Mother’s Day | Mary J. McCoy-Dressel

Week 19: Plotter or Pantzer, and why?

Saturday. Six-thirty a.m. I missed the Linky deadline to post my blog link on the Marketing for Romance Writers Blog. I’m on my own here without the #MFRWauthor group, but I’m posting, anyway. Such is life. Therefore, my post for the 52-Week Blog Challenge this week is late.

My grammar checker does not like the word pantzer / pantster / pantser, and it certainly doesn’t like p-l-a-n-t-s-e-r, which is what I am — plotter and pantser. I’m spelling the word in multiple ways in this post. My editor will come through the screen to slap me if she sees this inconsistency. It’s all in fun for this post.

I’ve moved from being a one-hundred percent pantser to around fifty percent plotter. Regardless, I’ll always allow my plantser to do what she does no matter the percentage stated.

To give a short answer, I’ve become both.

Why?

I plot for direction, tentative word count, to keep on track, and to make sure to cover all the basis needed to bring a story to the proper ending–the happily-ever-after, in my case.
I write by the seat of my pants to give my muse free rein, allow creativity to run free, and to surprise myself with what might come next.

However, for an upcoming book to be published this year, I did something different. It’s a brand-new series, setting, and characters not related to my other series. I had to start from scratch with a new setting and new family. It also begins a new story bible for the series.

For the first book, I had to set it up and make plans for the rest of the books and characters. This takes plotting and planning, but it takes writing by the seat of my pants too. Oh, and I had a certain amount of elements to add because of a collaboration with other authors, which gave me more direction.

What did I do different?

Story Beats:

THIS TIME, I laid out a plan using story beats. My plantser does as she/he/they please with the story as long as the story beats are followed and met.

Story beats give me a road map. (I credit author Jeri Gold and her romance beat sheet for this.)

My pantser will always have free rein in a story whether I begin plotting or writing freely. If I don’t have a semi-detailed plan in the beginning when I pantser write, I will have one after starting a book. My goal at first is to start writing Chapter One to get the original idea in story form so I can see it on the screen in words instead of an idea in my head. This chapter one will go through multiple revisions, get moved, or even deleted. Even with using story beats.

To stay within a word count, I think almost one-hundred percent plotting is necessary and makes sense. When my plantser is writing, I aim for a rough word count, but this number isn’t carved in stone. I’m trying to write shorter books, which for me is below the hundred thousand count. A lot of plotters use an outline. I don’t. Plotting out each chapter and scene and sticking to it, doesn’t work for me. My plantser won’t be silenced, and I can’t say I mind. It wouldn’t be fair if I tried.

What about other authors? If you’re interested in knowing if other authors in the group are pantsers or plotters, check out their links at the Marketing for Romance Writers Blog.

If you’re a mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, aunt or uncle, or a mom in any capacity, Happy Mother’s Day to you.

Enjoy your weekend.

Time is going by fast again this year. By counting down each week, it makes the year speed by, and I’m not sure I like the idea. Days, weeks, months, and yes, years already go by too fast. Do you ever get the feeling time is running out?

Anyway, we’re back with the Marketing for Romance Writers 52-Week Blog Challenge.

Week 10: Things only my family would understand.

Answer: I don’t like spur-of-the-minute invitations. I like to know where I’m going, what we’re doing, and who will be there.

This isn’t fun and takes the spontaneity out of life. Often, I get invited to dinner or to an event of some sort. I like to know well in advance so I have time to prepare.

However, when you have kids, you can’t let an issue like this rule your life. You have to be ready to get up and go, and I did in the past.

I do “get up and go” now when I have no choice or when my whimsy feels adventurous.

One New Year’s Day, a few friends and I hopped on a plane and flew to Chicago for the day with barely enough money to get back home. To be truthful, we didn’t have enough money for one of us to get back home. We never left the O’Hare airport once we got there, but back then, it didn’t matter. We were teens, and to us it was like going to the mall. We’d find something to do. Talk about spur-of-the-minute.

DISCLAIMER: I don’t advise teens to go flying off to Chicago or anywhere without having a plan and money.

This trip could’ve turned out bad for us, and it nearly did. All I can say is I’m glad we had a sense of smart. Another time, a friend and I packed a bag, hopped into a car with a couple guys we knew, and moved to Missouri. Huh? I left my mom a note. Every day while there, I had an unplanned event. It wasn’t a good three months. Bad things happened. I shudder to think of those days now. I didn’t mean to digress.

It isn’t so much about getting a call for a spur-of-the-minute activity, but it’s more about the not-knowing-what-to-expect part.

Here’s an example of one of those “not knowing” moments:

My youngest son sprang a surprise on me a few years ago. He and his wife, before they were married, had an outing planned for her mom and I for Mother’s Day. My son understands that I like to know in advance, so he gave me plenty of time, but then the “not knowing” aspect took over. The panic attack kicked in. I stressed over this for weeks because I didn’t know the details. Being Mother’s Day, I assumed I’d need to wear something nice, but my son and daughter-in-law are adventurous. It could’ve been bungee jumping or zip lining. LOL.

About a week before Mother’s Day, he told me we’d be seeing a special Mother’s Day performance from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at Kirk in the Hills, a majestic, gothic-style church patterned after Scotland’s Melrose Abbey. We’d have dinner at an awesome place near there first. Why wouldn’t it turn out to be a fantastic evening? I had a date with my son for Mother’s Day. My crazy inner self had stressed for no reason. As usual.

Since I retired, I’ve become a half-ass recluse. My family understands this, but they don’t like it. I’m always being told I need to get out more. My friends tell me this, too. Yes, I need to get out more, take more breaks away from my computer, and take more vacations. Note to self: Read the Bucket List post again.

This is a blog hop, folks. Are you curious to see how other authors deal with only things their family understands? I am. Let’s visit them by clicking HERE.