A.T. Bennett Ponders Starting
In a seventy-eight card tarot deck you have the Fool which shows a rather lovely young man gazing up at the sky. He has a look about his face which suggests that he’s marvelling on how splendid the weather is—or life in general—not realizing he’s about to waltz right off the edge of a cliff.
The Fool is a card that signifies new beginnings, opportunities, and potential.
Such is the curse of the pantser.
The grass is always greener, the triple-fudge Sundays are always sweeter. Hey! Maybe this rabbit hole of research will lead me to…. Oh drat. I’m falling off a cliff.
Sure, being a pantser is a tad hazardous to ones health, but that’s not to say it isn’t freakin’ amazing. For starters, we rule D&D nights! We have the unusual talent of being able to take a perfectly blank page and bibbity-bobbity out a scene worthy of Pratchett or Asimov. Why, with only a single idea, word, or character in mind we can craft entire worlds… until we get frustrated, or worse — bored! How often do tales we are passionate get to a point, and then become about as insurmountable as Everest? Pretty danged often.
Then off we go to new, tantalizing distractions.
Nobody is under the delusion that writing a novel, or a series of novels, is easy. And to a pantser the entire structural process is an active mine field, ladened with roadblocks, that can easily de-rail your goal of publication. Even before finding an agent, and dealing with the inevitable rejection process, there’s editing. Where a pantser is forced to do business with cutting entirely brilliant scenes that went completely off the rails and has no relevance on the plot as a whole.
Getting there is the fun bit, but tying up loose ends can be such a chore … As my fellow DeadLies M.G.Sondraal has suggested it is prudent to cultivate good writing habits, and find a consistent routine that works best with your adorable ‘fly by your seat’ quirks. It’s imperative that you settle what exactly you’re wanting before cracking your knuckles over a keyboard. What are your goals? Can you realistically see them through to completion? (Come on, be honest!) If not … how on earth will you keep your writing project on track?
My advice echos hers—become something of a hybrid. Borrow and ruthlessly steal techniques from Plotters. Take your dusty copy of Save the Cat off the shelf and cherry-pick the bits that works best for you. Establish your own set of rules that keeps you typing, on one book, in roughly the right direction. And if your novels get stymied three chapters in, that’s okay. Start smaller, and try crafting a novella. Still difficult to see it through? Try writing a short story.
But most importantly—write, write, write.
Your personal set of guidelines WILL click eventually.