First and Final Draft

There are many ways to write a novel. You have most likely heard of "plotting" and "pantsing". In essence, plotting involves careful planning, crafting an outline and determining what happens in the story every step of the way. All this before you begin the actual work of writing. On the other end of the spectrum are those who write without a plan or an outline. In other words, they write "by the seat of their pants" (hence the term "pantsing"). These are the people who just sit down and start writing, and go where the story takes them.

There’s been a lot of debate about the two methods, about which is better or more effective, etc. I’m not going to go into the pros and cons of each approach, instead I want to focus on the idea of writing without a plan or outline.

Writing Short Stories With Intuitive Ease

Upon reflection, I realized that I have always written short stories this way. I didn’t label the method or pay it much attention. I would get an idea for a story, sometimes let it percolate in my head for a while, and then one day just sit down and write the entire story in one sitting.

After having done this for a while, I started noticing some nuances. When I didn’t interfere with the process, the story would often come out “complete” and well-formed. It didn’t require any editing other than correction of some minor typo’s. It had all the plot twists and turns already built-in (I didn’t have to think about them beforehand). Often, things I hadn’t consciously thought of would come up in the story as I was writing it. I really didn’t have to agonize over the plot, the storyline or the ending. The most time I’d spend brainstorming would be for character names, and sometimes not even that.

This process felt natural to me. I enjoyed writing this way. I felt a sense of joy and deep satisfaction when I could complete a short story. I always had the sense that I was just conveying the story, and it had come through me from the Creative Force of the Universe. That’s the only way I could explain it. I could relate very much to what Michelangelo said about sculpting:

Novels and Plotting

Even though I had written many short stories using this approach, I had not been able to complete a novel. I had tried, but would always get derailed part way through the process. I found it to be too unwieldy to keep an entire novel in my head. Eventually, I gave up attempting to write a novel using this approach since I didn’t think it would work.

So I learned about plotting, creating an outline, writing scenes, and structuring the story points. I drank deep from the cup of plotting, and poured a lot of effort into this process.

The result was that I did indeed complete my first novel. It was a painful effort, but I was under the impression that writing should be a struggle. I pushed through with sheer will-power and finally got the book out. It felt good in the end, and I did have a sort of satisfaction. But it was not the same as with the short stories. It wasn’t the deep satisfaction of having produced something artistic that I was proud of. This felt different. It felt more akin to the relief you feel when you complete a difficult project. Not terrible. But not very fulfilling either.

Still, a completed novel is a completed novel. So I accepted that fact and called it a win. This process works.

What I was not prepared for, however, was writing the second novel. Writing the first novel had been such a painful experience that I found myself facing a lot of internal resistance and reluctance. Our natural human inclination is to avoid pain. And when we anticipate pain with any activity, then we tend to procrastinate and delay and do any host of other things to avoid the activity that we perceive is going to give us pain.

That’s exactly what happened with the second book. It took six months just to get started. And then several more months going through all the steps to create the outline and plot points. It was a lot worse than the first go around. This time, it was excruciating. Still, I knew that the process worked. It had worked for the first book. So, I grit my teeth and pushed through.

I completed the second novel. It was a good idea and a good story. But it had taken a lot out of me to complete it. At this point, just thinking about the third book made me shudder.

And, no surprise, the third book did not materialize.

Writing A Novel Without An Outline

For a long while I didn’t attempt another novel. I thought the only way was to plan and plot, and I had run up against a psychological block. So it was a stalemate.

It didn’t occur to me to try writing a novel again using the approach that had always worked for short stories. I had tried in the past and it hadn’t worked. And I didn’t realize that there may have been something I might have been missing.

It was when I took some training courses by Dean Wesley Smith that I realized that it was indeed possible to write a novel without an outline or a plan. Not only was it possible, but it enabled you to write faster and better.

I was intrigued. It made sense. There were solutions here on how to deal with the problems I had encountered before. I followed the guidelines and put it all into practice (cycling back, after-the-fact outline, first-and-final-draft, etc.) and I found myself making major progress. And to top it all off, I was having fun while writing. It wasn’t a struggle and it didn’t feel like pulling teeth. It felt natural and sustainable. I could write like this all day.

The third novel is now a joyful work-in-progress.

Novels And Short Stories With Intuitive Ease

It’s important to recognize which style or method works for you, and to become comfortable with that, especially if you want to write more than one book. It’s helpful and educational to try different techniques and approaches, and then settle on your own unique blend. In the end, the goal is to write, and if you feel good about what you produce, then that’s what really matters.