The True and Honest Confession of an SOTP Writer

After wrapping up my last manuscript I dipped my toes into the first scene of my next idea.

I'd tossed around ideas for the main characters, theme, and basic ideas for months. Time to crank out the words, right?

Yes, I am an SOTP (seat of the pants) writer and have enjoyed every minute. Sort of. 

Recently, I sat at my computer tapping out the first few chapters stopping only when interruptions or lack of the next words stopped me. Three thousand words into the manuscript I closed my laptop. 

I was stuck. I went to my bookshelf and pulled out some fantastic resources for organizing a manuscript and since I can be distracted by shiny things, I bounced from one resource to another. 

Organizing a manuscript is like going on a diet. It is something you have to want to do to be successful. My attitude read the how-to pages and rebelled against organizing, preplanning, outlining, story world research. (You missed the two-year-old stomping of the feet. And the inner voice shouting "No! I won't do it!")

I set the books aside and looked at the clock, wondering what useful writing task I could do to fill the remaining minutes of my writing block. I ventured over to You Tube and found an interesting vlog chock full of tricks and shortcuts for a program I use. I didn't know the presenter would use her method of outlining, characterization, setting, and organization of a novel to demonstrate the shortcuts. 

Before I knew it, I was hooked.

So intrigued with viewing new ways to use the computer program I enjoyed, I actually learned a method for outlining my book--and horror of horrors--I liked it!

I did the assignments suitable to my shiny way of thinking: watched travel logs of similar places to create my story world. I swept through various sites to find names suitable for my characters, mapped out the story world city on power point, and figured out which character worked at the diner, postoffice, auto repair shop, etc. The families interacted in my mind and their faces appeared. They shared with me their issues and joys, lies, victories, hardships, etc.

I broke the story down into a three act play. (It became a Lays potato chip moment.) Each act had three chapters addressing specific issues. Each chapter had scenes with assigned POVs to best communicate the events and gradual infusion of new characters.  Subplots ideas appeared. I tucked them into scenes where they'd enhance the story. I wrote one to two paragraphs for each scene. It was like watching a garden grow.

Yes, I'd learned how to map out my book from other wonderful resources. But now, for some crazy reason, I wanted to follow through.

I set a goal for each day, allowing three weeks for the set up/research process. 

The first day of the fourth week I opened a scene and saw my summary para. I read it through and wrote the scene without any writer's block. The same thing happened the next day when I sat down to write another scene. I couldn't contain my excitement at how easy the words flew together. I wrote a third scene the same day. 

Having the scenes pre planned with summaries enabled me to choose any scene from the new book idea that popped into my mind. Of course the scene begging the loudest to be word painted on the page that day won. It didn't matter. I was prepared.

I could switch to my natural tendencies as an SOTP and write the chapter tweaking my mind because the book was now organized. (I can't believe I'm saying this.)

Can you hear the thrill in my words? I feel like the kid who finally learned to ride a bike. Or tie their shoes. The teen who has their driver's license or the college student who left home. Freedom!

The date I set to have finished all research and start writing a scene in my manuscript was 10/15/13.

Did I make it?

No!

I had so much fun writing reports about the locations, the top six characters, everything I learned about the people and places, lies and victories, and etc. I did much more than planned for each day. I ended up writing my first scene one week early. 

Seriously!  I know--shocker. 

Successful writing can be done as an SOTP, plotter, or as a mix. That's me. I'm now a mutt writer and very happy. I hopped over the fence, jumped out of the box, and colored outside my own lines. 

Here I've rambled on for a whole post, sharing my confession like a kid at Christmas. 

How does this help you?  

Are you in a rut, ready to try something new?

Here at the Writers Alley, ten women share fabulous ideas from different perspectives, brimming with ideas for our readers. 

Yes, there are many ideas available on the Internet, conferences, classes, and books. What you have to do is to find the one that you are willing to apply to your need.

