NaNoWriMo Episode One: The Pantser Tries to Plants
As I gear up for my first NaNoWriMo, I find myself challenging my aspirations to plot ahead of time. I have an outline for book two, but I don't feel like working with it. I want to just slap all my written snippets together and sort it out. Bad...very bad pantser! I'm trying to be a plantser this time and maybe graduate to a plotter next time. After all, that's how people pump out a book every three months, right? Take a look at this other post for the difference between Pansting, Plantsing, and Plotting: Pantser Vs. Plotter.
Introspection shows two problems with my first plantser try.
I'm conflicted over where I actually want to take the plot. I don't care for romance novels and I am afraid that this story is going to turn into one, with the addition of the ever-hated love triangle! I'm quite sad. Kill somebody off? Take somebody out of the outline? I try to tell myself that I should do what is best for the story and not for my attachments to characters. Is it logical that I introduce another woman? MUST there be romance at all? If I chose not to allow it, what will that say about her particular race and place in society? If I do allow it, is that equally bad?
The outline is tedious. Since I already wrote a few of the scenes, it feels like too much work to go back and fix/change the outline. Perhaps I should not have written those scenes? If I hadn't written them and only had an outline, it would be easier to move things around without the thought in the back of my head that I may be making more work for myself.
How to fix this
Do what is best for the story and forget about what I already wrote. There's no point in complaining if I don't try and solve the problem—in my mind anyway. So I'm going to research outlining again. These are the places I will hit up for information first and we'll see how it goes! I put the previewed ones last since they are distracting.
https://www.how-to-write-a-book-now.com/writing-an-outline.html
http://www.well-storied.com/blog/heros-journey
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B00UKC0GHA&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_wn5UBbQVXGZPK
https://www.amazon.com/How-Stories-Really-Work-Exploring-ebook/dp/B01N9JA41P/ref=pd_ybh_a_7?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=YW92JYMCC8A9G5F7TJ9C
https://selfpublishingadvice.org/writing-how-to-use-the-snowflake-technique-to-write-a-novel/