Let's Talk Pantsing VS Outlining

Today's EarWorm:
Today's Date: August 22, 2016

So let's talk writing and Pantsing VS Outlining said story.

Why am I going over this thought process? Because I have my ex-retail worker turned supernatural hunter story that is giving me bits and pieces of story and no real outline as to what is going on and when it needs to happen.

No, instead it's giving me bits and pieces for the damn thing.

Yeah. Joy. Fun. Really...

Not.

BUT! It did give me an idea for this weeks blog. Pantsing VS Outlining.

First, what is Pantsing? And what is Outlining?

Well, pantsing is a writing term that is defined as "writing by the seat of your pants". Pretty much you're writing whatever comes to your head without any kind of plan.

Outlining is the writing term for planning out your story from start to finish in a linear fashion. Pretty much you have something like the following examples. (Note: This is actually how most of my outlines end up looking like, either or.)

Example 1:

1. Character's Name
• Plot point
• SubPlot Point
• Plot point
• SubPlot Point
• Plot Point
• SubPlot Point
2. Character's Name...

Example 2:

1. Characters Name/Scene Name
• Plot point that's more a short summary of what is to be written on during the chapter. This allows you to just write an idea down but still leave it with some flexibility to go in and change things as you write.
2. Characters Name/Scene name...

Okay, so we know what outlining and pantsing is. Which one is better?

Actually...neither is better. 

Say what now?

Don't get your panties in a bunch. It all depends on one factor: The Writer. I know some people who can't outline for their life. It either kills their muse or they just can't figure it out if they try. I know other writers who can't write without one. The story doesn't work for them.

For me? I tend to go with whatever the story calls for. For my ex-retail worker story it's kind of a mix of pantsing and outlining it. I have 2 chapters written already and know what I'm going to do in about six chapters, but I don't know what I'm doing in those six chapters, so I'm pantsing them (somewhat) while I write it.

I know that the story itself is going to be shortish, around 20 to 50K in length and leads into two more books. 

And I'm still mostly pantsing the damn thing.

But...I thought you outlined?

I do. But not all of my stories come with a handy outline and even then I tend to outline about 10 chapters and write notes down for future plot points along with where they land in the future of the outline. 

This story is just mostly pantsing it. But I tend to outline.

In fact, I tend to outline in my files depending on where I'm writing the story. Since I write mostly in google docs (mostly for the fact that I can haul the sucker around with me on a mobile device to write when I don't have my computer), I can do that. 

With that way, I tend to go with the Character name/Scene with a summary paragraph/sentence. It works for me.

But I have to say this (and if you follow me on Twitter at @SLStrailo) you'll know that I don't consider either way superior to the other. I've done both exclusively and found that I work best if I'm fluid in how I plan out a story. Depending on the story, the length, and the amount of information I have for the plot will state on how I go about doing my planning for the story.

So, for example, take When My Eyes Close. I am outlining about 5 chapters past the chapter that I'm writing, which is normal for my outlining. I have my notes for future plot points to.

But for the ex-retail worker story (yes, I still have NO name for it), I'm kind of writing as I go. The same goes with the next part of the current series of short pieces that I'm working on called Murder and Lust. I don't really know what I'm going to do with it, but I know that I'm going to continue this series and work out what I want to do with the book series.

Again: I don't consider either Pantsing or Outlining to be superior either or. There is no right or wrong way to plan and write your story.

This is just me putting forth what they are and how I use them for my own writing. I mix. Others pants. Others outline. Yet others used to outline but now pants, while others used to pants but they now outline their stories. 

Guys, it's all about you and how you feel when you go to start a story. It's what works for you and for your stories. Don't try to shoehorn yourself into one or the other. Find what works.

And if flying by the pants while you write is your thing, embrace it.

Or if you need to plot out every single little detail of your story, work it! You plan to your hearts content.

Just get those words out. Write that novel that is lurking in your head and your heart and your soul. Do it. Go for it. 

Now I'm going back to cursing at this story. I have some rewriting to do.

If you want to, don't forget to follow me at Twitter, on my Facebook Page, or my Tumblr Account! I don't bite and I love to talk with my readers and followers. 

Enjoy yourselves you guys! Write. Read. Live!

