Q+A: Reworking a Manuscript

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Sophia asked: What are your best plotting tips, particularly when you're reworking a pantsed draft and you know you need to make big changes?

Ah, the story of my first manuscript lol. I think the answer to this comes down to pace and structure. I talked a bit about this in my post about outlining

Step back, look at the story as a whole, and pick out the following: Intro, Catalyst, Reversal, Climax, Resolution.

I know, I know. It sounds so formulaic. Cue the groans. But the thing is--formulas are there for a reason, and that's because they work. Readers have EXPECTATIONS in terms of plot structure, and when you stray too far from those expectations, you will often lose the reader.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against breaking the rules. But in order to break them, you first have to be familiar with them and understand why they're necessary.

And the thing is, every book is different. The details, the setting, the characters--books are so diverse that no one reading will go OMG FORMULAIC STRUCTURE. Great pacing equals a great story, which in turn equals an immersive reading experience. Which, in case you didn't catch that, is what you want.

Since this was a big weekend for The Hunger Games, let's use it as an example. For those who haven't read the book, expect spoilers.

Intro - It's the day of the Reaping, but we're first taken on a typical morning with Katniss--we see where she lives (the Seam), her sneaking out to go hunting with Gale, her relationship with her sister and mother. The rules of her world are introduced and, by the end of chapter one, we also know that Panem is divided into 12 districts, each of which must sacrifice two tributes in the annual Hunger Games.

Catalyst - Prim is selected at the Reaping, and Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and Peeta are ushered off to the Capital.

Reversal - The announcement that the rules have been modified to allow for two winners so long as they're from the same district. Katniss heads off to find Peeta.

Climax - The finale of the games. Peeta and Katniss run from the muttations, face Cato, and then threaten to kill themselves when the rule change is revoked. As a result, they're both declared victors.

Resolution - The closing ceremonies, the threat of President Snow, and returning home.

Now, once you've got those labeled, see where they fall in the story. With exception to the Intro and the Resolution, everything else should be pretty equally spaced through the book. You don't want 100 pages to pass before the catalyst happens, and then everything else gets crammed into the second half.

Another great technique for looking at the pace of your book is to plot JK Rowling-style. I LOVE the way she does it. It's a great visual way to look at exactly where each of your plot points fall.

In any case, that first manuscript I mentioned above? I will need to rewrite it so I'll be doing this myself some time this year =P

Anything else you guys would like to add would be AWESOME. Please do so in the comments! ♥

Have a great week!

Outlining: Start Big and Work Down to the Details

This week, I will (hopefully) be working on the outline for my WIP. So how do I start? Well, first, I answer these three questions:

1. What does the protagonist want?
2. What does the antagonist want?

The answers to these should naturally be at odds with each other. Each of their goals, independent of each other, can be as innocuous or grand as you want so long as they conflict.

3. How does the book end? (the climax)

Yep, I like to know how the book will end before I start outlining. Keep in mind, by this point, I'll have already finished world-building and character sheets. I'll also have jotted down a jumbled mess of ideas for scenes, how something might happen or questions for something that needs to happen, snippets of dialogue, character arcs, and what not--all of which are dependent upon knowing what my protag+antag want and where the book needs to go.

So, really, it's more just reorganizing those thoughts into something linear and coherent, because those questions will have already been answered in the plotting and world-building stage.

Some writers, pantsers and plotters alike, prefer to write without knowing how events will play out, instead letting their characters guide them. I'm not one of those =P With my first manuscript, I started writing not knowing how it would end or where it was going, and as noted in a previous post, it took me a year and a half to fix the mess.

It's essential for me to know how the story ends, because I use it to build the rest of the book. Every action and every piece of information must have a purpose—everything must work together to move the characters toward that end so that, when the plot twists happen and the climax settles, the reader will sit back and go 'I didn't see that coming... but I should have!'

However, even though I know how it ends, I don't yet know HOW the characters or the story led to it. Right now, I have a vague image in my head of the ending scene for this WIP, as well as some pieces of dialogue and character motivations, but that's about it. And for now, that's all I need.

