Writing By The Seat of My Pants...

When I first heard the words scene and sequel…I cringed. Because I didn’t write that way. I didn’t plot. I just sat down at the computer and typed. That was many years ago. Ahem…I have binders full of unfinished manuscripts.

I’m Kitty and I’m a Pantser. I write by the seat of my pants. Yep, I said it. I confessed. Now what? Is there a twelve step program to join? Support groups? Do I get a shinny pin? Nope. Darn!

The good news is Pantsers can plot and still keep their edge. Really?

I’ve learned what background information I needed to have ahead of time. I will never sit down and write out a forty page outline or twelve pages of notes on each character. It’s not me. And I’m not knocking those that do. I admire them, truly.

So here’s one take on plotting from a die-hard Pantser. (As I am a Pantser, any major amount of planning causes adverse affects. I promise to keep this short. And yes, I’m sort of winging it.)

Back to those two words SCENE and SEQUEL. (See in bold type they seem ominous don’t they? Wahhhaaaaa. They’re not once you have the tools to slay the beast.)


Let’s start with SCENE:

What’s a scene? What should it contain? (Okay, tiny beads of sweat are forming at my forehead as I write this. Must continue… gripping mouse harder. BREATHE. EXHALE, INHALE)

The best book I ever found that described scenes was written by the late Jack M. Bickhman. He wrote, “What is a scene? It’s a segment of the story action, written moment-by-moment, without summary, presented onstage in the story “now.” It is not something that goes on inside the character’s head; it is physical. It could be put on the theatre stage and acted out.” SCENE AND STRUCTURE, ISBN 0-89879-906-6, Chapter 4, page 26.

Wow that’s pretty easy, right? Clear. Scenes are action. They are not summary. They happen in the story now. There are three things all scenes should have and this dare I say, this is where the plotting comes in. Big Gulp.

GOAL,CONFLICT, DISASTER (OMG! I’m so want to head for the hills right about now. Someone hold my hand. Spoiler alert! Big scary words ahead.)

First big scary word…Goal.

All characters must have a goal. Something they want. Ray Bradbury wrote, “First find out what your hero wants; then just follow him.” The goal is why the story is. Your hero wants something.

Second big scary word…Conflict.

This is actually my favorite. Conflict drives your story. Conflict makes it interesting. Without conflict your story would be about as exciting as a grocery list. Conflict can be from the hero himself, from nature, or from another character…the villain. Everyone boo and hiss. The more conflict you have the more interesting. But, conflict needs to have a purpose. It needs to drive the story forward. Random acts of conflict is just that, random.

The third big scary word…Disaster.

Dunt dunt dunt dunt….shark! Disaster is the failure of the character meeting his goal. It’s what makes us turn the page and read the next chapter with the next scene.

Okay so that’s pretty easy right? Just think of each scene as cause and effect. Cover the five W’s… who, what, when, why, and where. Have your dialogue crisp, natural and have a point. And the scene should have a reason. Yep. That about covers it. Not really. But it’s a start. And remember I’m a Pantser. Too much information will make my head explode. I try to keep all of this organized in my thoughts. Mostly though, I think of the major three, Goal, Conflict, Disaster.


Okay cringe, big scary word, again… Sequel.

I thought a sequel was something after the first Lord of the Rings movie, the second movie, part two. In a way, I was right. A sequel follows a scene. WARNING. Doctrine alert! This is where people differ on opinion. I’m going to share what works for me.