2. Mindy, me too. And me three. If I knew what went into it, don't know if I would ever have started. That's why we have our early messes, rejection slips, low contest scores, and "this doesn't meet our needs." This is how we learn.

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    3. Kathy, writing is nothing if not a learning process.

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  5. I don't know what I am, Mindy. A mess, really. LOL

    I plot mentally, and when I'm writing suspense, I have to know how it will be resolved, but sometimes the details of how that works don't actually come until I'm writing the scene. For my upcoming January release, I had several drafts of possible endings, and then created one that used some elements of each of them. See - a MESS!

    I like your idea of the Word doc. Part of my problem is I end up with unruly files of ideas and then waste time trying to find that fabulous scene I remember writing several months ago.

    Told you I was a mess.

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    1. What you are doing must work, though, Cate. I look forward to your January book!

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    2. Mary Cate, from one mess to another, big hugs. Writing is a process. And part of that process is learning our own process. What works for you and makes you more productive. I've tried things that squelched my creativity, but I've found other things that work like a charm. The key is to try different things. If it works, keep it, if not, toss it.

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    3. Awwww, Sandy, thank you. HUGE hugs!

      Mindy, we just keep in truckin'

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    4. Cate, you're not a mess, that is Your Method.

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    5. I'll quote you on that, Kathy.

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  6. These are great ideas, Mindy. I am a plotter but also a pantser along the way when I find myself in a place where it seems I have nothing. I have also tried writing backwards before, especially when writing short stories. Sometimes you have to in order to figure out how to get to the end! Please put me in the drawing.

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    1. Sandy, those places where you don't know what's going to happen can be such a pain. You try one thing and realize that doesn't work, so you try something else only discover that's lacking, too. But I often find that nothing is wasted. What I thought was wasted can often be used somewhere else or in a new improved version of what I tried at first. And then there are other times when I have just sit down with a pen and paper and mentally walk through it. Where am I in the story, what needs to happen, etc. Once I wrap by brain around those things it's easier to write that scene. Pen, paper and stepping away from the computer is sometimes a huge help.

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    2. Mindy, I do use pen and paper a lot. In fact, in my substitute teaching job, I don't have my computer with me but I can write on paper while students are working and I get a lot done that way.

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  7. Hi Mindy:

    I think you really have hit the nail on the head with your post today. I actually believe that a writer has to do both plotting and pantsering.

    In the beginning there is no plot. As such there is no plot to plot the plot by. You have to pantser the plot. A plotter does her plotting up front at the start of the novel while a pantser plots as she goes along. I must admit that it is far more fun and entertaining to pantser than it is to follow a plot.

    When I'm in the 'zone' pantsering along I actually do not know what I am typing until I read it on the screen! My muse is working my fingers faster than my mind can pick up what is being written. That's truly being in the zone. It is this experience, I believe, that lead to the belief in a 'muse' in the first place.

    This situation remains me of the old Fram oil filter commercial that ends, "You can pay me now or pay me latter." You can plot up front and have a good idea about how strong the story could be or you can plot later as you go along and discover when you are done how strong the story is. Of course, the latter can often be far more costly. :)

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    1. Vince, you are correct about costly part of being a pantser. It can kill your productivity. Hence the reason I began my quest to become a more productive writer.

      Your second paragraph was genius. Yes, I was caught up in the fun of being a pantser. However, when you discover a story doesn't work and it's back to the drawing board, well, that's not so fun.

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  8. I came to the "plantstering" method from the other end. I'm a planner in real life, so I thought that would be the best method when I started writing, too. But it wasn't. I would get caught in the details and the story never worked.

    But when I started looking at plotting like a road map - just the highlights, ma'am - then it started working. It's like driving from Maine to Oregon. You know your starting place and your destination, then you fill in some places you want to see along the way, and you have your route. What happens day-to-day is up in the air until it happens!

    I think planstering has to be the best of both worlds. :-)

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    1. I love the roadmap analogy, Jan, because it's spot on. It's your guide that will get you there, but that doesn't mean you can't take a few detours along the way.

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  9. Mindy, what a great post! You know, I've never tried plotting with a spreadsheet. I really should try it.

    Actually, I bought the new Plottr app, and I guess that sort of functions like a spreadsheet. I can fill in scene blocks while planning.

    I think I'm a born pantser who hated re-writes so badly that I turned into a major plotter. :) However, a few years ago when I got a bit stuck, I ended up jumping in and trying a bit of pantsing (after some initial planning). That was truly fun!

