{"id":1292,"date":"2013-02-18T08:34:35","date_gmt":"2013-02-18T16:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/?p=1292"},"modified":"2014-04-16T18:44:50","modified_gmt":"2014-04-17T01:44:50","slug":"plot-and-plan-or-plunge-in-where-angels-fear-to-tread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/plot-and-plan-or-plunge-in-where-angels-fear-to-tread\/","title":{"rendered":"Plot and Plan? Or Plunge in Where Angels Fear to Tread?"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Scott Bell<\/a> is a published author with a diverse portfolio of fiction, from period short stories about boxing to zombie lawyer novels (don\u2019t ask). Anyway, in the promotional material for his writer\u2019s coaching service, Mr. Bell divides writers into two groups:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Plotters map out their stories in advance, making sure they know how it\u2019s going to end before they even start writing.<\/li>\n
  2. Bell calls the other type \u201cPantsers,\u201d but that\u2019s an unfortunate choice of words. Puts me in mind of bullies yanking down a freshman\u2019s shorts in gym class. Whatever you call them, they just start writing, with implicit faith that their stories will find their way to the end. They plunge ahead. So maybe \u201cplungers?\u201d That\u2019s got an unsavory connotation, too. We\u2019ll have to work on it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Of course, most writers will find them in both camps to varying degrees at different times of their lives. For the first two published novels of my career, I have definitely been a hybrid of the two. <\/p>\n

    In the case of Human X<\/em>, I had been sitting on the back story of my main character for about 15 years, waiting for a storyline worthy of it, so the first two chapters or so almost wrote themselves. They had been percolating in my brain the whole time. After they were written and chapter three had started to take shape, I began alternating between writing and plotting.<\/p>\n

    For plotting, I don\u2019t use any fancy software, but a web-based service called Backpack from 37 Signals. It\u2019s really nothing more than an elaborate note-taking system, but it allowed me to collect all my thoughts regarding characters and story elements. Most important, it\u2019s checklist feature allowed to do a kind of \u201cfree association\u201d plotting, where I jotted down \u201cstory waypoints\u201d as items on the list. I could then rearrange them on the fly.<\/p>\n

    I could map out the story, concentrating on what happens next but also sketching in the later plot points a little more loosely. As the story evolved, I could add, modify, and rearrange the points as I go, but having the novel mapped out gives me the confidence to keep writing, knowing I can poke my head above water and check my bearings.<\/p>\n

    For Human X<\/em>, a relatively short and straightforward novel, I didn\u2019t need a hugely detailed outline to keep myself on course. My second novel, The Coat Hanger Railroad<\/em>, the story involved multiple character and story lines, building toward two different crescendos, plus a love story for the main character and the political backdrop. My outline of this story ended up being insanely detailed, but it worked. As I re-read the first draft, I failed to find any elements where something I said early in the novel contradicted a later story element. Again, the ability to know my heading, the route of my journey, allowed me to plunge forward with confidence. <\/p>\n

    So why am I a \u201cseat-of-the-pantser\u201d first, a plotter second? Why not just plot the whole story out before starting to write? That might work for some people. Probably works for a lot of people, but by starting to write first, I get a feeling about whether I actually connect to the story, if there\u2019s any \u201cthere\u201d there. If I can get two decent chapters out of an idea, I have confidence that it worth my time to start hammering out the rest of the story.<\/p>\n

    It works for me. Your mileage may vary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    There are two extremes for writers when in comes to plotting. Where do you fit on the spectrum?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[174,160,159,156],"class_list":["post-1292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing","tag-human-x","tag-james-scott-bell","tag-plotting","tag-the-coat-hangar-railroad"],"yoast_head":"\nPlot and Plan? Or Plunge in Where Angels Fear to Tread? - Paul McElligott Dot Com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/plot-and-plan-or-plunge-in-where-angels-fear-to-tread\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Plot and Plan? Or Plunge in Where Angels Fear to Tread? - Paul McElligott Dot Com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There are two extremes for writers when in comes to plotting. Where do you fit on the spectrum?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/plot-and-plan-or-plunge-in-where-angels-fear-to-tread\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Paul McElligott Dot Com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/paulmcelligott\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-02-18T16:34:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-04-17T01:44:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paul McElligott\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@PaulMcElligott\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@PaulMcElligott\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Paul McElligott\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/plot-and-plan-or-plunge-in-where-angels-fear-to-tread\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/plot-and-plan-or-plunge-in-where-angels-fear-to-tread\/\",\"name\":\"Plot and Plan? Or Plunge in Where Angels Fear to Tread? - Paul McElligott Dot Com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-02-18T16:34:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-04-17T01:44:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7046cd03017c72208828f8044a1bdbe8\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/plot-and-plan-or-plunge-in-where-angels-fear-to-tread\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/plot-and-plan-or-plunge-in-where-angels-fear-to-tread\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/plot-and-plan-or-plunge-in-where-angels-fear-to-tread\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Plot and Plan? Or Plunge in Where Angels Fear to Tread?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Paul McElligott Dot Com\",\"description\":\"The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible (Vladimir Nabokov)\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7046cd03017c72208828f8044a1bdbe8\",\"name\":\"Paul McElligott\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/075aacd7c1bd61f6addac96bcb712d1c3919ef4d2a1605cc98b3dc5344de75ec?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/075aacd7c1bd61f6addac96bcb712d1c3919ef4d2a1605cc98b3dc5344de75ec?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Paul McElligott\"},\"description\":\"Author, Writer, Scribe, Wordsmith, Thesaurus owner.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Plot and Plan? Or Plunge in Where Angels Fear to Tread? - Paul McElligott Dot Com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/plot-and-plan-or-plunge-in-where-angels-fear-to-tread\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Plot and Plan? Or Plunge in Where Angels Fear to Tread? - Paul McElligott Dot Com","og_description":"There are two extremes for writers when in comes to plotting. Where do you fit on the spectrum?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/plot-and-plan-or-plunge-in-where-angels-fear-to-tread\/","og_site_name":"Paul McElligott Dot Com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/paulmcelligott\/","article_published_time":"2013-02-18T16:34:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-04-17T01:44:50+00:00","author":"Paul McElligott","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@PaulMcElligott","twitter_site":"@PaulMcElligott","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Paul McElligott","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/plot-and-plan-or-plunge-in-where-angels-fear-to-tread\/","url":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/plot-and-plan-or-plunge-in-where-angels-fear-to-tread\/","name":"Plot and Plan? Or Plunge in Where Angels Fear to Tread? - Paul McElligott Dot Com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-02-18T16:34:35+00:00","dateModified":"2014-04-17T01:44:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7046cd03017c72208828f8044a1bdbe8"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/plot-and-plan-or-plunge-in-where-angels-fear-to-tread\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/plot-and-plan-or-plunge-in-where-angels-fear-to-tread\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/plot-and-plan-or-plunge-in-where-angels-fear-to-tread\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Plot and Plan? Or Plunge in Where Angels Fear to Tread?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/","name":"Paul McElligott Dot Com","description":"The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible (Vladimir Nabokov)","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7046cd03017c72208828f8044a1bdbe8","name":"Paul McElligott","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/075aacd7c1bd61f6addac96bcb712d1c3919ef4d2a1605cc98b3dc5344de75ec?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/075aacd7c1bd61f6addac96bcb712d1c3919ef4d2a1605cc98b3dc5344de75ec?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Paul McElligott"},"description":"Author, Writer, Scribe, Wordsmith, Thesaurus owner.","url":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1292"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1419,"href":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1292\/revisions\/1419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}