So! I start by answering those 3 vital pieces of information. Once that's done, then I determine another piece—the reversal.

Within each scene, within every step forward into the story, there should ideally be some sort of minor reversal—conflict, questions, roadblocks popping up to impede your protag and maintain tension. But the one I'm talking about is the BIG one. It's not the climax, but it's something that completely upsets the hero's world thus far, something that either forces them to change or alters their goal.

To figure out what this should be, I answer these questions:

1. What does the protag believe s/he has to do in order to achieve her goal?
2. What does the antag do to completely ruin it? (in most instances, this would coincide with the antag's goal as well)

The reversal is the point in the story when the protag believes s/he's almost achieved his/her goal, only to come up against a brick wall and must now back up and regroup.

Example: when Frodo completes his task to deliver the ring to Rivendell and finds himself with an even greater and more treacherous journey to undertake. Or when Will Grayson (lowercase will) goes to [SPOILER!SPOILER!] meet his online boyfriend in person and is devastated to learn he was never real, resulting in crossing paths with the other Will and the life altering entity that is Tiny Cooper.

As I said in a previous post, an outline is a map. Having answered all the questions above, I now know where my final destination is and what stops I need to make along the way. All that's left is to plot my route, to figure out how to get from point A to point B to point C. This is where I start filling in details and fleshing out the world, when I REALLY get to play with the ideas I first jotted down while world building.

And this is also where I totally confuse you guys—the details can and will change your ending and/or reversal. And that's okay! The point is that you started with a plan. How things happen, why they happen, and character arcs along the way—these things SHOULD affect the overall story and major plot points.

But to find those details and really make them work for the story, I first have to start with the bigger picture.

So there you have it. That's how I outline and, hopefully, that's what I will be doing this week.

If you catch me on tumblr, please yell at me!

Have a great week! ♥

Why I'm a Plotter

Writing confession: I used to be a pantser.

This worked fine for short stories and drabbles. But for longer, chaptered stories, this resulted in meandering scenes, vague plots, and then surprise twists that weren't properly foreshadowed at the end. Pantsing works for a lot of writers, but it clearly wasn't working for me. I turned to outlining.

My first original manuscript (I wrote a couple novel-length fanfics) was a partial pants job because I wrote it for NaNoWriMo and my outlines had yet to reach any sort of coherent structure. I had only outlined part of the book, and I didn't actually know how it would end. To make my daily word count, I wrote down whatever struck me, and once I passed the 50k mark, I was so burned out that I just stopped even though the book was far from finished and I still had a week left in November.

It took me months to continue writing it (thanks to Tithe), and over a year to fix the mess I'd made. I had even skipped an entire plot point that I hadn't known how to resolve and left a note reminding me to come back and fill it in. *facepalm*

Learning to outline.

My second manuscript, in comparison, was meticulously outlined. I prepared by thoroughly world-building, completing simple character sheets (I'll cover character sheets in a future post), and writing a structured outline broken down into acts and scenes. As a result, I completed my first draft in four weeks.

Why outline?

• There's less chance of running into a plot hole b/c you'll hopefully have sorted those out BEFORE starting to write. Being able to look at the plot and story events as a whole works wonders for spotting inconsistencies and plot holes.

• There's also less chance of hitting writer's block. Having an outline means you know exactly what needs to happen and how to get there, so you can power on.

• Being able to look at the story as a whole can also help you spot issues with pacing. You can easily see the scenes that might sag and quickly make changes in order to avoid massive rewrites later on.

Stay flexible!

Being a plotter doesn't mean I stick rigidly to my outline. There can and WILL be surprises along the way. There were moments while writing my second manuscript when a new scene naturally developed that hadn't been in my outline, and I went with it. There were also moments when a plot idea struck me, and I made adjustments accordingly.

The purpose of an outline is to be your map. Some writers like to set out into the writing wild and find their way as they go. Some work well with only a compass to point them in the right direction. I like to have a clearly plotted route, with each stop marked along the way.

But that doesn't mean I can't take detours or change my final destination :)

Today's art: Rokudo Mukuro (I've been feeling nostalgic)


Have a great week! ♥