Zippy (#atozchallenge)

Welcome to today's post on the A-to-Z Blogging Challenge. My challenge, as I have chosen to accept it, is thus: I have asked on my Facebook and Twitter accounts for people to contribute random words beginning with today's letter. From Random.org, I have selected one of these words, and will below challenge myself to connect said word to writing.

For the letter Z, I received 36 suggestions. Random.org selected number 18: zippy.


Zippy

It's been a long month. We've zipped through several different topics together, some of which related to writing more than others. And now we've come to the last one.

Zippy.

I used to be a pantser. I wrote three novels as a pantser. I know it works for some people, but it didn't work for me. I didn't pay any regard to the tempo of the scenes, and make sure they continued with a decent pace while raising the tension each time.

Now I plot everything, each scene throughout the story. I focus on the tempo of every one. I want them all to be zippy, high paced (as much as possible, anyway). I want the reader to be unable to put the story down. I can't say I've succeeded, but I'm still trying.

How do you keep your stories feeling zippy? Are you a pantser or a plotter?

The Art of the Outline

I used to fancy myself as a pantser. I truly did. Or at least about here:

I always had some kind of plan for the stories: a beginning, a couple crucial middle points, and a vague idea of the end. But after leaving point A, I could have gone through both Nova Scotia and Dubai before getting to point B. Editing then involved reducing the Trans-Siberian railroad trip to a transcontinental flight (no snacks included; please pay $25 per checked luggage item), and maybe my characters didn't really NEED to go to Dubai. I'll clip that and keep it for a later WIP.

This lasted until NaNo, I think. I was so excited to start on that new piece, I spent days outlining, character sketching, etc. I'm glad I did, because I don't think I would have finished NaNo otherwise. I needed that outline to remind me of where else I needed to go, and which overpriced-with-hidden-fees transcontinental flight could more easily get me there.

Then I started working on this latest project of mine. Can I just say for the record that my brain won't let it go ANYWHERE without an outline? So, what have I been doing this week? Well, besides avoiding my WIP since I don't know where it's going, I've started outlining (and then because I was excited about the outline taking shape, apparently now I'm blogging. Productive, huh?).

My goal for this week is to get this amorphous little outline into something resembling the outline I used for NaNo, so that by next week I will be less afraid of this new WIP.  I'm really happy with what few ideas have solidified in my mind regarding this WIP, but fumbling in the dark isn't my style anymore. I'm not sure if it's because I've changed as a writer—I did have that writing class last semester that could have also contributed to this change—or if it's particular to this WIP. Either way, I need this outline whipped into shape.

If you plan, how do you plan? What's your strategy for developing the sequence of events?


If you pants, how do you learn to trust your characters with each new WIP that they'll get you to the end in a decent fashion?

The Pantser Depantsed

So I think of myself as a pantser, but the idea of pantsing for NaNo makes my knees shake in my fashionable knee-high boots.  I like to discover the journey as the characters move along, but as far as I can tell, there are two problems with this for me:

1. Keeping up with the 2000 word/day target average.
2. Making sure I maintain the increase in tension from scene to scene.

Well, yesterday I downloaded Scrivener.  It inspired me to spend quite a bit of time last night outlining chapter ideas, writing character sketches, and generally trying to organize myself.  It all equals work I wouldn't have done otherwise (most likely) before Monday.  I've got names for characters that I hadn't considered before, notes for the first 7 chapters, and backstory that I hadn't worked out earlier.

I'm so excited about NaNo.  Can you tell?


How do you do your writing prep?  How do you keep track of all of your notes and ideas?

NaNo - Down and Dirty

I've signed up for email notifications from my local forums on NaNo's website.  In addition to the usual write-in organizing messages and tips on how to get your word count completed while drunk college students yell outside your humble abode (*cough* my humble abode), there has also been a discussion as to what writing programs/software people intend to use to reach their 50K.

So, I thought, what the hell?  Word only gets you so far, right?  Maybe I'll try something different.

First, I downloaded yWriter5.  Of course, I'm a dedicated Mac user, and this software is specifically designed for Windows.  BUT there's a work-around.  So I gave it a shot, downloaded the intermediary program to make it work, and tried it.  I imported a couple hundred words from something else and then tried to edit it.  DENIED!  Apparently there will be no editing to imported text.  Why? Don't know, but someone else on the forums had a similar issue.  So, I thought, back to Word.

