Storytelling for Pantsers
HOW TO WRITE AND REVISE
YOUR NOVEL WITHOUT AN OUTLINE
Annalisa Parent
LAUREL ELITE BOOKS
BUFFALO, WYOMING
Copyright © 2017 by Annalisa Parent.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.
Laurel Elite Books
412 N. Main St., STE 100
Buffalo, WY 82834
www.LaurelEliteBooks.com
Additional copies of this book may be purchased at: StorytellingForPantsers.com
Book layout and cover design by Faithe Thomas
Cover photo by Caitlyn Fleet, Model: Nate Williams
Storytelling for Pantsers/ Annalisa Parent. — 1st ed.
ISBN 978-1-947482012
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017949249
Printed in the USA
Dedication
For Dad, who was one of my first teachers and who is still always there to answer whatever random questions I call to ask.
And for Ma – even if you always insisted we call you Mom – for teaching me the secret in the sauce in so many ways.
Introduction
What is a Pantser?
BRIEFLY PUT, A PANTSER is someone who writes by the seat of his pants (or briefs, if you’re that kind of guy. Hey, no judgments here.).
He—or she—is the writer who, like Spock and Bones, goes “where no man has gone before”: the unchartered territory of a novel without an outline.
Scary? Sure. An adventure? Always.
This book is intended to help those of us seat-flyers get at least some grounding in what we do, and to find and use a system in the chaos that is pantsing.
This book is for you if you:
Have started a novel at least 68 times (the same novel) and only written the first chapter
Write chapter one. And then chapter five. And then chapter two. Etc.
Need to write to discover your story. (It’s highly likely you’re also the kind of writer who, when asked what writing is like, says, “I just watch my characters and write down what they do.”)
Get lost in the weeds of writing and revision because portions of your novel are in different phases of the writing process.
Feel frustrated because “Dang it; writing’s hard enough. Why do I always have to complicate it?”
Think the cover of this book is cool, or wear pants. Because, hey, the cover is cool. So are you, and so is this book. (Who says you can’t judge a book by its cover? Pshaw.)
So read on.
Contents
What is a Pantser?
Part I – Pantsing
ANALOGIES GALORE
Writing is like a...Printer?
Analogy Number Four (Three, Sir!)
Did I Say That Was The Last Analogy?
HOW DO I BECOME A PANTSER?
MA’S SAUCE
Fiction Vortex, what?
How to use this book
Part II – Mind & Gray Matter
OPTIMIZING YOUR BRAIN’S INNATE POWER
The Creative Zone
When is it time to invite the inner critic in for dinner?
But wait, there’s more.
Emotional Hijacking
Umm, Annalisa, this isn’t a science book
Braggy-brag moment
FINDING THE CONFIDENCE TO WRITE
Is My Writing Good Enough?
Why is it taking me so long to finish my manuscript?
I’ve been writing for so long. Haven’t I gotten it right yet?
What’s the right way to write?
One is the loneliest number
There’s a U in the middle of Truth
There’s a monster under the bed
To err is human
Oh, Doubting Thomas
When to invite the inner critic in for dinner
Winning the Lottery
What if Nobody Likes me?
Big Important Strategy
FINDING THE TIME TO WRITE
If books could whisper in your ear
HOW TO FIND THE KIND OF SUPPORT YOU NEED TO HELP YOU BE YOUR VERY BEST WRITER
Feedback
No pressure or anything
Reader Feedback vs. Writing Feedback
QUALITIES OF WRONG FEEDBACK
Wrong source
DANGER: Ego Ahead
Unqualified for the job
Oh yes, darling, my manuscript is with my beta readers
Poor timing
QUALITIES OF QUALITY FEEDBACK
Quality feedback is based on how your brain works
Feedback that moves the writing forward
Expertise in the Publishing Industry
More Analogies Ahead
What happens when you find the right kind of feedback? ...89
Part III – Craft
What do agents complain about when they think no one’s listening?
CHARACTER AND CONFLICT WITH A LITTLE BIT OF SETTING THROWN IN
How pantsers get to know their characters
Life is like an analogy
The number one thing
Your characters must be relatable
Quirks
A note about psychology
How much detail should I include?
Conflict
Wait, weren’t we going to talk about setting?
Confused yet?
WHAT IS PLOT?
Plot-Driven vs. Character-Driven
What’s Unique for Pantsers
Empathy Moment Brought to You by the Letter K for Knitting
The Parts of the Story
WHAT IS PACING?
Are we there yet?
THE SECRET TO THE SAUCE
BALANCE
Stake and a side of fries
I Gots to Use It
Emotional Intensity
Make Up Your Mind!
