Note: You are about to witness the extent of my artistic prowess. No laughing. (;
Step 1 : The idea.
This is how the idea of my wip presented itself one day in my brain. As you can see it’s a mess.
Step 2: Filling in the holes and transferring the jumbled mess onto paper.
Each color represents pieces of the story on paper: plot, characters, scenes, dialogue, mood.... And as you can see, it's all over the place and I jump around a lot.
Step 3. Pulling out the storyline.
As more holes fill in, I’m able to start pulling out segments of a storyline. Yeah!
Step 4. Voilà
With all the holes finally filled in, the storyline takes shape, and I have the first draft of my ms. *insert happy face here*
As you can see, I'm a pantser to a high degree. When I'm at step 2, I can be anywhere in the story and don't have a predetermined start off point (eg, the beginning). I’m pretty much dictated by my inspiration and the story drives me, not the other way around.
What about you - plotter or pantser?
That's a great representation of your writing process! I wish, however, you had drawn one for the bit between step 3 and 4, too, because that's where I always struggle :)
ReplyDeleteI guess I could have added a drawing of something that resembled puzzle piece assembly, but that would require greater artistic talent of which I don't have. (:
DeleteThanks for stopping by!
Love the visual examples of your progress! Awesome!!!
ReplyDeleteI'd have to say I'm a noncommittal hybrid. I do a little of both. ; )
Thanks Melissa. If I could choose, I'd want to be a hybrid too, sounds like the best of both worlds. I think I'm too much on the panster side and I really need to focus more on being more structured. (;
DeleteI really like this idea. (Had to google what a panster was btw) I've tried mind mapping to make me see where I am going with an idea/story but it gets out of control. Using simple colours could make the process more streamlined. Good Work!
ReplyDeleteHi Clay, thanks for stopping by. I can see how mind mapping could quickly get out of hand especially with a complex storyline. Not sure if my method works yet. I guess I'll find out if I ever get the darn book finished!
Delete