1. Pray. Ask God to lead you to the answer.
2. Don't be afraid to ask for help.
3. Don't be afraid of the Internet. (but always use caution)
4. Chose you this day to work towards conquering the writing problem you have.
5. AND when you do....CONFESS so you can encourage others. :)

This is an opportunity--a chance to to ask for a topic, a method, an idea, help, a resource, whatever. We are here for you.

How can we help you? We are also willing to write posts devoted to writing issues.

What have you tried that trampolined you into a new, wonderful way of writing?

(And no, I won't tell you which program worked for me...because this is not a commercial for the program.) Yeah, I know....wicked.


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photo by freedigitalphotos.net

This blog post is by Mary Vee

Mary has moved to Michigan with her husband, closer to her three college kids. She misses the mountains of Montana, but loves seeing family more often. She writes contemporary and romance Christian fiction and loves to pen missionary and Bible adventure stories on her ministry blog, God Loves Kids.

Visit Mary at her website and her ministry blog to families: God Loves Kids. Or chat on Facebook or Twitter

Trumanizing Your Life...Your Story

I watched The Truman Show last night and it made me sad. This one man, Truman, had lived his whole life in a controlled environment. He was born on the show and was the star of the show. On a special set that included a whole town, Truman was the only person who didn't know they were on a TV show...a show that had been going for 30 years. The poor man lived a life that wasn't really real. His best friend was an actor who acted like his friend. His mother wasn't a real mother, but just a woman acting like a mother. Even his wife wasn't in love with him - she pretended to be in love.

And Truman wasn't content. And the audience was uncomfortable.

It got me to thinking how we are often like the creator of The Truman Show. We want to control everything in our lives. We want our children to be perfect and successful. We want our house to be spotless and "model-home-decorated". We think if we write a certain number of manuscripts, read great books on writing, or attend as many conferences as we can, we will finally get a publishing contract. We want to control the outcome of our lives.

I don't know about you, but isn't it hard...even impossible...to make our lives like we want them? There comes a point when we have to release control, let God be God and trust Him for the path He wants us on. We live life fully, trusting that God has our best just around the corner.

I think sometimes as writers, we are much like that creator of The Truman Show. We have a path lined out for our heroine and methodically write the words to take her down the path we have created. Sometimes though, we have to let our characters really live and go the way they want to go. Characters take on life when we let them breath and experience all that the pages have for them...whether good or bad.

Good fiction needs a compass, but a great story needs life and freedom. Freedom to fall hard. Freedom to live big. Freedom to love with abandon. So let your characters live free on the page and see what happens. Trust God for His timing in finding your story a home. The journey is just as important as the destination.

Are you letting your characters really come alive on the page? Do you allow them freedom? Or do you like to keep them on the straight and narrow?

TWEETABLES:

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This post is brought to you by

 Sherrinda Ketchersid

Sherrinda is a minister's wife and mother to three giant sons and one gorgeous daughter. A born an

Lynette Eason on Putting the Suspense Puzzle Together

Lynette Eason is a master at creating fiction that keeps your seat of the pants glued to the chair turning page after page. I asked her to share some writing "secrets." 

I was asked to write on the secrets of writing suspense. As I started thinking about it, I decided there weren’t really any secrets, just different ways of doing things. I know different authors have different way of writing. We’re all individuals. What works for one writer may not work for another.

I’m a SOTP writer. Meaning, SEAT OF THE PANTS. I write what comes to me. I write in sequential order and I edit as I go. If I get a brilliant idea halfway through the manuscript, I go back and add, but basically by the time I get done with the story, I’m done. However, that’s not to say that I don’t do some very basic plotting. And I think this is because I approach writing a story like doing a puzzle.

Step 1: Sort out all of the side pieces and frame your puzzle – This is the brief synopsis stage. A short summary of how I want the story to go.  There are not any real details here, but I have a beginning, a few scenes for the middle and the way the story will end.

