Tag: pantser

Categories
The Intentional Writer

Can Outlining Help You Become a Better Writer?

The intentional writer

When I began learning how to write a novel, the word outline brought to mind dreaded high school assignments. You know, those formal outlines with the rigid format and Roman numerals. I hated making those outlines. They seemed like a waste of time, especially since I always wrote a draft of the report first, and then created the outline to match it.

Needless to say, when I began writing in earnest, I didn’t bother with outlining. I didn’t want something that felt like overly structured busywork to inhibit my creativity or waste my writing time. Therefore, on my first attempts at writing a novel, I used more of a “pantser” approach than a “plotter” approach.

I won’t say that decision was a mistake, but it was a learning experience—I learned I’m not a pantser. I work better when I have an idea of where the story is going.

Does your writing process match your personality?

I have a logical, linear thinking style. Over the years, I’ve learned that I write better when I invest enough time in planning out a story before I plunge into writing it. When I know what a specific scene needs to accomplish to keep the plot moving, I waste far less time wondering what my characters should do, and I avoid bunny trails that lead to dead ends five scenes later.

When I realized planning helped me write better rather than hindering me, I began to experiment with different methods for planning a story. That’s when I turned to K. M. Weiland’s book, Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success. This book helped me get over my misconceptions about how outlining can help me become a better writer.

The book covers different methods of outlining and then leads a writer through a process that helps them consider the key information necessary for creating a solid plot. Everything from a premise to setting, and motivation to character arcs.

Once the foundation is set, the book guides you through creating a scene-by-scene roadmap of the story. Each chapter is filled with insightful questions and plenty of examples from the author’s novels.

As an added bonus, the book includes interviews with a variety of writers. These insights on outlining from experiences authors helped me imagine how I could utilize the tools of outlining to work for me.

For example, John Robinson says,

“It helps me see the big picture and keeps me from getting bogged down in tar pits and rabbit trails that lead nowhere.”

And Dan L. Hays described the benefits of outlining this way:

“An outline is analogous to reading a map before a road trip. I find my starting point, then pick out the best route to where I’m headed.”

Some great advice to make outlining work for you

  • No two authors outline the same way. The specific method isn’t as important as the thought process behind it.
  • Every author must find the level of detail that works for them. One author benefits from a big picture type of outline that defines the main plot events and final outcome. Another author creates an outline that include details on every scene. You must find the balance between getting enough detail to write well and spending too much time in planning.
  • Consider the outline as a brainstorming process.
  • Creating an outline can offer you a chance to explore multiple options without wasting a lot of time. In the outline phase, you can explore where various rabbit trails lead without writing whole scenes you subsequently decide aren’t needed.
  • If you get stuck in a particular scene, it may be you’re trying too hard to adhere to the outline. Give yourself permission to ignore the outline and try a different idea instead.
  • Remember your outline can have multiple drafts just like your novel. You are free to edit your outline at any time.
  • With an outline as a roadmap, a writer can more easily determine which ideas for new scenes or characters fit the plot vs. derail it.
  • Outlining enables a writer to focus more on subplots during the first draft, because the main plot is already ironed out and the writher knows where the characters will end up.

Summary

If you’re a dedicated pantser, this book probably isn’t for you. If you’re a planner, this book offers good advice to help you hone your planning and make it more effective. And if you’re frustrated because your current writing process isn’t working, or you’re feeling stuck in the middle of a writing project, this book may help you write more effectively.

You can use this book like a workbook. The questions and suggestions in each chapter will guide you through the planning process—from the initial spark of an idea to a finished, well-designed story plan. Alternately, you can skim through the book to find inspiration or to seek solutions to specific story problems.

Happy outlining!

Lisa E Betz

Lisa E. Betz is an engineer-turned-mystery-writer, entertaining speaker, and unconventional soul. She inspires others to become their best selves, living with authenticity, and purpose, and she infuses her novels with unconventional characters who thrive on solving tricky problems. Her Livia Aemilia Mysteries, set in first-century Rome, have won several awards, including the Golden Scroll Novel of the Year (2021).