Post CampNaNo July 2016 and Preparing for NaNo 2016

Today's EarWorm: "End of Me" by Ashes Remain
Today's Date: 8/15/2016

So I had to sit down and really think about what I wanted to write for today's blog.

I drew a blank.

Then I remembered that I had started a list of ideas for future blogs just in case I don't have an idea ready for the next blog. And the first subject on that list? "Preparing for NaNo after Camp". Thus this post was born!

For all of those who follow my twitter (@SLStrailo), you know that I've been working on a series called Murder and Love/Lust (yeah, I still don't know if it's going to end up being love or lust). It's a short piece series set pre-books. Said books really don't have a plot as of yet, but I am working on that.

I have characters. That's part of the harder part of the battle for me when it comes to writing.

But now that it's been a couple of weeks since the end of July's Camp National Novel Writing Month, with me sliding in under the deadline like usual, I'm turning my eye to November and what is going on there.

To be truthful...I have no idea. Absolutely none. Whatever.

No...wait...I have some ideas. But I'm not sure what is going to happen, so we'll have to see.

Let's go over what I have in options.

Thread the Needle

This was actually started as my April 2016 Camp, I think, but it came to a stop because I started working on others and need to figure out just what I'm going to do with it since things are a lot different then our world.

Which is kind of interesting since I'm going to have a lot of people crawling up my ass for messing around with history. But hey, that's the beauty of writing fiction.

The Retail Worker Turned Supernatural Hunter

Again, if you follow my twitter, you've seen me complain about a new series. Originally it was going to be with a homicidal poltergeist, but then I started to get bits for a werewolf and shared those bits.

From there, I changed the plan because I was getting that instead of homicidal poltergeist.

Fun times.

Crimson Shadows Rewrite

Actually I've been meaning to get back to this story but it's always been kind of on the backburner. I just need to pull out the original story and made some more notes about what I want to do with it if I do go with this one.

I know what I want to get to, and have the first three books mostly thought out, but seriously? It's driving me up a wall.

Superhero Series

I'm actually not sure where I'm going to be on book 1 when it comes time but it is on that list to finish it off before working on another story. So we're going to see where I go in the long run.

When My Eyes Close

I started this story last year, but I haven't picked it up yet, but I've been doing a lot of things lately. So it kind of fell off to the wayside while I did some rather...interesting research. I have a lot on my plate but now I have the research done and I know where I'm going (mostly) with this story. It's just going to take a bit of time to do this. Fun times.

Anyways, that's my options and thoughts. So we're going to see what I need to do for the NaNo. I have a couple of months and some time to think about what I'm going to do, much less plan for it. So here's hoping that I get SOMETHING done yes? I can hope. I really can.

Can you hear all of the sighing going on over here? I swear that if I sigh any more someone is going to pop up and ask if I'm yearning for some long lost love.

Or vampires.

Yeah, like I haven't heard that before. >>

Anyways, I'll keep you up to date on what I'm doing in regards to this. Keep an eye on the countdown in the bar next to this post and please feel free to comment. :D

And if you have any ideas for what I should write on these blogs, please, leave a comment with a suggestion!

I tend to answer.

Thank you for your time!

What Is Up With My Stories?

Today's Earworm: "Beautiful Loser" or "Strangers" by William Control
Today's Date: August 8, 2016

What is up with my stories?

To be truthful, my muses are being a bit of a bitch. Excuse the language, but I'm sure that you all can forgive me.

This is kind of normal for me though so I'm not too worried. There was a time where I didn't write a single original piece for like a year, but that was while I was rediscovering myself.

It's just gotten to a point where I need to stop thinking of publishing and just write. No more contemplating the future of publishing and all that I need to know. I will get to that point, I really will. But that time is not right now.

Right now I need to turn my focus to writing and finishing stories.

On that note, I'm creating a new series of short pieces under the Murder and Love banner, with the first 16 piece set called Just a Little Murder. It's a horror mystery with a lot of dark themes and the books to come will be much more descriptive.

As it is, in Short Piece 4 there is some rather callous thinking of forced slavery in the BDSM world, but that is the character.