Step 2: Find the dominant color and put all of the pieces together in one section -  Here is where I do my character development. Even though I’m a SOTP writer, I really need to know my characters before I can write anything worth keeping. I have a character worksheet I start filling in. Details are important here, like family, best friends, educational backgrounds, biggest fear, biggest secret, love interest, even what’s in the wallet or the purse.

Step 3: Find where the dominant color belongs in the puzzle and place in the approximate section within the frame. The few scenes I’ve sketched out need to go in the right place. I do use a writing software called Scrivener. It helps me keep my scenes organized. I love the ability to jot down an idea and store it later. When I come back to the software, I can move the scenes around to see which order works best—where they best fit into the puzzle—er story.

Step 4: Start filling in the gaps.  At this point, I have a pretty good outline of the story. Now I just need to go through one last time and make sure I’ve put in all the details, all the red herrings, explained all of the clues and not left anything dangling. Now, here is a little tip: As I’m writing the story, I’ve got to keep all this “stuff” in my head. However, there are times when I’m going along that I’ll come to a stop because I need to research something, or I can’t remember the name of a certain character, or what time of day it is. Whatever the detail is that I need to put in, I simply stop writing, insert a comment at that point using track changes and then later, go through all of the comments I made and insert the necessary information.

Step 5: The last piece of the puzzle = the last read through. Go through the whole story cleaning it up and doing one last edit. By the time you get to the end, you should be done.

So, as you see, writing suspense isn’t so much about secrets as it is about hard work and paying attention to details, taking your time and being creative. Putting the puzzle together one piece at a time until you have the big picture.

1000 words of backstory... and counting!

Last weekend, while I was sitting in the hospital beside my sweet, sleeping baby, I wrote 1000 words of back-story.

And dad gum it, I'm PROUD OF IT!

Many of you rule followers out there are cringing, as well as all those who read Wendy Miller's WONDERFUL post last week on back-story.

1000 words? Back-story? Where is the ruler to slap my hand with!?!

But hang in there with me so I can explain (before my hand is black and blue...)

Backstory isn't bad. Every great novel MUST have it.

It's how we put it into our novel that is the key. You can't "not" tell your reader what happened in the past. It is important and integral to your current story. The past is what makes us who we are today, just as Wendy pointed out. If we ignore it, it makes our current character feel flat and undeveloped, and leaves our reader confused.

My Back-Story Story

So about a year ago, I started on a new book. I wrote about 8000 words, then life took over and I wasn't able to get back to it until now.

Please keep in mind... I am a MAJOR seat-of-the-pants writer, so what I had was only a germ of a story, and I really wasn't sure where I was taking it. But I'd gotten to the point where I knew a little bit of what about what was going on and needed to get the details down.

So, I wrote back-story. 1000 words of it (and counting.) I just sat down last Saturday and let my brain run rampant through the fields of time. I wrote in free form everything that had happened to my characters, jotted notes about the stuff I didn't know and still needed to decide, and detailed the events that lead them up to their current conflict.

It was the most freeing exercise EVER. I flicked off the little guy on my shoulder that screams at me, "BACK-STORY ALERT... horrible writing Krista, STOP IT!"

And you know what? I think my book will be better for it. I know where my characters have come from and what makes them tick. I still have a few questions, but now as I get ready to actually write again, I can write from a place of confidence.

I still am very much SOTP writer. Not sure what's going to happen in the next chapter yet. But I am now equipped with the backstory and have the ability to sprinkle it into my pages a little at a time, to hint to some of their motivations, and give the reader little tastes of what happened long ago and why my characters are a little bit loony.

Moral of the story: The only info dumps needed are ones that won't make it into manuscript!

Discussion: How do YOU develop your character's back-story? Because there are a TON of different methods... the key is to make sure you DO IT!

*GIVEAWAY*

We're at the end of the FIRST week of our 300 follower celebration!!! Today's give away is Laurie Alice Eakes "Lady in the Mist" (Thanks, Pepper, for helping me out with this one... you're a doll!)

Leave a comment to be eligible to win! This weeks winners will be announced on Saturday! 

CHEERS!