Then another message came through.  The woman said she had tried Schrivener, but was going to stick to yWriter5.  I thought, hmm, what is this Schrivener you speak of, and decided to check it out.  Bonus one: there's a Mac-friendly program already--meaning, no work-around programs. *happy dance*  Bonus two: it's a lot less DOS-like and a lot more user-friendly interface-y.  Bonus three: even though the software isn't free, it has a trial period that goes through Dec 7 so NaNo users can try it out.  Bonus four: if you don't win NaNo, you get a 20% discount at the end just for trying.  If you DO win NaNo, you get a 50% discount.  Bonus five:  How many bonuses do y'all need!?!

So, I've set up my NaNo template and I'm going to start cork-boarding this weekend (I'm a little late in the game, I know, but I've always been more of a pantser).  I'm also going to import the novel I've been working on (and just finished rewrites for last week *happy dance*), and get all of my info in one location, including my links and JPGs of characters, etc.  I think this program seems entirely awesome, and I can't wait to really give it a spin.

Thus endeth the advertisement.

How are you writing your NaNo novel?

NaNoWriMo 2010 and the Plotter/Pantser Advantage

I signed up. 

Yup, I sure did.

And now I'm terrified.  Most of that fear stems from not knowing what my life is going to be like once fall classes resume.  And part of it, ladies and gents, is the sheer fact that 50,000 in 30 days is a whole lot of time and sweat and exhaustion waiting to happen.

I'm also pretty stoked. 

I bring this up because a) see above paragraph, and b) I've seen a number of posts in the past 24 hours discussing pantsing v. plotting (see Jessica's and Summer's posts, and, tangentially, iggi and gabi's).  They've made me consider NaNoWriMo, how it works, and who might be more successful—the pantser or the plotter.

Pros for the Plotter

These seem pretty obvious to me.  The outline is waiting for you on top of your keyboard on that fateful November morning when the race begins.  The story has been developing in your mind for some time.  Scenes already exist, though they are yet unwritten.  All you need is some time and some quiet.

Cons for the Plotter

While the outline is immaculate, you haven't plotted the exact path from point A to point B.  You get stuck.  When you resume, your story takes an unexpected turn... 

Actually, wait.  Can this happen to a plotter?  Or is each scene thoroughly outlined so no unknown plot twists can infiltrate the WiP?

Hmm... maybe it's better not to talk about the plotter, seeing as I don't conform to this category.

Pros for the Pantser

The whimsy and excitement of discovering your story drives you to go days without sleep.

Cons for the Pantser

Oh, shoot.  Wait.  What just happened?  How did the story get here?  No, no, no, this doesn't work.  It's headed for a dead end.  Go back, delete 20,000 words and start over.


I've oversimplified the categories, no doubt about it.  And such categories are never so well defined, anyway.  The continuum is vast, and most of us will fall somewhere in the middle.  I tend to lean toward the pantser side (and have found myself getting very little sleep when a story won't stop in my head), but I never start writing before my story has a solid beginning, a few key mid-way points, and a solid ending.  All of these are subject to change, of course, but a barebones outline is necessary for me to feel comfortable with the process.

I've had a story idea bouncing around in my head for close to six months now, and I've decided to hold onto it until November 1st.  I'll spend some time in the next couple of months writing a preliminary summary for it.  Before I discovered NaNoWriMo (or, I should admit, before I went to Google to figure out what all this nonsensical acronym means :) I had already written a couple of pages.  I know we're not supposed to start NaNoWriMo with anything but outlines, but I promise what I've got is nothing of consequence.  If you're interested, you can see the first 250 words here.  I wrote them because I wanted to toss them into the pool for Nathan Bransford's Monday Page Critique.  I'm still waiting, and may wait for another 279 weeks while he goes through everyone else's :)

Are you doing NaNoWriMo this year?  Are you a plotter or a pantser or somewhere in between?  Which are you more like?  Which do you think would be better for an intensive writing competition like NaNoWriMo?  Why?