A Declaration of Diligence

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Writers are created equal, that they are endowed by their Muses with certain unalienable Duties, that among these are Writing, Editing, and the pursuit of Publication—That to encourage these Duties, Writing Habits are instituted among Writers, deriving their just Powers from the Industry of the Would-Be-Novelists, That whenever any Form of Entertainment becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Duty of the Writers to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Incentives, laying their Foundation on such Principles and organizing its Powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Diligence and Publication. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Writing Habits long established should not be abandoned for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Writers are more disposed to sloth, while Manuscripts are queryable, than to right themselves by reasserting the Habits to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Laziness and Procrastination, pursuing invariably the same Manuscript, evinces a Design to consign them to absolute Obscurity, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Entertainments, and to provide new Encouragements for their future WIPs. Such has been the foolish Stupor of this Writer; and such is now the Necessity which constrains her to alter her former Scheme of Waiting. 

Two weeks off is plenty, yes? Onward!

Entangled Plots (or why I'm not a pantser, either)

There are two basic schools of writing: outliners and pantsers. Outliners strategize, plan out every move like an elaborate game of chess, and finally, when everything is perfect, write the book. Whenever I think about writing an outline, I hit the same block the Oracle did in The Matrix: I can't see past the decisions I don't understand. If I don't know why my MC would choose the boy I want her to choose, I can't make her do it--and I certainly don't know what she might do next! And I can't know why she'd choose him until I know what he says to her. And I don't know what he says to her until I see what else is happening in the scene! (And around we go.)

But then, when I try "discovery writing" or "pantsing," I run into dead-ends.

Ever play Entanglement? It's a very fun game with all sorts of parallels to writing. Parallels I've been dwelling on lately, instead of, you know, writing.

The object of the game is to lay out tiles so that the little red path gets as tangled as possible... without running into any walls. Sounds familiar, right? When I first started, I would spin each tile, examining carefully all the best options for maximum entanglement, make my choice, and move on to the next one. I wasn't very good at it. Then, one day I decided to stop thinking about it and randomly selected the path I would choose. Best. Score. Ever. Ever since, I do that a lot--just let the tiles fall as they may. It's a lot faster and, really, it's rather amusing to see the developing pattern lay itself out.

But then we get this problem:

There is literally nowhere to go from here. There is no way to get back to all those lovely blank tiles on the other side of the board. My score is excellent for the first half (as excellent as I get, anyway), but suddenly my game is over. Whatever I choose next will end it for me.

This is exactly what happens when I try to pants a novel. I'm writing along, enjoying the story, watching as my clever characters become more and more real... then BAM. Wall. There is no way forward without backtracking, deleting several recalcitrant character traits, and trying things another way (sadly, there is no UNDO option in Entanglement).

So I combine the two. I set benchmarks. I drive my characters toward those benchmarks, but I let them take their own way. If they like to wander too far off the path, they get a partial lobotomy, we backtrack, and we try it again. I don't let my characters take over, but if I don't understand them, I can't write them. Frustrating but true.

So what's your process?


Don't forget to call in to talk to Mary Robinette Kowal tomorrow night at 9:00 PM EDT. Go to the Farland's Authors' Advisory Conference Calls blog for details.

My Process (or, why I suck at outlines)

Once upon a time I decided to write a book. I'd taken some creative writing classes in college, and I'd read thousands of books, so I had the basic idea down. I got out my computer, opened to a fresh document, and started typing.

That project was a bust. I stopped, thought of a new idea and started writing again.

That project was only marginally better. It got trunked, too.

Then I got this GREAT idea. SOO much better than the others. I devised a magic system. I built characters, backstory, and genealogies. I started right at the beginning of the conflict and off I went. My MC cried 5 times in the first three chapters. She was a total wimp. Still, the basic idea still seemed workable, so I did some tinkering and kept writing. It was amusing. It was fun to write.

At the end of chapter 4, I had no idea where to go from there. I'd written myself into a corner and couldn't get out. Just what did I want this book to be about, anyway?

So I tried outlining. Epic. Fail. How the heck was I supposed to know what happened next before I saw what my characters did with the last disaster I threw their way? Fuggedabout the WHOLE PLOT. Outlining was clearly not for me.

Then I read this great book by Evan Marshall called The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing. I made it my bible, developed an elaborate spreadsheet (yay spreadsheets!) and was finally moving forward. If you haven't read it, I recommend it. Now, I didn't follow the whole Plan in detail (sorry Evan). I filled out the section sheets in my spreadsheet, but I didn't go through the whole book before writing the first word. My favorite part about the Plan was the system of benchmarks--you set several benchmarks and drive your characters toward them. It totally worked. Still, even with the major plot benchmarks, I could never actually plan more than 2-3 sections ahead of where I was. If I tried, I ended up changing most of them when my characters refused to do the ridiculous things I was requiring of them (you would, too).

So that's how I got through the first draft of my very first WIP, but I keep hearing about these outline things. So many people swear by them. I do love organization....

In steps Aprilynne Pike, #1 NYT Bestselling author of WINGS, SPELLS, and the upcoming ILLUSIONS. I first met Aprilynne at LDStorymakers 2010, where she served as my bootcamp instructor. (Oh, yeah. I'm cool.) She absolutely murdered my chapters with her red pen, gave me tons of great advice on how to tighten everything, and was generally invaluable. Also completely funny, down-to-earth, with a dry wit and wonderful imagination--which shows in her books.

Aprilynne will be joining me on David Farland's Authors' Advisory tomorrow night, Wednesday, April 13, 2011, at 9:00 PM EDT. She will be telling us how to Outline. (Also, we might try to pry some details on ILLUSIONS out of her....) Please bring your outlining questions (I know you have them) and join the call. See the Authors' Advisory blog for call-in details. Talk to you then!