Pantsing in Dizzy Circles

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Ma1974 @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/ma1974/

I’ve been going around in circles all weekend about my writing. I feel as though I’m spinning in one place about to go out of control. Until this last Saturday, I had felt I was getting somewhere, although kind of woozily. I’m in the process of writing five different stories. Not one has gone beyond the one-third mark, the beginning where almost everyone and the circumstances that start the story are introduced.

In one story, I’m almost there, the middle section. I’ve introduced all the characters, the norms, and most of the relationships. However, I don’t quite have all the pieces needed to go forward with the main plot.

In another story, I’ve gotten as far as introducing all the good guys and their norms. Still, I’ve just barely touched on the two bad guys so far, and I haven’t even thought how to show the situation that starts every tale off.

I have two stories where I’m not even past the first chapter. Usually this is the easiest part for me. Nonetheless, I’m struggling to the point of almost screaming with these two.

The fifth one isn’t even a page long yet. I keep on thinking about the other four stories instead. I feel guilty for not trudging along with one of them, just one to prove I can do it.

I want to be a pantser. It seems like the easiest way to go for me. I just sit my butt in the chair and start writing or typing.

However, recently I wondered if I should be a plotter instead. It takes so much preparation before the writer even get to the part when she or he starts writing chapter one. Yet, by doing the preliminary stuff, she or he knows where the story is going all the way through to the end.

I’ve been told that many pantsers end up writing more rewrites than plotters. I wasn’t told why, however. I’m thinking that the reason is a pantser ends up having to reconstruct the basis of the story two or more times, where the plotter doesn’t. The plotter has his or her outline, pegboard, and graphics, which have kept the story from falling apart somewhere along the way.

Several months ago, I downloaded the free version of yWriter, a software program that helps with the outlines, virtual pegboard, and a simple graphic page to use. It keeps everything organized for the writer. All the characters can be reviewed when a tab is clicked. The locations of the story are within another tab. Still, another tab has the scenes. Chapters and scenes can be moved around in the story with ease.

As I said, I downloaded it a while ago; yet, I haven’t used it, thinking I’d be better off as a pantser. I’m sick of the never-ending tussle though. With short-term memory loss problems, pantsing my stories just isn’t going to work, I’m afraid. I so wanted to be one of those writers who could whip out a first rough draft, and then, fiddle with it until it’s as close to perfect as one can get it.

When I first started considering using this program a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t, in my heart of hearts, want to do it. I wanted to do the writing process my way. I seriously thought about giving up on the idea of writing all together. But something inside of me just won’t let that happen. I forged ahead with the blasted program.

Now that I’ve essentially worked with the program for a little while, I’m enjoying writing again. Who would have thought? I love the fact that I can start anywhere in my story, end anywhere, and be able to keep it all straight because of the configuration of this little gem.