I keep telling people that my stuff can be dark but do they believe me? Nope. Not until I pull something like this out and show them with all attached warnings. It's highly amusing to see their reactions while they read.

Anyways. I have decided that I need to put aside the thoughts of what I'm going to do with the stories when I finish them and just work on finishing them.

With that said, I've decided to work on When My Eyes Close, which is my 2015 NaNo novel, my zombie fic that was inspired by J.A. Marlow and Honey Drops bk 1. I'm plotting them out and have what I want to happen in them pinpointed.

Mostly.

It's taking me time, yes, but then again, everything takes time to happen, so I'm not to worried really.

I am working on several interesting stories, including a "Magical Girl" kind of world, a Magical Modern world, a dystopia that is based off of my story that I handed over to Forward Motion writers for publishing, and a few others, so no worries about that. Actually, you can see the full list of things that I have in the works here.

I'll try and create a newer list here by September, so we'll see how things go with that.

As it is, tomorrow I'm going to be heading over to my friend's place after some last minute shopping for foods so we can go see "Suicide Squad" in theaters. We're picking up some chips, dips, and adult beverages. My local Albertsons has a "Build your own 6 pack" set up for like 10 bucks? Little less than that. And considering there is Smirnoff, various Mike's products, ales, beers and other goodies? Worth it.

Are we going to drink our six packs? No. I'll probably drink one or two and bring the rest home to indulge in over the next few months. I'm odd like that. I rarely drink but when I do I do it sparingly.

Yes, I'm over 21. So yes, I'm legal. More than. Thank you.

But we're going to need something to relax with on the 11th because we're going to be out ALL day on the 10th. Fun times. Really.

Anyways, I hope to see you here next week! Keep an eye out on Fridays for when I start posting my short pieces. :D

Short Pieces and Drabble Information You Need to Know

This is all about the Short Pieces and Drabbles that you will come across on here. This list is randomly updated as I come across things that I should have on this list, so bookmark or watch for when I tell you that I've updated this.

I'm hoping that I remember that each drabble and short pieces of writing needs to have a link to this post so that all new and old readers have an easy way to get to it.

Okay, so let's go down the list.

I don't know when the first drabble will be up, but it will be no later than September 3, 2016.

In General:

1. I will post every Saturday and link it on my Twitter, Facebook Authors Page, and my Tumblrs Author Page.
2. I do not want you to repost this elsewhere. I do not mind if you guys link to this post so please feel free to do so. 
3. Reviews and comments are a lovely thing.
4. With my longer Drabble/short pieces strings (such as with my Murder and Love series), once the string is done, I will do one large post with links to each of the drabbles along with a more cleaned up version of each drabble. This way you can just read it one session without following links. 
5. I will have other bits that aren't connected, but those will be mostly filler and rather random for whenever I decide to do something different.
6. Any pairings are usually slash, or male/male, pairings because that's what I write.
7. Read the warnings on each of the posts. Any post with anything graphic or slightly more detailed will have the warnings at the top of the post before the title. I do moderate any comments to a point and if I think if you're being a troll or purposefully ignoring the big bold warnings, then I'm going to remove them.
8. Each string will have the links to the first part, the previous piece, and the piece that follows it. This way you can find each of the drabbles as we go along.
9. If you find a drabble without a link, please don't be afraid to tell me and I will fix that linking problem.
10. I write horror, okay? This means, blood, mind-screwing, hauntings, ghosts, murderers, assassins, death, drugs. All sorts of goodies. Again, read the warnings. I add them to each of my posts after all. 
11. All of them will range between 400 and 1,200 words in length but will not be any longer than that. Or at least I'm hoping. If I have to, I will cut a part in half to keep the length down.

About the "Murder and Love" Series:

1. Murder and Love actually started because of one line that is found at the very start of the first drabble in this world. The first set called Just a Little Murder is rather on the darker side. Since it uses assassins as main characters, this is true.
2. There is some sex, but nothing too explicit. 
3. There is an insane character killing his one-night stand in part 9 of Just a Little Murder, but again, there are warnings.
4. Please take your time and discover this world because it's looking like this might be a full on series that these short pieces are going to be a part of.

