PLOTTER OR PANTSER OR HYBRID -- WHAT'S YOUR STYLE?

Ever wonder what style of writer you are?  As a reader, have you asked yourself, gee, I wonder where they came up with that idea?  Everybody seems to have their own technique or ritual or personal voodoo they go through before they start a new book.  Here are a few. 

PLOTTER:  A writer who needs to know from beginning to end exactly what is going to happen in the story.  This seems to be especially important when you're writing mysteries or suspense.  After all, you need to know who the hero and heroine are as well as the villain.  You need to have a firm grasp on what needs to happen each step of the way, where to lay the foundation of the story, exactly where to feather in all the red herrings to keep the reader on their toes.  And you especially need to know exactly when, where, why and how the "big black moment" takes place, because that's where you wrap up everything with a nice big bow and can finally write the end.  Plotters have been known to write up complete character descriptions for each person in the book, detailed maps of the city/town/village where they story takes place.  Any and all details that are important to their story all get written down.  We may even write a long synopsis of the entire story, pages and pages of outline, before the first word ever appears on the actual manuscript page.

PANTSER:  A pantser is a writer who is the complete opposite of a plotter in every way.  A pantser doesn't write down an outline or a synopsis before they start.  They basically don't have a clue where the story is going to go.  Instead, they sit down at their keyboard (or pull out their writing pad) and away they go.  They fly by the seat of their pants—hence the name pantser.  A kernel of an idea will begin the pantser writer on their trek, and like the reader, they don't know where the story will take them until they've written it.  It can make for a bumpy but oh-so-worth-it ride.

HYBRID:   A hybrid writer is generally a combination of the two types listed above.  They need to know the basics or bones of the story and the story line before they start.  They know the main characters; the hero, heroine, and the villain and probably know where they need to end up.  With a much smaller amount of foreknowledge, the hybrid writer weaves the basic structure they've constructed from a few known facts and begins their travels along the path to a completed story, very similar to the pantser writer.  Some structure goes a long way to keeping the hybrid write on track, too.  

I'll admit, I'm a hybrid writer.  Especially with my romantic suspense, I find it imperative that I know a fair amount about my main characters, and where I want their journey to take them.  I have a general outline of the very beginning of the action, a few key points that need to happen, and what the big climax of the mystery/suspense/resolution is.  The rest is written wherever the characters lead.  And believe me they can lead to some really unexpected places.  J 

So, what type of writer are you – a plotter, a pantser or a hybrid.  Or do you have a completely different that you use.  I'd love to hear how you get from the beginning to the end.

Kathy's latest book, Connor's Gamble, a romantic suspense is available now.

CONNOR'S GAMBLE BUY LINKS: 

Amazon:  http://amzn.to/1d1MZzx

iTunes:  http://bit.ly/1dUdwde

B & : http://bit.ly/1p92tUp

Kobo:  http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/connor-s-gamble

Print: https://www.createspace.com/4717918 

Bringing Your Characters to Life

As writers, especially romantic suspense and mystery writers, it is important that our characters come to life for our readers. A useful technique is to make a sketch of as many of the characters in the story as you can. Of course, it's normal to spend considerable time on your protagonists (including the villan), and a lot less on your secondary characters. Here are some tips to get your started.

A.) Use your computer, index cards, a notebook or journal to keep track of all the important aspects of your characters. Some people swear by collages, although I haven't tried one myself.

B.) Try to live just ONE day in the head of your protagonists. How would THEY react to the events going on around you? This is fun to do even if you just do it in your head. Unfortunately, people will still think you're spacey, nuts or in need of medication.

C.) Use ALL the senses to bring your characters alive. You should know:
1.) Appearance -- how they look
2.) Sound -- tone of voice, accent, how they laugh
3.) Smell -- does the heroine wear perfume, have a signature scent? Does the hero always wear that sexy aftershave?
4.) Touch -- can you feel the beard stubble under your fingers? Is the gun in his hand cool or hot?
5.) Taste -- the tang of a nectarine, the melting of chocolate on her tongue

D.) Don't forget to carefully explore and list the things that your characters feel passionate about.

F.) Even if you won't use most of it in the story, sketch a quick outline of the character's birth and important life circumstances. This will be the foundation for the emotional aspects of your characters.

One more tip: When you introduce a character -- reveal who they are slowly, like peeling away the skin from an onion. The more aspects and tidbits you can drop into the story about your characters will make them multi-dimensional, more interesting and infinitely more relatable.

So, who are some of your favorite and most memorable characters and why?

Paraprosdokians – A New Look at an Old Technique

First of all, let’s do the important stuff – Happy Year and A Day, Carina! Toss the confetti and raise a glass of cyber-champagne for just about the best, most innovative – and nicest to work with – publishing operation in the world! Yea, Carina!!

Okay, now down to work.

I’ll admit, I didn’t know what a paraprosdokian was until a friend sent me a list of them. She’s always sending me jokes and funnies and, I’ll admit, I laughed heartily on reading them. Then the writing brain took over (doesn’t it always?) and I read them again, finally realizing that they were a lesson all in themselves.

By definition, a paraprosdokian is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect. Here are a few of the best ones :

-- I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn’t work that way, so I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.

-- I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather. Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car.

-- To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.

-- A bus station is where a train stops. A railway station is where a train stops. My desk is a work station.

-- You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive more than once.

-- The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas.

-- To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

-- Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

You see what I mean? Each starts out with a statement that gives you an idea – then the second part puts an entirely new spin on the idea, usually turning your perception of it 90 degrees in a different direction. In other words, a turning point.

In real life, with real people, I’ll bet that most of us like a smooth stream – learn, meet, love, prosper, happy every after with no catastrophes or dead bodies or evil villains or whatnot. Such a progression is comforting and happy – and boring, at least from a story point of view. In our books, whether mystery or sci-fi or romance or whatever, we love to torture our characters and that is best done by surprise and change.

The character we trust turns out to be the villain. The safe house isn’t. The clue that proves the hero innocent is false. (See where I’m going?) A single incident pops up and suddenly the entire story is careening off in a different direction. Could we call these ‘plot paraprosdokians?’ Sure – if we can remember that tongue twister of a word! (You’re on your own there.)

Sometimes these plot twists can happen in a single sentence. Or paragraph. Or, in some rare cases, a chapter or more. It depends, as so much does, on the style of the writer and on the story itself, But they must happen, or your story becomes a sweet, linear telling of events that have no excitement, no challenge, and very probably no real interest.

For example, Bob comes home from work and finds a dead body lying in his driveway. He calls the police. The police find he has nothing to do with the body. Bob goes on and lives his life. Snoooooooze! Even though, if I were Bob, that’s what I’d want to happen in real life, but it makes for a boring and unsellable story.

By contrast, Bob comes home from work and finds a dead body lying in his driveway. The body is that of a fraternity brother from his college days, one who ostensibly died in a frat house fire. Also, unbeknownst to Bob, the body was Bob’s new wife’s brother.

See? You can go on and on, turning each plot twist in on itself, each time giving your story more depth and complexity, as well as more danger and higher stakes for your protagonist.

Deepen your plotting – become a practicing paraprosdokianist. I think I just broke my spell-check. Whether you can spell it or not, though it works. Give it a try.

by Janis Patterson