AND...ACTION!
On Being a Character
The key to a good novel is to have every aspect in balance
The Rainbow Bridge from Balance to Economy
ECONOMY
On Being a Character
The Rainbow Bridge from Balance to Economy
Being economical with your time
What Makes a Page Turner?
ENTER Professor Parent [STAGE RIGHT]
Economy in the exposition
A note on formulas
Remember the Weaving?
Make it complicated. Don’t make it complicated.
CLARITY
Chewing GUM lose its flavor?
You get what you pay for
Moving your novel from B- to A+
Less is More
Cut the Melodrama
While we’ve got the ax out
Why is it tempting to include too much detail?
But what about grammar?
Are you gratuitously thesaurusing? STOP IT. NOW. I mean it.
Pesky Little Present Participle
Why do you have a love triangle with verb tenses?
Over-excitement
Who’s driving this car?
Who you dissing?
HOW TO PUBLISH
They’ve got their mindset in order
Let’s do the timewarp (again)
You don’t need a class. You need a program
Getting the Feedback loop right
Invest in a Program that Works
RESOURCES
WORKS CITED
FINAL COMMENTS
Acknowledgements
Love the Secret Sauce
About the Author
Part I
Pantsing
ANALOGIES GALORE
BEING A PANTSER IS like being an architect who builds a little bit of each floor from bottom to top and then bottom to top again rather than the way we do it in the real world: foundation, walls, roof, etc.
Now, of course this kind of construction wouldn’t work in the real world of physics, but it is, nonetheless, how we pantsers create structure for our novels.
We build a wall floating in the air. Then we fill in a fireplace on the ground floor. Chimney! Kitchen chair...
It’s no wonder we can’t see a house in that muddle. For a long time, it’s just a bunch of potential, a jumble of stuff, incohesive. It takes a lot of time and patience to connect what we’ve done and to start to see the house coming into form.
This book is intended to help you to start to see your patterns more quickly, and to learn strategies to embrace the process. (Because I am sorry to say: You’re stuck with it.)
Writing is like a...Printer?
Remember those old dot matrix printers? They would spread a layer of dots, and then go back over and spread another. And then another. Is it a recipe? A photo of Grandma? Part of the fun as a kid was the mystery to see what would reveal itself at the end.
Like one of those old dot matrix printers, we have to layer upon layer until the final manuscript is done. It’s hard to see what it will become in the third or fourth layer of dots. We’ve built something, but we don’t know what yet.
Analogy Number Four (Three, Sir!)
My friend, the great writer Jill Schefielbein, has one of the best analogies I’ve heard for the writing process.
When you put together a puzzle, she asks, are you the one who builds the frame first, and then fills in the pieces? Or do you just dive in, start to look for color and pattern matches?
Now look, this is not a book about putting together puzzles. (Puzzling for Pantsers? Hmm. On second thought, ‘tis silly.)
But I think she’s onto something. (Of course she is; she’s brilliant.)
Gratuitous photo of me and Jill so I am brilliant by association
As pantsers we just wander in, start to take in what’s around us. Place pieces, look for other pieces that share similar themes, build slowly into a cohesive whole.
It’s a beautiful process, but much like building a puzzle in this fashion, it has its frustrations.
That’s the main problem for us pantsers—losing sight of the forest for the trees for the forest and for the trees again. Around and around we go. It’s hard to know what the heck it is we’re doing day in and day out.
Here’s one last analogy, and hopefully this one will help you to see this success is not only possible but how it is possible.
Consider a sculptor. Now, I’m not a sculptor, but I can imagine his process. He’s got a big block of granite, it’s nothing really, just stone. He’s got a concept and he starts to chisel away. The work looks like very little for a very long time. Chip chip chip. Still a Big Blob day, after day, after day. Yet he returns. Chip, chip, chip.
And eventually his vision starts to take form. The arm will be here, there a leg. Up until that point, all he had was a faith in his vision.
Did I Say That Was The Last Analogy?
Think of Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel or Monet painting the water lily murals one dot at a time. These artists were close to the canvas (ok, ok, ok, or the ceiling) without the wide view or option of stepping away to see the big picture.
Art has been created this way for centuries—with a vision, a rough plan, and raw talent. And yet so many advisers tell fiction writers to outline before they go. No, I don’t disagree that a rough outline, a sketch, can help pantsers. Many painters sketched before painting—but they didn’t draw a paint-by-numbers on the canvas for themselves.
Art is much more complicated than that. Rather, these artists sketched ahead of time: they drew to feel the curve of the apple or a cheek, to get a feel, a direction before plunging in—as you do with character sketches or plot diagrams.