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    1. Missy, I think it's finding the right balance. Sometimes we have to be more disciplined while other times we need to lighten up.

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  10. For years I tried to be a plotter. I spend months trying to plot out a story only to have it all fall apart as soon as I started writing. I know proudly embrace being a plantser. Your post is very similar to what I do now. I pick out all the major turning points of the story (often working backwards) and let my panster heart get me from point A to point B. So I have a plan but can play around with it a lot. Congrats on your July release! I haven't made it to the store in a very long time, so I haven't had a chance to see it on the shelves yet. :)

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    1. LeAnne, all I can say is been there, done that. No two writers are the same. What works for one may not work for the next. So we have no choice but to customize. But if it works, hey, it's worth the effort.

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  11. Hi Mindy:

    Is the expression on the child on the cover of "A Father's Promise" intention? The baby has the look of a child thrust into the arms of a department store Santa for the first time! Shock. Eyes diverted away towards the mother. Arms by her side rather than around the man's neck. Lips turned down in a frown. Talk about conflict!

    Does that picture fit a key moment in the story? If the answer is yes, then the art shows real genius.

    BTW: Hidden Child and Runaway Bride are my favorite themes. I'm sure I am going to love, "A Father's Promise."

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    1. Vince, let me preface my response by saying that I don't have that much input when it comes to my covers. I give the art department ideas and then they take it from there. For example, the hero in this book is not a cowboy nor does he ever wear a cowboy hat. Yet he's wearing one on the cover.

      I don't think the child appears as though she's trying to get away or is in distress, though I am certain she's probably looking at her mother who is, no doubt, nearby. The physical appearance of the child in the story was based on our youngest granddaughter and they did a great job choosing this little girl. The eyes are perfect.

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    2. Hi Mindy:

      Oh, my goodness! I just read the opening pages of, "A Father's Promise," on Amazon and absolutely had to buy it! I can't even wait to Saturday to find out if I'll win it. (Don't put me in the drawing. I'll probably have the book read by then.) All those 5 star reviews. And what a powerful opening. I love a 'hidden child' romance and you got right to the point with a bang!

      The book says the hero is retired Navy which I feel outranks a cowboy any day -- even if the puncher has a trophy gold Roedeo winner style belt buckle. Wes better not go into an Amarillo cowboy bar dressed like that or it might well take a squad of SEALs to get him back out. 

      Just funning.

      Love the book. And the little girl is adorable.

      Vince

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    3. Vince, I'm glad I was able to capture your attention with that opening chapter. And you had me chuckling about the belt buckle. That caught my eye, too.

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  12. Mindy, great questions. And we need to ask them for every scene, every development. I will confess I have a terrible time killing minor characters who are good guys. And often 'what's the worst that could happen.' is someone getting killed. But at least twice now I've changed my mind, chickened out. Have them badly wounded but they survive. I just can't stand it!!!!!
    I'm pretty sure that makes me a weenie.

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    1. Mary, you are not a weenie. You're kind-hearted. Perhaps you should talk to Sharee about killing people. She's often told to drop her body count. ;) Makes me glad I don't write suspense.

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  13. I am a plotter. Right now, I'm plotting three books and, probably, spending too much time at this stage. Must start getting words on the page! :)

    Great post. Thanks, Mindy!

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    1. Debby, you amaze me. I can't imagine plotting three books at once. You've given me something to aspire to. ;)

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    2. Debby, that's the problem I have! I take way too long plotting if I don't stop myself at some point.

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  14. Well, we had a calendar mix up, so we're going to keep Mindy's wonderful post up for one more day! :)

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  15. Hi Mindy:

    Before you go tonight, I'd like to say that I am really into "A Father's Promise" and you are doing something I find most rewarding. You ask questions that I really want to get the answers to and then you provide the answers way sooner than I thought you would. Readers love this!

    For example, and this is only one of many, the hero wants to have an important talk with the heroine but first he has to find out where she lives. I figure this might take a few pages or maybe even into the next chapter -- but no. There rings a door bell and guess who is there: the heroine. That's how to do it. I'm really enjoying the read and there are a lot or real cowboys in the café. Wonderful. (I am a little worried that Wes is tearing down a load bearing wall!)

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    1. Thank you for your kind words, Vince. I'm so glad you're enjoying the story. As for that wall, it is not original. The two-by-fours were only there to hold the sheetrock. ;)

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