Cheryl Murphy Writes

From pantser to plotter Posted: 31 Jan 2012 08:59 PM PST A few months back my WIP broke. Yes, it broke. I wrote myself into a big black corner and I couldn’t figure out how to fix it. I lost motivation and even though I’d force myself to sit in the chair, I’d end up on Facebook after staring at the screen for awhile. I stared because I just didn’t know what to do. I decided to outline and find out where I went wrong. I can’t fix what I can’t find. I sat down with some of my writing group and came up with ideas that I needed to fill in those big blanks. I outlined my subplots and character arcs. I got irritated when I had something else to do besides write – which is often when you have a family. Yes, feel sorry for them, they deserve it. Catharsis. It felt so good to finally be doing some work and OMG did it work. I don’t think I’ll ever be a pantser again. I’ve taken a page from the TV writing rooms – plot the hell out of it so you can hand your outline to anyone to write. I won’t be handing it off to anyone but I’ve learned that if I take the time to outline and plot my story out, then the writing comes a lot easier. At the rate I’m moving now, I expect I’ll be done in a couple months. I also expect that with practice, I’ll only get faster. And that’s how I fixed my WIP.