Today my fear is dropping the balls. Or losing them. Or forgetting which one went where. Now these aren’t just any type of balls, these are really plot points and red herrings from my current WIP. I call them balls because recently I’ve begun to hear circus music and feel like one of those clowns juggling a million balls and all are about to crash down.
I look at each book as a chance to learn something new—hopefully some day they will entertain the masses, but right now they entertain, and educate, me.
THE GIRL WITH THE IRON WING is something new for me. It’s an Urban Fantasy, except the world as we know it changed about the time of the Black Death. Unlike our timeline, humanity was on track to vanish from the planet completely. Until the elves saved us. And they haven’t really let the humans forget that. And some of them think saving us was a massive mistake.
This book has a bit police mystery as well as romance going on. And it’s lead to A LOT of balls up in the air for me. Now, you plotters are reading this with probably a bit of confusion—“What do you mean you can’t keep all of your twists and turns together? That’s what plots are for.”
Yeah, welcome to the joy and pain of pantsing (writing by the seat of one’s pants for folks not familiar with the term). The joy of panting is that you don’t know what’s coming around the corner. As Ray Bradbury would say let the characters go, and follow their footsteps. Sadly, that’s also the pain of pantsing…I don’t know a lot of what’s coming around the corner. Which makes it hard to make sure all my points, traps, twists, and dead-ends end up staying in the story. Aka, keeping all the balls in the air.
I’m fighting the good fight- at 100 pages I’ve started a spread sheet for them. But I’m still totally dreading the moment that a reader may say, “But what happened too…?”
Hmmm- that circus music in my head seems to be getting louder.
What about you? Ever afraid the balls will drop?
Happy IWSG Day!!
Aloha Marie,
ReplyDeleteOh boy, I guess I am an official Pantser, too:)
Good luck with all the juggling of balls, I'll be right there beside you - one of these days :)
(Stopping by as a co-host of IWSG - on behalf of Alex.
Thanks for sharing - and have a great, creative month :)
Mahalo, Mark!
DeleteThanks for stopping by and keep those balls up in the air!
And I hope you have a creative month also :),
I know what you mean about the ball juggling. As a fellow pantser, I've developed a few tricks to keep the balls in the air. One is keeping a running list (on a Word doc, but you could do it anywhere) of all the little plot questions I have as I write the first draft. That doc becomes the foundation for my revision - I know which issues need to be dealt with. It also gets these little balls out of the air (where I might forget them) and down on paper.
ReplyDeleteThanks for such a great post!
That is a great idea, Janet! I need to develop my little pad-o-ideas spreadsheet out a bit more me thinks ;).
DeleteAnd I hadn't even thought of the revisions, but that should be my safety net--providing that I write all the different point down that is ;).
Thanks for coming by and commenting!
Ah, yes! Another worry for me too. Catching the balls in the right place so the twist and turns make sense to the reader. I usually know it all in my head, but making sure the reader gets it is scary :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!!
Melinda
Thanks for coming by and sharing my fear, Melinda! Sometimes those plot balls can be scary!
DeleteI can relate to this! I have a WIP that I'm almost scared to get back to because of this very thing. I love writing by the seat of my pants because of the thrill of it all. Then when it comes to those little tiny plot holes...dang! Best of luck!!
ReplyDeleteElsie
LOL! We live with a double edged sword, Elsie, us pantsers have fun following the trail but if we don't leave ourselves clues we loose the path ;).
DeleteThanks for coming by and commenting!
I totally relate, but I love complicated plots that surprise me as I write them. It's difficult to strike a balance between efficient writing and pleasurable insanity. ;)
ReplyDeleteI so agree, Barbara. That's a great moment when we write something that we had no idea was going to happen. Sadly, that's also what's scary ;).
DeleteI do like the concept of pleasuable insanity :)
Thanks for coming by and commenting!
Oh yeah I know exactly what you mean about juggling all the plot threads! A spreadsheet is a good idea. I keep notes, but then forget to check them...
ReplyDeleteTotally agree, Margo! When Janet mentioned a word doc I smacked myself in the head...I have paper notes and spread sheets all over. Until I forget where I put them! And I'm bad about not checking them before I lose them.
DeleteThanks for coming by and commenting!
Interesting blog, Marie. I'm more of a plotter than a pantster, but I can understand your ball concept completely. What I find to be a problem is that while your story balls are juggling along nicely, suddenly an extra ball appears out of nowhere. This ball is almost magical in how it brings everything together, unfortunately, since it appears out of nowhere, it has no real place in the story because it has no background in the story. Now what do you do with it? Abandon it, or go back and write it in (which is a lot of work and hard on a word count!!).
ReplyDeleteSharon
Great, Sharon, now I'll have something else to worry about! LOL! One advantage of being a pantser, is that those great idea balls are easier to fit in than for plotters. Hell, we don't know where we're going anyway!
DeleteI do think it would be hard to abandon something that fit in so well though...it would be a tough call!
Thanks for coming by and commenting :)
Even though you don't plot, maybe noting key items might help. At least to keep the balls in the air.
ReplyDeletei hopped over from Alex's IWSG- a little late. :) like you, i have many plot points, twists, etc. i write them down in various documents and try to keep them all linked. i'm sure some of the balls will get dropped. i hope my alpha readers will see which ones get dropped and let me know. good luck.
ReplyDelete