Writing By the Seat of Your Pants

This will be my first year doing NaNoWriMo. I am utterly daunted by the prospect of writing a novel in a month, because I have never, ever written anything above fifteen pages long before. I want to test my limits.

The only problem is: I don't know how to plan my novel. I cannot plan. I write on the fly, not even really coming up with characters or an overarching plot before I begin. I start with an idea– usually something you could sum up in two sentences ("Behind the counter in a sweetshop is a door that nobody seems to notice on their own. There, we find a much larger, and much more mysterious shop– a place that sells everything from wishes to secrets, but only for the right price...") and I run with it without knowing where it's going to lead. I'm not sure if I will be able to run with a story idea for 50,000 words.

Is there anyone here that has been able to do that? Should I try to come up with an outline for my story? Any advice for people who tend to write by the seat of their pants?

I am definitely an outliner, so I don't think I could give you much advice on the logistics of it. But your plot (which is really, really awesome, by the way :D :D) it seems like the sort of setting that you could add a lot of really different characters to at different times along the story, which might help if you're stuck partway through. Once you get it all written, you can go back and edit and cut out characters or subplots as necessary. :)

*waves hand* Hi! You've just described me--I tend to have a vague idea of what I'm doing with a story idea, and I can say that I have done it and done it successfully through NaNo.

My first year, I saw the 50,000 word goal and thought--how in the world am I going to do this? But I took it one day at a time, writing ~2k words a day, and every day, I found I had something to add. Doesn't mean it was always good, or that the plot always flowed, but I added words and I made it to 50k.

Whether you work by outlines or not, so long as you know your characters and have an idea (however vague) of where you're going or what you want to explore, you'll be fine. The hardest part will be sitting down at the computer and typing it up, but that's the whole point of NaNoWriMo. If you write 1,667 words a day, you'll make it to 50k in 30 days. :)

I once wrote 23,000 words of a story with even less to go on than the idea you had. Basically all I started with was the MC coming to a realization about himself, at an unspecified point in the story, by whatever means necessary. I could've written more, but I decided to start the story over again from a different perspective. Of course, that's only halfway to 50,000, but I do think it is possible.

I have always been a "pantser," and now that I'm actually trying to outline my Nanonovel it's kind of scary. It makes me feel like I'm trapped by those Roman numerals and bullet points. What if I actually start writing and what I planned in my outline doesn't work at all? Now that I'm writing out these feelings, I really think I'm going to ditch it-the outline, that is. What's the worst that can happen? I get to the end and it doesn't make sense? That's what rough drafts are for.

If you do any kind of planning, I would suggest it be character development. Where does your character start, physically, mentally, emotionally, and where do they end up? What do you want from them? What do they want out of life? If you at least know who your characters are and who they become, the general plot follows naturally.

Good luck in November!

To be honest, I can't understand how someone can't plan a novel.

Bad me, I know.

I apologize profusely in advance at the thought of any pantsers that are reading this. BUT.

Maybe it's the I have no characters part. How can you write a story without knowing who it's about? I start off with one character.Usually, I "see" that first scene in my head and things move on from there. The story starts off with who on person is and where are they right now in time - what are theri goals, who do they encounter to either hinder or help and what are the consequences. If they encounter A and B, then C and D are going to happen, which involves E and F and triggers this or that consequence.

For me, it's a matter of, nail down your MCs, and the story will build itself from there.

Unless you're an accomplished novelist and know novel-length story telling inherently, I don't know how most people think they can pants a 50,000 word manuscript and have it make sense as a story.

Early on I tried it and never managed more than 23,000 words. Since using the practice of outlining, I have been able to complete a novel 5 of the past 6 years.

Werner
1,000 Words A Day

I've outlined only once, and then only because I had to keep track of real history and where my characters were in real history. It's all a matter of where your creativity flows best: in thinking and planning (go with outlines) or in finding connections between things (go with the flow). Either way it's really still quite hard to get to completion, but there's nothing better or worse than the other, and neither requires more or less practice.

Just go for it!

Before my first Nano, the longest thing I'd written was 55,000 words... But it had taken me TEN YEARS and never got an ending.
In November 2010, I wrote 80,000 words. By mid December I had a completed 96,000 word novel.

JUST WRITE!

Thank you all for your comments!

So, I'm getting the sense that characters are probably the most important part of the story to establish if you want to write without an outline.

I've been a pantser the last couple of years, and I've won a couple of times. The years I've won, I've had characters generated and some idea of plot, but it is totally possible to do. I've found that my plot has a tendency to get bad and ramble after about 20k words. So this year, I'm actually going to do some planning. See how the other side lives, so to speak.

I've wrote without outlines the past 3 years and never got more than a couple thousand words. I ran into the problem of writer's block because I had no idea how to get the characters to the next part. This year I have a chapter outline and a better idea of where they're going and what they're doing. So I say you can probably start writng by the seat of your pants but at some point you might need to do a vague outline or chapter outline at least. Also yes having an idea of some characters will help quite a bit.

