The last few days I’ve been reading random posts by Nano writers asking what their writing style is…
Planner or Pantser.
However I am more interested in the people who are both. Those, like myself who are a combination.
Back in November during the Nanowrimo, some of the profiles I came across of people who were already halfway to the 50,000 goal before a third of the month had gone by, discouraged me. I felt so unprepared and inadequate. Looking back on it now, I feel silly for ever thinking or feeling that way.
Some of the motivational messages I received made me feel better. Especially the ones that said you don’t have to write the story in order. Bits and pieces are ok and put it together later. I was trying SO HARD to write the story in order that I often had writers block and ended up not finishing the novel or even the month. I got in my own way.
Now back to the posts I’ve been seeing lately.
Seeing the question everywhere about Planner or Pantser made me nervous at first. Last time I was a Pantser and it didn’t go as well. This time I’ve been trying to plan everything out. I have hopes to write a Trilogy.
But I’m finding myself beginning to get writers block again. The story was something I was working on casually, then finding out that Camp Nano was about to begin…I can see myself getting in my own way yet again. I’m trying too hard and it’s becoming less about the writing. The competitive nature is coming out and I don’t want to feel left in the dust again.
So I’m finding that I need to STOP trying to plan so much and that I need to let my fingers hit the keyboard naturally. Some of the best moments in a story are not planned.
Do any of you have the same issues? Have any of you felt the same way I did/do? If so, how did you overcome it? What did you do, to step back and relax?
Beautiful Metamorphosis 
For the most part, when I plan… I try to just do a few sentences of what I want to see… and then, I’ll expand to a sentence for what I want to see in the chapters. Sometimes, it turns into a few sentences, but I won’t go far past that.
If I get ideas for the chapters afterward, I will expand. But I’m a little bit of a mixture – I like to pants. I like to figure out what’s happening in the story on my own… but having a guideline is never a bad thing. It’s like traveling across the country. Plan a route, but the sights that you see along the way will be refreshing and beautiful to you.
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Nice! I find that doing scenes works and not planning too much.
And pen and paper. I prefer that than ty ping it up. Sometimes I will begin to practice trying different handwriting styles if I have a block and rewrite a paragraph and then it helps
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Sadly, I can’t pen and paper so much any more. My wrists aren’t what they used to be xD
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