I’ve written 13 novels to date and each one of them has come into the world in different ways. Some came from a dream (Pulled,) some from the title name (The ABC’s of Dee), some from the cover art (Must Love Coffee.) Most of them have been written panster-style (by the seat of my pants with no outline.) Not because I hate outlining, but because it always feels a bit constricting. I like to wander. Play. See where that dark road leads.
There isn’t anything wrong with the panster method. Many writers do it. I will admit that just wandering to see where my muse may go does make for some painful second drafts as I try to muddle through the crap to find the actual story.
I’ve recently stumbled upon this book: Save the Cat Writes a Novel, which I talk a bit more about here. I bought the book mostly to give outlining one last attempt because, in theory, I love it. A gentle reminder about things that should be happening in your story at about this point. This book did a decent job of making the beats make sense in a way that other books on outlining hadn’t been able to do.
Because I’m a visual learner, I opted to make flashcards and lay them out on a board. Each card has, on the back, a fuller description of what the beat should achieve. The white cards are what you are choosing as the action of each beat. Some cards are several scenes, some are a single scene.
I’ve written beats for each colored card, and can now, in theory, start writing the first draft of a new novel. I can also use these beats as a way to tell me were other drafts of books may have gone off course when we were exploring those dark roads. *cough.
I have no less than three other books in draft 2 format that need my attention, but I felt like I needed to map out one book start to finish this way to see if it could be done and make sense to my noggin.
This first stage, I can say, felt really good. I have the major moments in place, and now all I need to do is write it. And that, after all, is the best part.
Stay tuned to see if writing a first draft with the beats mapped out like this is easier or harder than flying by the seat of my pants!
Danielle Bannister, author and flashcard making fool.
Danielle Bannister, Author 