She and her husband reside outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with Scallywag, their rambunctious cat—the inspiration for Nemesis, resident mischief maker in her novels. Lisa directs church dramas, hikes the beautiful Pennsylvania woods, eats too much chocolate, and experiments with ancient Roman recipes. Visit lisaebetz.com.

Categories
Screenwriting

idea box

Now that the holidays are over and a new year has begun, many of us will have a hard time stirring from our holiday-induced coma. But, we each have new stories and worlds to create. One of my favorite sayings is…

“Dreamers dream, writers write.”

It’s easy to stay in our happy-go-lucky pretend worlds, but it takes real work to get stories created; new worlds, characters, and conflict to stir the pot!

Each writer has their way of coming up with new stories to tell. Creative’s are wired different, but we have the same goal. To tell an entertaining or possibly a life-changing narrative. But how we come up with them is as unique as we are. Which category do you fall into below?

  • Outliner
  • Pantser
  • Hybrid

Personally, it depends on what I’m writing. My nonfiction is planned out, whereas my fiction has a skeleton outline, but I let my characters take me along on the journey with them. The cliché, “Ideas are a dime a dozen,” is an accurate one. But screenwriters need to understand that not every story is visual. We will need a bigger idea box.

Idea Box!

Screenwriters are consistently working on assignment or speculation. Assignment writing is when a studio or production company hires someone to write stories that the studio has already developed an idea for. The writers are just doing the footwork.

Speculation or writing on spec is what most new writers do. We create ideas of our own and put them into visual stories, speculating someone will want to buy it or pay to go see it. Writing on spec is risky because no one knows if what the writer creates will ever be sold or produced.

Even when not writing, a screenwriter is still creating and playing with ideas in their mind or watching for great stories to be told in the news or the world around them.

I recently talked to a working screenwriter who lives in L. A., home visiting family for the holidays. He shared how his ideas are inspired from traveling back and forth between coastlines or the stories he hears when he comes home.

This man shared with me that conflict is king in storytelling, but uniqueness is the queen of storytelling. Unique voices, perspectives, and writing approach can make a simple story stand out amongst the millions of spec scripts. This is why many look down upon formulaic storytelling, an audience can lose interest if they can sense or know what will happen next.

Robert McKee notes, “story is about eternal, universal forms, not formulas.” there are guidelines for stories to follow, but they are fluid, not finite.

Guidelines allow the audience to follow the story, but never tell the story.

It’s our job as writers to communicate entertaining and original narratives that meet an audience’s needs. The pressure is on as we try to keep the audience both entertained and interested. Below are a few ways that I found online to help develop stories that are both entertaining and unique.

  1. Take a walk: They allow us to see the world at a slower pace, get fresh air, and listen to other people.
  2. Read the newspaper: Current events are great jumping-off points for characters. We want our ideas to be relevant in today’s world.
  3. Watch a movie and kill the protagonist off in the right way: Use that outcome to create a new tagline and write that story.
  4. What’s going on in your life: Writing is catharsis. Take your problems and put them on the page.
  5. Steel from the classics: Most of the classics are fair to use, so change up the settings, characters, and outcome.
  6. Mine the public domain: It’s not just the classics, the public domain is a great place to get inspired. Disney has mastered the art of retailing legends and fairy tales. The Bible is full of stories waiting to be told on the big screen.
  7. Start at the end of one of your old screenplays: What happens after you fade out? Can you tell a new story with the aftermath?
  8. What happens in one location?: Try taking your big idea and making them small, more focused, and specific.
  9. What can you shoot? What do you have access to? What locations, actors or set pieces do you have access to?
  10. Tap into history: History is public domain. It’s full of events people talk about all the time. [2]

Whether you’re a pantser, outliner, or hybrid, you have a story to tell. So, find it and tell it regardless of how you get there, just make sure it is unique.

Unique!

Screenwriter and writing coach Scott Myers says, “Start with the first word. Stories are written one word at a time.” Stories don’t write themselves, that’s our job. Hollywood is desperate for new stories. That is why Hollywood has been rebooting old movies and TV series from years gone by, below are just a few examples.