Camp National Novel Writing Month July - 7/25 to 7/30 and Final Thoughts

Today's EarWorm: "Heathens" by Twenty One Pilots
Today's Date: August 1, 2016

July 25, 2016
Words Gained Today: 1,898
Total Words Today: 32,211
Thoughts and Notes:

So, wow. Today was good to me. Or at least mostly good to me. I got up kind of late (because I went to bed kind of late, so whoospies), and started to write. It took me some time and a lot of cursing, but I did get the words down! Which is awesome since I just have over 2K to write and I can easily do that in a couple of days.

So that's what I'm going to do in the morning. I'm going to write. I am also, hopefully, going to get a few more of my short pieces written down. Hopefully.

And figure out what my plans for the next few Monday blog posts are. Joy.

July 26, 2016
Words Gained Today:
Total Words Today:
Thoughts and Notes:

7:06PM:

I have no idea what I'm going to say so I'll just list them off.

1: I have written another short piece for my future blog story bits. It's got big bold warnings at the top. Can't say I don't warn the shit out of you.

2: My back is full on "Fuck you, bitch" mode because I dared to sneeze. going to write a blog about being a spoonie and a writer. Not sure how that will turn out.

Might see it come next week. We'll see how it goes.

July 27, 2016
Words Gained Today: 0
Total Words Today: --
Thoughts and Notes:

See the 28th's post

July 28, 2016
Words Gained Today: 3,340
Total Words Today: 35,551
Thoughts and Notes:

I have made it over the hurdle of a muse not wanting to work with me. Please ignore the cursing muse. She has a large amount of hot chocolate, coffee and tea at her disposal along with several treats that she is allowed to have.

Now, what happened to me getting my word count done before the 27th as I usually do?

Well...my muse wanted to play with an interesting story subject that kind of formed from my Magical world. I have a duology/series (still trying to decide on what will happen past books 1 and 2 so it might just be a duology) that is very much a tumblr inspired series but with my own interesting twist. Well me and a fellow writer in the Forward Motion chat room got to talking about sexualities. I.E. asexuality, demisexuality, aromanticism, demi-romanticism, and so on.

Which sparked a rather interesting idea for a character who is an asexual witch who practices sex magic and how that would work for this character since they need the sex.

The rituals never said that the sex had to be fun while they were doing it after all. So it's going to be an interesting exercise in presenting this character without pissing everyone off. Because no, the sex in this book will not be for the fun of it between two characters. Rather it's for magical purposes.

It's like sacrificing an animal, fruits or other items to whoever they are calling to this character. It needs to be done for their magic to its job. Simple as that.

So I'm doing more research into asexuality.

Thus my muse wandered off to try to play with this idea. Luckily I got it under control and working on this last bit because I have a mini story (such stories are usually between 5 and 15 chapters in length) that is prodding at my brain so I'm going to go start that.

Get it out of my head for a while.

But I'm happy to have gotten my validation done and in and all that good shit! Hurrah me.


For July 29 and July 30th, please see my final Thoughts and Notes down below.


Final Thoughts and Notes:

What to say about this last month? Cause really? There isn't much TO say about it.

This month has been full of lots of ups and downs, both in my writing and in my personal life. I have been helping a friend get past the loss of the last family member that really cared for her while we wait for her therapy place to have another opening to get anti-depressants again. Which is hard enough to do when you're not doing good as it is, but this is just that much harder.

I've also been editing and fiddling around with a few videos that need to be posted but that does take time to do. Which kind of sucks but it happens.

I did get a story done, which is nice. Even though I wanted to get further into one of my stories, but that happens sometimes. For now though I'm doing a few days of rewriting to give my creative brain a bit of a rest.

I have been doing next to nothing but writing.

My head hurts and I'm exhausted. But this is normal.

Yes, I did get my verification in and I did get my goodies. Which makes me happy.

Now, mind you, I'm not normal when it comes to the amount of wins versus losses in that I have yet to lose a Camp or a Nano. I don't have much of a life outside of my writing okay? I really don't. Mostly due to the fact that I do have issues being around other humans and crowds, and getting around.

So to all those who have done this round, win or lose, congratulations on having joined us in this insanity that is Camp National Novel Writing Month.

See you in November for National Novel Writing Month!