Your idea is interesting so I hope you come out with something good to go along with it, characters, conflicts, theme, maybe a couple of subplots.

The first year I did NaNo, I started with nothing but three characters (two heroes and a villain) and a very, very basic idea of a plot, and I made it to 41k words. I didn't win because November ended up being too busy.

Every year since, I've tried to do an outline, and I've never made it past 20k words or so. The outline is stifling to my creative process, I guess- I get bored of it right away and have a hard time seeing it as anything other than a fenced-in area that I'm not allowed to go beyond.

So yeah, I like the freedom of having no outline. It gives me more choices about where I can go and what I can do with my own writing.

Everyone writes differently! So speaking only for myself, I can't do NaNo unless I'm doing it by the seat of my pants. This will be my tenth year doing NaNo, and I've pantsed it all but one of those years. That one year, all outlined and planned out, was a disaster. Yes, I got to 50k. But it was 50k of some of my worst writing ever. As soon as I started writing, I wanted to go in a different direction, but I was determined to stick to my outline and general story idea. The result was awkward, uneven, and lifeless. Never again! For me, part of the enjoyment of NaNo is not having any idea what I'm doing and discovering where the story is going as I'm frantically writing. Does it always form a coherent novel by the end of the month? Absolutely not. But it's usually something interesting, something fun, and something I'm far more inspired to continue working on than my one super planned NaNo.

I've been trying to come up with a story plot and outline for the last few months. I've filled pages and pages with story ideas. But when November 1st hits I have a feeling that I'll be flying without an outline. Like others mentioned, half the fun of writing for me is the discovery along the way. If I plot it all out in advance then I've lost that discovery. It feels less like art and more like paint by numbers.

Go for it, fellow pantsers!

I'm also a pantser. Always have been, probably always will be. I've never been able to think of the entire story before I write it; I just jump in with a vague idea of what's going to happen and run from there. It must be working for Nano based on my win record.

I do outline on occasion for the events of that day's writing session and the end of the book when I get there, but these are techniques to help me get through the story when I get there instead of outlining the whole book before beginning.

*highfives fellow pantsers*

I'm one of those people who, unless it's something I have to do, rarely has any idea of what they want to do an hour from now in real life - which of course means that I typically don't know how I'm going to solve the problems I've set before my characters and often haven't thought much beyond maybe a scene or two from where I'm currently at. (Incidentally, questions like "Where do want to be in five years?" tend to make me think "How the heck should I know? I don't even know what I want for dinner.")

I'm glad other people have mentioned loving discovering it as they go. That's the reason I do NaNo really - it's like spending a month inside of a daydream (or reading a new book) and it's awesome.

I think, unless you really like describing scenery, it's hard to get beyond a few paragraphs without accidentally creating at least a character. Never said it would be a well defined character, but there has to be someone you're following, right? lol Same goes for finding your direction in the story. Yeah, you could probably spend a while on idle chit chat and stuff like that, but eventually some sort of direction is going to evolve if only because your brain gets bored (or at least mine does).

By the way, '09 was my first year doing NaNo, and also my first time ever writing anything of any length before like you (actually, you've got me beat in pre-NaNo length as I'd never managed more than a scene or two before getting bored). I decided to join on October 31st, which means I didn't even have time to think about what I wanted to write about. I love the story I ended up with (the writing, not so much, but I chalk that up to lack of experience) even if no one but me will ever be allowed to read it. :P And in '10 I had two (poorly defined) characters and a premise before going in. I won both years, and I adore the stories I ended up with. And most importantly, I had a lot of fun.

I am a hardcore panster. I tend to crush and burn with an outline. My '09 Nano story I completely pansted it. That was the most fun I had ever had. My Nano story last year was half pants/half planed. Epic fail. Sure I made it to 50k,but the story is bad and I didn't have fum writing it.. This year, my story kind of forced me to do an outline, so crossing my fingers that I don't screw up my story to badly.

I used to be a pure pantser, but now I outline as I go - knowing what's going to happen 2-3 scenes ahead is handy and gives things direction, while still being flexible. Straight-up pantsing lead to a lot of meandering directionless waffle.

I'm a pantser as well. I've always hated outlining, even in school. When I had to outline, I would do the report first and then create the thing. I pantsed last year's and won. I've even finished it with 75K words total. But I think I'm going to do a little character sketching this time around because not knowing who the characters were and having them appear in the story was a bit difficult. I mean, I have Dionysus tending bar in Greenwich Village in Manhattan now. Completely unexpected. Oh, and he uses the pseudonym Tim for reasons known only to him.

When I plot I'm bored, I know what's going to happen so I have less inclination to write it. But when I fly by the seat of my pants I have fun, I often know what is happening next, but that is merely because my mind has flown ahead of my hands, but usually only by a few chapters. My novels turn out fine too, needing minimal editing (spelling, polishing and maybe extra chapters) because I think in a very linear manner, don't like fluff, and can hold all the small details within my head.