October 2016
Just one month left before NaNoWriMo! So our next topic is pretty obvious...
October
If you are a planner, what part of planning is your favorite? If you’re a pantser, what is your favorite part of pantsing? I am totally a planner. I don't really enjoy planning, per say, but if I neglect to plan before writing, I get somewhere between 200 and 5,000 words into a story and stall out completely because I don't know where I'm going. Not that there is no end goal, but in the sense that I have no idea how to bet from Point A to Point T, from which I would be able to finish the story.
Really, Planning is a necessary evil.
I suppose my favorite part of planning is world building. Most of my stories fall into the fantasy genre, and planning gives me time to jot down all those interesting cultural quirks- naming conventions, why countries don't get along, family history of the main character, legends, etc.
These tidbits make the story much more interesting to write, and knowing that the main character's mother came from a well off trading family in a foreign city but disappeared when her betrothal fell through eighteen years earlier and has not contacted them since adds a lot of depth to "Jafar joins a caravan and travels to Lore (a large city in another country) to avoid pursuit." Now he gets to meet his extended family, which he was unaware he had.
When writing with a buddy, the planning takes a back seat. Plan, who needs a Plan- all I need to know is what we want to do for the next scene, and I rarely get stuck when I have someone to work off of. The creative energy doesn't even have to be there. I learn so much more about my characters much more quickly and easily when I don't have to control the entire cast, and the goal of writing isn't getting to the end of an arc so much as enjoying the journey there.
Bonus: Show us your NaNo planning - handwritten or computer screen!