Each of these shows and movies all started with the first draft at some point, but they were only written after someone reached deep into their idea box.

Martin Johnson

Martin Johnson survived a severe car accident with a (T.B.I.) Traumatic brain injury which left him legally blind and partially paralyzed on the left side. He is an award-winning Christian screenwriter who has recently finished his first Christian nonfiction book. Martin has spent the last nine years volunteering as an ambassador and promoter for Promise Keepers ministries. While speaking to local men’s ministries he shares his testimony. He explains The Jesus Paradigm and how following Jesus changes what matters most in our lives. Martin lives in a Georgia and connects with readers at MartinThomasJonhson.com  and on Twitter at mtjohnson51.

Categories
Writing with a Disability (Different Ability)

Between the Lines

Ever since I took my first journalism class in high school I’ve heard the age-old debate on how to write, to use an outline or to just free-form (discovery writing.) Some creatives feel outlining takes the life out of writing.

They like having the freedom to just let their ideas flow. Whereas most intellectuals believe structure is the best way to shape ideas and convey a thought. I believe they both serve a purpose.

  1. Outlining – Focus, flow, Balance, and definitiveness.
  2. Free-form – Spontaneity, more creativity and of course freedom.

After years of writing, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m one of the moderates who go either way, depending on the type of writing I’m doing. When I write nonfiction and want to prove a point or explain it, I’m a legalistic outliner. Plus, writing with a brain injury makes it hard enough to focus itself.

When I write screenplays I tend to let the characters tell their own stories. It doesn’t take long before they invite me in on their joinery. Of course, there are times when I have to step in and help keep the characters in line.

Lines?

In regards to art, a line is a basic element. Geometrically, a line connects two points. It is a path traced by a moving point. A line is vital to any artwork.

Writing is a form of artwork that takes an audience on a journey from point A to B; the journey can be in the form of a fictional story or nonfictional prose. Either way, the audiences’ attention is going somewhere.

I’ve used screenwriting as a protagonist’s adventure of growing in life: they will make mistakes, get hurt and hopefully learn from it all. If I do my job well as a storyteller my audience will want to follow my character’s journey and hopefully learn a few things as well.

Nonfiction writing has a line of thought as well: it may be political, enlightenment, entertainment or a sales pitch, etc.

After all, what’s the point of writing if it doesn’t take us from point A to B? As Christian author DiAnn Mills’ theme states, “Expect an adventure!” All writing has a theme or purpose.

Takeaway!

One of my bigger struggles as a disabled writer is I tend to write for myself. Sometimes I write what I want to hear and sometimes I write for what I need. But, that doesn’t make me a good writer.

Every writer knows the selling point of any prose is the take away value. What will my reader, my audience, or my peers gain by going on the adventure with me from point A to point B?

Sometimes is obvious from the get-go, other times it comes from the journey or it is found at the conclusion of it. But by the time we get to point B, my theme should be obvious.

When I first started blogging, my posts were the length of a college thesis, and I thought this was the best way to cover all my bases from beginning to end. The problem was, I often lost focus and veered off on multiple tangents.

I was like an adolescent with ADHD who ran out of Ritalin. Without an outline, sometimes I can be all over the place and can’t keep it between the lines.

Martin Johnson survived a severe car accident with a (T.B.I.) Truamatic brain injury which left him legally blind and partially paralyzed on the left side. He is an award-winning Christian screenwriter who has recently finished his first Christian nonfiction book. Martin has spent the last nine years volunteering as an ambassador and promoter for Promise Keepers ministries. While speaking to local men’s ministries he shares his testimony. He explains The Jesus Paradigm and how following Jesus changes what matters most in our lives. Martin lives in a Georgia and connects with readers at Spiritual Perspectives of Da Single Guy and on Twitter at mtjohnson51.

Categories
Tour

Blog Tour-David Rawlings

Please tell us about your most Recent Book

As I’m pre-published, the book I’m currently shopping around is The god of reality TV. It was a finalist in the ACFW Genesis competition in 2016 and is currently under consideration by a publishing house.

