Being the usual 'figure out the story as I go' type I never clicked with any plot methods. I tried basic structures, some messy planning I came up with, and the Three act one I didn't even bother with. For the three years, I've been writing (four years anniversary this December) I have given plotting only so many chances. To be honest it probably failed because I didn't try it for real. I tried plotting because every blog post I ever read said "Only start writing the story when you have the plot figured out". It was until late in my writing experience that the inclusive inspirational posts for pantsers started to pop out.
This affected the young me. I can assure you the exact moment writing stopped being so easy was when I started reading writerly articles.
Now I am not giving another chance to plotting because of a writer I adore or I just decided I will try it. The two reasons are my obsession with Supernatural and the Paranormal Activity movies. This shit connected as fuck!
So after I decided to try plotting I didn't turn to articles this time. Instead around this same time, writerthreats on Instagram had started to do online courses. So I signed up, they reached out, we had a little chat, and now I am writing this blog post.
What we talked about and what ideas I had after the talk is for another post.
One of the things we went over was writing a summary of your chapter to avoid plot holes. I do the same shit but before writing the chapter. It is an easier start into the writing session and the three of us agreed on it.
So I started thinking why is that?
The longer you hold something in, a thought, an emotion, the heavier it gets. And so the longer you have this idea in your mind the harder it gets. Writing two-three sentences of what should happen in this chapter gets the thought out and before your eyes. So now you're no longer just thinking of it. It's out in the open, you see it and now you can start working on it with ease.
Following this same chain of thoughts, writing never gets overwhelming. Our heads just get full of ideas. The craft stays the same, what changes are the number of tools you have on your belt. And you have no idea which one to use first.
I don't know what to think of first and that annoys me. Because there are a ton of things that should happen before the end, I know where I should stop but I also want to include a few sub conflicts to make them blend with the third book smoother, but I also should be writing because otherwise, I will never finish this second book, but wasn't knowing the end supposed to make it easier?
Are you understanding what I'm trying to say? Is it overwhelming? It should be.
This kind of thinking is what I feel like is my main problem when it comes to the keyboard and writing in words in that empty document. It all stacks on me and by the time I start writing it's already too much. So I pull away from the laptop, minimize the window and play yet another horror movie, get scared, and release all that stress I've been holding in.
And then I get no writing done, I beat myself up, and feel like shit for both not writing and beating myself up.
This is not healthy. And it wasn't until Mel Robbins posted this video about how her morning routine failed that I started to take it easy on myself. This happened right before I took a week off social media. Sort of.
Let me tell you something. This week off I wrote almost every day. It wasn't easy but it also wasn't as bad as it ones was. I used to really not want to write. I would get sick thinking about turning on the laptop. Lately, it's still hard to start and even continue writing but now I want to keep doing it. Not because I have a word count to fulfill or a goal to accomplish. I have a story I kinda want to write and show to people.
I've settled for this plotting idea. It won't be anything extremely detailed or complicated. Just something simple for a person who won't stick to her own rules and probably change her mind a hundred times. A.K.A. me and Brian.
Anyways, thanks for stopping by. Until next time hammer-on and jam along!