You Want Me to Do What?

I will gleefully admit that for most of my writing life I have been a pantser. I’ve only recently given serious thought and any effort to exploring the joys of outlining. I blame all the pretty pictures of grids floating around my little corner of the universe.

And it’s not a pretty, easy fit for me. I think that’s because I’m a character driven writer and storyteller and plot is not my first and foremost love. So I’m finding it a little difficult to quantify my major plot threads at the beginning of the process. Plot Whisperer has a great post on plot-lines, plot writing, plot planners, and one writer’s pre-work and success story.

Has anyone converted recently to outlining from pantsing? Is that working for you? Thinking of going back? If you outline, do you know the entire plot and all the plot-lines before going into your actual writing?

Deal breaking

So we’ve been talking about good writing and bad writing and what we liked to read, and it occurred to me that maybe again it comes down to a question of plot and character.

A story is plot and character. Intertwined as they are, I find that I will generally read a story with a less than stellar plot if I think the characters are real and engage me. I don’t really think it works the other way for me.

Of course other elements like theme and tone and dialogue all play their part, but for me they all play into character. I find that’s how I write as well.

So what trips your trigger as a writer or a reader? What’s necessary and what’s a deal breaker when it comes to reading and writing for you?