The god of reality TV is a story where church meets reality TV. Two pastors take part in Pastor Swap, a new reality TV show for the Christian market. Brad Shepherd needs to save his dying church in a forgotten suburb of a large city and Jack Alexander wants to emerge from the shadow of his megachurch pastor father.

Swapping congregations, they take part in the show in order to achieve their own aims. Brad is trying to save his dying church, while Jack has been promised the chance to take over from his soon-to-retire father – a chance that doesn’t seem to be getting any closer. But Randy Stone, the show’s producer and reality TV guru, has plans for how he will portray church on TV, because there is no god bigger than him.

In terms of selling books, I wrote Swimming Upstream years back, which was written for couples having trouble conceiving. It talked about the everyday experience in real language with common sense advice from an IVF counselor and was one of the few books around – in fact, it still is – to provide input about the male perspective on having trouble having kids.

To buy: https://www.amazon.com/Swimming-Upstream-Struggle-David-Rawlings/dp/1921008253

Why do you write what you do?

I want to explore the world I live in from the perspective I’ve picked up over my life.  At their heart, my stories are about how people interact with their modern world, their faith and their God. It’s my calling – I believe I’m led to take my twenty-five years of writing experience and turn it into something that challenges people.

And I also want to write books that I’d want to read.  My stories are modern tales, with nary a cowboy or Amish love interest in sight. They explore work, church, advertising, the media, social media and life. Some authors want to present escapism on the page. I want to also provide a mirror in which the reader may see themselves and their world.

What are you currently working on?

My current WIP is a story also in a competition (so not too many details!).  It’s a book that talks about how some elements of society – particularly celebrity and science – view the concept of God. It’s a novel (my third), and it’s neither a book about apologetics nor is it my response to the Da Vinci Code. All I’ve done is take my experience of debating people about God and turned it into a story.

I’m at the edit stage and I’ve had great fun with it and enjoyed meeting a new set of characters.

How does your work differ from other work in its genre?

In terms of story, I guess I’m writing about modern-day topics that carry an underlying message.  They’re not preachy – far from it – so you won’t read a novel I’ve written and say ‘oh, this is the bit where he goes off on a pseudo-sermon’.  But my hope is you will say ‘that’s so like my workplace/friend/mother-in-law.’

In terms of style, I’m an Australian and our culture is soaked in irreverent humor.  That’s how I write; I can’t help but give convention a subtle prod. It’s not funny as such – humor is so subjective – and satire can be difficult for some cultures to understand, but I have found one of my strengths is to make a point which is cloaked in a tinge of irreverence. It can be a fine line, especially in an age of perpetual and imminent offence, but I enjoy the challenge of coming up with a way to make people think and chuckle at the same time.

How does your writing process work?

I’m a freelance copywriter, so I have a bit more flexibility in terms of writing. I have dedicated times in which I write, but I’ve also developed a number of writing hacks that help me wring the most out of my schedule.  I’ve blogged about a couple of them – writing on the train or using the dead time in traffic to help me keep churning things out.

In terms of story development, I’m a pantser trapped within the body of a plotter. I plot a novel so I can see where the characters are going and because the overall story is important to me. (I have twelve fully-plotted novels on the runway, ready to be fleshed out). I then let the pantser loose to fill in the colors within that framework.

I write on my trusty laptop, sheathed in its BookBook cover, which is my pride and joy. My other tools of the trade are my iPhone, into which I have now dictated parts of two-and-a-half manuscripts, and a team of readers who give me feedback that is both constructive and honest – especially honest.

 

Bio

 

Based in South Australia, David is a writer who reads everything within an arm’s reach.  He has made writing his career and paid the bills with words for twenty-five years – from journalism to corporate copywriting and advertising campaigns.

He has published in the non-fiction arena and is now focused on writing contemporary Christian stories that explore God, people, 21st century church and our modern society.  David is sports-mad (which is compulsory for Australians) and is married with three kids (which isn’t).