Yes, by all means, think before engaging, but please, oh please, if you are a pantser: Do not attempt to apply too much structure. I know it’s tempting, but pantsers who do so end up with books that feel formulaic or overworked.
Instead, give yourself the freedom to let writing be the art it is—an exploration—let it lead sometimes, but above all, be in flow with your work. That, my fellow pantsers, is where the magic happens.
Even writers who outline muddle through revision and what goes where. Their process has some differences, but by and large, they ask the same questions we do—just in a different way.
Nobody has it better off, I promise.
Also, I want to express here that I am not categorically opposed to outlines. To every thing a season, and a purpose...
HOW DO I BECOME A PANTSER?
YOU DON’T.
Sorry.
Here is what I believe: There are pantsers and there are outliners. We are born not made. Additionally, there are projects that warrant pantsing and there are projects that warrant outlines.
The most important thing is to find out the kind of writer you are, and be that writer!
(Look, that one piece of advice was so important, I used an exclamation point. Exclamation points are a no-no. Fitzgerald said so. I’ll tell you more about that in the clarity section.)
If you are an outliner, it’s highly unlikely you will transform into a pantser. And vice-versa.
Even odder, you may use a more detailed outline at times, and be a total and utter pantser other times.
When I write fiction, I am a First Class Pantser. When I write nonfiction, hand over the outline, baby.
It’s a quirk. (I have many, trust me.) It’s just the way my brain works.
Your lovely brain works the way your lovely brain works. Embrace it, and be wonderful you.
We’ll talk more about your brain later.
MA’S SAUCE
NOW THAT WE UNDERSTAND a little bit about what pantsing is, let’s look at how a pantser’s process differs from an outliner’s.
Before I continue, however, let me take a moment to say that this book (and any other you’ve read on writing craft) must, by the nature of book formatting, be organized in a linear fashion: chapter one, chapter two, and so on, right?
HOWEVER
Writing and revision is a cyclical process, especially for pantsers.
What do I mean?
Let’s play a little game. Here’s what you need:
A piece of string 2 to 3 feet long
A weight to tie to the end of it (a pen will do)
Four index cards
Something to write with (Hey, maybe that pen serves two purposes; look at that. We’ll talk more about that later too.)
Place your cards on the floor about 2 feet from each other in the north, east, south, and west positions. Write on the cards, in any order you choose (one word per card): character, plot, pacing, clarity.
Ok, now stand with your string and pen so that the pen is positioned in the center of your cards. Start swinging it around in a circle so it moves around (clockwise or counterclockwise, whatever your pleasure). Get some good momentum going so your pen flies over each one of these ideas, then start lifting the string every so slightly. Continuing the circling motion, bring the pen up to your waist, your chest.
How high can you bring it?
(If you actually played this game, I’d love to see your photos @annalisaparent #FictionVortex.)
Fiction Vortex, what?
What we’ve demonstrated in this activity is the non-linear writing process for pantsers, and how the craft principles will be your touchstones over and over again
through the process.
The raising of the string higher and higher is time passing, the evolution of your manuscript. As the string moves up and up and up, you will revisit the concepts of craft, and your thinking will advance.
Take character for example: The way you think about character when the pen is at your feet will be different from the way you think about it when you come around to character again when the pen is at your knees, which in turn will be different from how you think about this same concept when the pen is at your waist. The same evolution will happen for each of the craft elements as you move through the vortex and toward the completion of your novel.
Same concept, new point of view because your story has evolved, you’ve put in more pieces, built more of your house, printed more lines on your printer (whichever analogy works for you).
To further complicate the issue, your story writing vortex and my story writing vortex will need similar elements, but not in the same proportion or order. My characters are not your characters, the struggle of mine is not the struggle of yours—so our vortexes, our processes, have similar elements, but are not identical.
Thank goodness, as this is what leads to the richness of the fiction canon and the reason why there are still stories to tell.
However, this lack of step-by-step design is also what makes writing so complicated for pantsers—not impossible, but complicated.
Let’s step into the kitchen for a moment.
I come from a large Italian family on my mother’s side. I’ve told you enough already to know that spaghetti sauce is sacred in our house. Now, if you asked my mother for the Palumbo family spaghetti sauce recipe, well, she tell you to get lost (or to go to Naples, technically) because the sacred sauce is a Family Secret. (Family Food Secrets. Is that just an Italian thing?) But if she did tell you this secret in the sauce, good luck writing it down.
At the risk of being taken out and shot, here’s how my mom makes sauce:
Fresh tomatoes or canned fresh tomatoes from the garden. How much? About that much.
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