Fire Star Press: pantser

Showing posts with label pantser. Show all posts

Sunday, March 17, 2019

PLOT HOLE, by Cat Writer Mollie Hunt

What is scarier than looking down the maw of a Siberian tiger? The plot hole*, by far.

You’ve worked your tail off writing a book. After weeks or months of fine tuning, you get it right where you like it. You dive in for that final read-through, expecting to find nothing more than a few wayward commas or duplicated words, and there it is, glaring you in the face, laughing.

You have a plot hole, and now you must go back and add, rearrange, and often change your perfect story to accommodate this nuisance.

Maybe some writers can pen a clean story with no hiccups, but I’m not one of them. Since I am a “pantser” and write without an outline, I’m often confronted by a plot hole (or holes) by the end. Some are simple to fix; others, not so much.

Though a pain in the patootie and a blow to our author ego, plot holes are not always a bad thing. In my last book, the plot hole led me to a far superior explanation for the murder motive.

And if nothing else, you can always fill your plot hole with a cat.

*In fiction, a plot hole, plothole or plot error is a gap or inconsistency in a storyline that goes against the flow of logic established by the story's plot. Such inconsistencies include such things as illogical or impossible events, and statements or events that contradict earlier events in the storyline.

Plot hole - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plot_hole

Check out more blogs by Mollie Hunt, Cat Writer at:

Mollie Hunt: Crazy Cat Lady Mysteries and more

Happy reading!

Author note: I still am unable to answer comments. Sometimes I can but most often they just fall into a black hole. I do read all comments and hope someday to figure out the problem and get it fixed. If anyone has any suggestions or wants to contact me directly, email MollieHuntCatWriter@gmail.com.

Sunday, December 9, 2018

Who's in Charge Here?

The insanity of National Novel Writing Month is over and I am pleased to announce that for the first time in four years, I achieved a win! I crossed the 50,000 word threshold on November 29th - one day early. This year was really important to me. After struggling for so long, I needed to prove to myself that I can still do this writing thing and I did. Go, me!

I was what would be classified as a NaNo Rebel, which is appropriate since I tend to be a bit of a quiet rebel in most aspects of my life. As a rebel, I didn't spend my month working on one novel. I actually worked on two! The first 20,000 words I put toward finishing the long overdue first draft of Dances with Werewolves, the second full-length novel in my Kudzu Korners sweet paranormal romance series. The last 30,000 words were put toward the first draft of a stand alone fantasy romance, Blood Lines.

I am not an outliner and never have been. Even in my school days, I never understood how I could be expected to write an outline. I mean, how am I supposed to know what I'm going to write about until I write it? I call myself a plantster - a combination of the words "plotter" and "pantser." A pantser writes by the seat of their pants. I don't go into a story completely blind though. For me a story usually starts with the title. When I start writing, I know who my main characters are, how the story begins, how it ends and a few random scenes in the middle. The rest of the story unfolds as I write which mean that the characters occasionally throw me a curve. When I was writing Dial V for Vampire, the hero suddenly offered the heroine a job. It wasn't what I had intended but I made it work, and honestly, it was better that what I originally intended.

After spending the last couple of weeks working on Blood Lines, I have decided that I am not in control of this story at all. *facepalm*

It all started with a secondary character. He was supposed to start off as a jerk but I expected him to grow and be the gruff guy with a heart of gold. I even had a big role for him to play in the story. It turns out, he's not just a jerk, he's both a complete a**hole and the antagonist. Not what I expected but okay. There was another character who could play the role I expected of him. The only problem with that was... she died. Seriously?

Image courtesy of depositphotos.com

Don't get me wrong. I actually enjoy the unexpected twists and turns that happen while writing. It was just the sheer number of twists that were popping up that was getting rather amusing. I have no doubt that whatever the characters throw my way, the story will be better for it.

On another note, my husband doesn't understand how this happens at all. "What do you mean? These are your characters. You created them. How can they not do what they are supposed to do?" I have explained that it's like having kids - you give them life then they go off and do their own thing. I even showed him this quote to prove that it's not just me.

Now, it's time for me to keep the momentum I started in November going into December and beyond. Wish me luck!

Until next month, Happy Holidays!

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Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Plotter or Pantser?

Writers tend to fall into one of two broad categories: plotters or pantsers.

Plotters are those individuals who tend to have every aspect of their story recorded in a detailed outline before they ever put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard as the case may be. The most die-hard of outliners may even include sticky notes and color-coding in their process. I am both in awe of and somewhat baffled by these people. While I am a huge fan of both sticky notes and brightly colored pens, outlines are beyond me.

You see, I fall firmly into the pantser category. What's a pantser? In short, we don't outline, we fly - or in this case, write - by the seat of our pants. Outlines just don't work for me and never have, no matter how many well-intentioned teachers insisted on them. As much as I enjoyed my various Enlish/literature classes, the constant insistence on outlines brought out my rebellious streak. I never wrote an outline until after I had finished the paper. I never understood how I was supposed to know what I was going to write until I wrote it. I still don't.


Outline? No outline? There's no one right way to write	.

A friend and aspiring writer recently contacted me with a few writing-related questions. She was taking an online writing class sponsored by a well-known author and said that he had them doing a lot of outlines and wanted to know if I did them. I told her that I do not. Of course, he is a best-selling author and I'm not, so my advice might not carry as much weight but I think the most important thing is to find what works for you and run with it. In my case, when I begin a story I know who my main characters are, how they meet, how the story begins, and how it ends. I also have a few random scenes and pieces of dialog that fit somewhere in between - the rest comes as I write.

I enjoy seeing the story unfold as I write. My husband is still baffled as to how my characters can do things that I don't plan but it happens all the time. When I was writing Dial V for Vampire (released by Fire Star Press last year), the hero suddenly offered the heroine a job. It caught me completely off-guard and wasn't what I had planned at all. I had to take a step back and rethink my story line a bit but I think the story worked better for the change.

I could probably force myself to outline but I think my stories would suffer for it if I did. I know me and if I commit an idea to an outline, I'm probably going to make myself to stick with it even if it isn't working. Not having an outline hanging over my head gives me more flexibility. In my newest short story, It's Meow or Never, I had a hard time writing the ending. I knew how I wanted the story to end but it just wasn't working. Every time I sat down to work on it I just got bogged down. I started thinking of it as the story that refused to end. Then one day I had a flash of inspiration - I removed the hero's fluffy white kitten and replaced it with a pit bull named Elvis and bam. The end of the story fell into place like magic. Who knew a pit bull could make such a difference?

Fellow authors, are you a plotter or a pantser?