A Pantser is a writer who goes with the flow and writes without a clear direction, outline, or process. It is a lofty strategy meant to remove boundaries and welcome artistic freedom.
The first novel I ever wrote was a “Pantser Novel.” I wrote, letting the ideas frolic away until I had a 350 or so paged book. One day, I’m going to prepare for the cringe and re-read it. However, not once have I been able to write that way again.
My first book is definitely filled with problems: ideas that did not age well, abusive romance, a wacky third-person omniscient narrative, and probably every overused fantasy and anime trope. What did I expect? I began the book when I was twelve or thirteen and finished it when I was sixteen. I don’t ever plan on publishing it.
Now that I’m older, wiser, and feel like I know nothing, I learned that the reason for my decades long writer’s block had more to do with a lack of structure than a lack of ideas. It’s easy to start a story with no direction. It’s near impossible to write a middle and an end with no direction. And so, I’ve collected dozens of unfinished Word documents with writing I found rather lovely, but sadly with no focus. There were characters wandering around, trying to discover vague enemies in a world with too much useless detail.
I can’t be a Pantser anymore because I’ll be tempted to put everything I’ve ever imagined into a book, then be paralyzed by the over ambitious attempt.
A New Flow…
Letting my story flow and learning as I write is still part of the process. That said, I still need the skeleton that holds the body together. This isn’t to say that my book has been perfectly and completely architected. However, I do have my ending thought out, and a rough sketch on how to get there. Plot structures are a godsend.
The Tale Tinkerer on YouTube has a helpful video about how being a pantser can be troubling for many fantasy writers. In his video The Pantser Myth Destroys Fantast Writing, he expresses how pantsing can stall fantasy stories because there is no “blueprint…to complete the work.”
This is not to say that every fine detail needs to be fleshed out before one begins writing, but it is to say that a map-less adventure might lead one off a cliff! All of my stories ran me off a cliff.
Combining Save the Cat and The Hero’s Journey
For my story Eclipse, I am using a combination of blueprints to assemble my plot structure: Save the Cat and The Hero’s Journey.
Save The Cat involves a more complicated “Three-Act” structure in which the story begins with an opening image, theme, set-up, catalyst, and a debate before the hero must make a choice and enter their new normal. By the midpoint of the story, the antagonists close in and all hope is lost. By the resolution, there is a reconning between the hero and his or her goal, an epiphany, then a finale.
The Hero’s Journey describes the hero leaving their typical life after being called to an adventure. They are then initiated into an unfamiliar world and must face trials and tribulations as well as encounters with mentors, friends, and antagonists. The story is resolved when the hero triumphs (or not) and returns home with a new philosophy on life.
How These Plot Structures Work in Eclipse
The overarching theme or question I am working with in Eclipse is “How do we maintain our humanity in a world constantly working to take it away from us?”
Each of my characters is wrestling with holding on to what makes them human in three important ways: dignity in health, dignity in community, and dignity in purpose. How do our current social systems pull each of these away one by one? How do we revolt to gain dignity back?
My heroes journeys, I hope, reflect these questions in the plot structure. This is the clearest I’ve ever written them to be, for each of them struggle with these three concepts.
I had way more I wanted to talk about before narrowing down my book to just these three ideas. Having a structure helped to keep my brain focused on the meat and potatoes of the plot, and not run my story off a cliff and into another unfinished heap.
The Hero’s Journey structure is the most prevalent in my planning process. It is structured enough to provide a solid skeleton or foundation for my story, but also flexible enough for me to make sudden changes that might be necessary for the plot to work. Save the Cat can be a bit limiting, and I found myself combining plot points to make my story smoother.
Since exploring with these plot structures, I now find it easier to develop a solid plot. Time to continue the hard work.
