The other night, I was a little stuck on how to move forward with a scene in my WiP. I started writing it because my character told me to, to be honest. But then she didn't tell me where the scene was going. I guess she didn't know either.
Boy, oh boy. Were we in for a surprise.
Something crazy happened that I didn't expect. I LOVE that. I love the freedom that pantsing provides. I was starting to worry that my story was getting a little dull, to be honest. The unexpected twists and turns are so fun and make the story feel natural. Plus, I don't have the foresight to plan out every single step. But I'm still new at this; my writing style might change.
I'm a little worried that I'm going to pants myself into a sticky situation (wow, that sounds so wrong). So let me ask a question to my fellow pantsers: Have you written yourself into a corner before? What are the dangers of pantsing that you've run into?
CONTEST:
A couple of weeks ago, I announced a second home here in blogging world at The Secret Archives of the Alliterati. My fellow Alliterati members and I had a full week of contests with awesome prizes (mostly free books) last week. All of the contests are still open, so head on over there and enter!! My contest ends tonight at midnight PST. Click here for the details.
Nope, haven't written myself into a corner, yet. Of course, although I can't call myself a plotter, I do always have a destination, so I'm always going in that direction.
ReplyDeleteI've totally written myself into a corner before. But not so deep of a corner that I couldn't back myself out.
ReplyDeleteThe only trouble with pantsing is what happens after the first draft. Sometimes those first revisions can be super messy.
I did, and I scrapped everything but the mail plot & started over. I was up to 18,000 when I did that. Fresh start and I'm at just over 30,000 and love it. Still not a planner though, maybe a chapter or two, but just basics.
ReplyDeleteI have written myself into a corner once or twice, but it's always been fairly easy to just back track a bit and alter a few things. Congrats on your WIP progress!
ReplyDeleteI am a pantser when it comes to writing. Which is odd because every other detail of my life has to be planned/plotted/scheduled.
ReplyDeleteI think the only trouble a pantser might run into is lack of direction. So long as you know where you're going, I think you'll be okay.
I love writing myself into corners -- it leads to some of my most entertaining scenes when I have to write myself back out of them. Yup, I'm a dedicated pantser. ;)
ReplyDeleteI always begin with a character and moment in time, nothing more, and let the movie play in my mind. It seems like that is how life plays out. There are times when I need to go back and re-write or scrap the beginning, no question. But so many times it takes me to an unexpected twist that surprises even me!
ReplyDelete