Nona King | Spirit Driven Fiction

I have always been a SOTP writer.

That is, I write by the “seat of the pants”, allowing the moment and/or the characters to have their way with me and the story. After all, it is their story I am telling. Why should I be cheated out of the surprise of the next page?

Wait. I suppose I shouldn’t portray an incomplete picture of a SOTP writer. We, most of us, know the general idea of the story we want to tell. We know the hero, the heroess (I don’t like using the word ‘heroine’ any longer…), and the antagonist. We know a general idea of what falls between point A and point Z, just as we know how we would like the story to end. But those twists and turns and surprise bits of information that are discovered along the way? Many of them are gems revealed as we discover the deeper identity of who our characters are.

What makes them tick? What drives them? What defines their motivations, their loves, their hates…?

Some of the information will survive future revisions, often finding its way into a different presentation. All of it, however, is necessary to provide us a more complete understanding of our character so that we can, in turn, weave that into the final tale.

Last year I began experimenting with outlining a story instead of writing the idea as it came to me. Over the course of a month I worked diligently on fashioning the complete story in a basic outline and then more detailed outlines of each chapter. My internal response  to the outlining process was two-fold: frustration and freedom. Frustration because I wouldn’t allow myself to go into too much detail (which always spawns story facets and plot twists and even more ripples). Freedom because when I began writing the chapters, I had a clear idea of each chapter. The outline gave me the ability to get advice from other people, which then afforded me an early opportunity to refine the story and make it better.

Could I have done this as easily with a first draft? Unfortunately, no. Any change to the story would have led to a complete and utter rewrite, much like I am doing to Searching for Sara.

As many of you remember, this past June I began conceptualizing a new approach to my inspirational romance Searching for Sara. Before jotting anything to paper I would plot, plan and re-plot each scene until I felt satisfied with the result. Then I would jot down an outline (it almost read like a summary) of that scene. Quite a few of the scenes and chapters are now outlined in this fashion, with only the first scene actually written into novel form.

When I digressed from my outline, something formed after 3 months of purposeful brainstorming, and followed a SOTP urge… the story spluttered to a halt. Only after I cut those two pages and began again – this time completely devoted to my outline – did the story resume its steady pace. Chaos settled to calm. Frustration subsided to peace.

Have I lost my love of SOTP writing? No, I don’t believe I have. Every once and again I still get the urge to simply sit down at the computer, or grab a spiral of paper, and begin writing about the character I see in my head. I call these character studies, when I post them to my blog. Will these characters ever find their way into a story? Maybe so. It is one of the main reasons I look forward to NaNoWriMo each year.

But of late, when it comes to my novels, I have needed a more deliberate approach in order to keep myself on task and productive. So often when I feel disorganized in thought or in workspace, my creativity grinds to a halt and I succumb to distraction. So I continue to step forward, my outline in hand. It seems a form of daily goal, to either more fully brainstorm a section, or to actually write a portion to novel format.

I must admit my concern is the intensity of the story won’t be present with such a deliberate approach. But perhaps being so… purposeful will allow the characters’ fire to flow more freely? A definite hope. Especially when I feel a passion for the characters bubble up inside me when I am simply brainstorming the next scene.

When I write from an outline, I feel more comfortable with the result because I know I brainstormed the Dickens out of it. I turned away ideas and possibilities by the dozens before settling on this particular approach, even seeking out the council of others. I might be an outlining convert, in fact, and soften the SOTP approach to something that isn’t quite as absolute as it once was. After all, there is still that essence of the unknown when you translate a story from outline to novel.

What dialogue will be spoken?

What body language will come?

What intensity of emotion will swell?

Sometimes it is best to let inspiration have a free hand with these, and that is when a SOTP style can be the most fun.

What type of writer are you?