I read a great article over at Eight Ladies Writing - blog: Planning a Novel by Michille. I've been working on this very subject for the last few months - like crazy, I want to get a book out - NOW! And her article sparked me enough to respond and I found I'd put down a lot of stuff and Heck - it should be on my blog too. So here it is.
I'm a re-forming pantser. I wasn't going to do NaNo this year (NaNoWriMo - aka National Novel Writing Month), but have decided I want to "finish the darn book" also. I think the reason I haven't finished is because I get a huge chunk of the way in and then end up with mysterious plot holes that seem more like black holes because they suck the story in - never to be finished (because I couldn't figure out the darn problems). I think I always felt like plotting took the creativity and flow out of it. What I am discovering is that it's a matter of perception. A lot of the creativity and pantsing go into the outline (outlines vary by person as to the amount of anal retentive detail and obnoxiousness) AND you get a chance to figure out your story problems before you spend months and tens of thousands of words finding out you've created a hot mess. I grabbed a story I felt I could work and sell and looked at it. I love the characters, their feel, the story idea - even more now, but let me tell you how heartbreaking it is to pull it all apart and find out that it will be a very different story. I am basically writing a new story. Although it is a bit sad, I find the more I plan, the more exciting it is too!
