{"id":31159,"date":"2024-11-10T11:35:53","date_gmt":"2024-11-10T16:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=31159"},"modified":"2024-11-10T11:35:53","modified_gmt":"2024-11-10T16:35:53","slug":"plotter-and-pantsers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/10\/plotter-and-pantsers\/","title":{"rendered":"Plotter and Pantsers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here on the other side of the bright line of demarcation that is the post-2024 election decision I selected outlining the plot of my poor neglected novel \u201cSniper\u201d as this morning\u2019s project.\u00a0 Last night was a long planned and greatly enjoyed family party celebrating Princess Sack of Potatoes\u2019 sixth birthday.\u00a0 It was a good-sized gathering of about thirty people and featured the Princess\u2019s food of choice; multiple versions of pizza.\u00a0 Now I personally do not believe that something called \u201cmac and cheese\u201d pizza could actually be considered pizza.\u00a0 It is an abomination in the same league as anything called pizza that contains pineapple.\u00a0 But I am a tolerant man.\u00a0 If the children demand mac and cheese pizza then so be it.\u00a0 I found a giant box that contained something that was garnished with sausage and pepperoni on it and so I was content.\u00a0 And I even managed to introduce the grandchildren to a small snippet of the classic W.C. Fields movie \u201cIt\u2019s a Gift\u201d before it was drowned out by the torrent of talking that erupted when their parents followed us upstairs after the majority of the guests left.\u00a0 Well, I\u2019ll just have to wait for an opportunity during the Thanksgiving or Christmas holidays to screen that cinematic gem for their viewing pleasure.<\/p>\n

And because that gathering ended late, I had no time to look around for a theme for last night\u2019s post.\u00a0 And honestly, I was exhausted.\u00a0 And if I had tried to post something in that state it would have been stale and derivative and a waste of everybody\u2019s time.\u00a0 And in this new regimen of mine that is anathema.\u00a0 I\u2019ll write when I have something I want to say.\u00a0 And when I don\u2019t, I\u2019ll work on my projects.<\/p>\n

And getting back to the theme of this post, my project for today is to review \u201cThe Sniper\u201d holistically and identify plot line and character development and quality issues that need to be worked on.\u00a0 And come up with an outline for the whole story and an outline for the series of stories in this \u201cuniverse\u201d and then a plan for completing this novel this winter. And then scheduling this work to be finished by some reasonable date.<\/p>\n

And this is exciting for me.\u00a0 It\u2019s an intellectually interesting process that I\u2019ve never tried before.\u00a0 Up until now I\u2019ve been what\u2019s called a discovery writer or more colloquially a \u201cseat of the pantser\u201d or just a pantser. \u00a0\u00a0This is the opposite of an \u201coutliner\u201d or a plotter.\u00a0 A discovery writer just sits down and starts writing based on some idea or even just a gestalt of a story and keeps writing and let\u2019s the story write itself without any direction from the author\u2019s conscious mind.\u00a0 I\u2019ve always done this.\u00a0 The positive side of this process is that the author\u2019s natural creative instincts are in control and many exciting characters and plot events bubble up.\u00a0 It is the natural method for producing realistic dialog and emotional insight into the characters.\u00a0 The negative side is that the story direction is kind of random and you very easily can paint your story into a corner that can only be fixed by a massive re-write which is lethal for story-telling and for the morale of the writer.<\/p>\n

And as someone who has run up against this dead-end scenario several times, I have decided to make the effort to do a formal outline and learn the skills it takes to plan my story in a disciplined way so that it won\u2019t fly off the rails at the end and cause me massive mental anguish and confusion.\u00a0 If I find that working on this outline is interesting, I\u2019ll probably write more about and might even consult some of the sci-fi fans in the audience for their opinions on some of my story choices.<\/p>\n

So here I go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here on the other side of the bright line of demarcation that is the post-2024 election decision I selected outlining the plot of my poor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[241,5,3366,2510,1289,818,1263,237,242],"tags":[76,1290,3552,265,4484],"class_list":["post-31159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-current-events","category-life-in-dunwich","category-literature","category-fiction-by-me","category-ocf","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","category-reviews","category-sff-book-reviews","tag-fiction-writing","tag-my-fiction","tag-princess-sack-of-potatoes","tag-science-fiction","tag-the-american-archipelago-book-1-the-sniper"],"yoast_head":"\nPlotter and Pantsers - Orion's Cold Fire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/10\/plotter-and-pantsers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Plotter and Pantsers - Orion's Cold Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here on the other side of the bright line of demarcation that is the post-2024 election decision I selected outlining the plot of my poor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/10\/plotter-and-pantsers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Orion's Cold Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-10T16:35:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/DSC01716-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"photog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@orionscoldfire\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@orionscoldfire\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"photog\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/10\/plotter-and-pantsers\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/10\/plotter-and-pantsers\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"photog\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3\"},\"headline\":\"Plotter and Pantsers\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-10T16:35:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-10T16:35:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/10\/plotter-and-pantsers\/\"},\"wordCount\":664,\"commentCount\":4,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"fiction writing\",\"My Fiction\",\"Princess Sack of Potatoes\",\"science fiction\",\"The American Archipelago: Book 1 \u2013 The Sniper\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Book Reviews\",\"Current Events\",\"Life in Dunwich\",\"Literature\",\"My Fiction\",\"OCF\",\"photog's Corner\",\"Reviews\",\"SF&F Book Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/10\/plotter-and-pantsers\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/10\/plotter-and-pantsers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/10\/plotter-and-pantsers\/\",\"name\":\"Plotter and Pantsers - Orion's Cold Fire\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-10T16:35:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-10T16:35:53+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/10\/plotter-and-pantsers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/10\/plotter-and-pantsers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/10\/plotter-and-pantsers\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Plotter and Pantsers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/\",\"name\":\"Orion's Cold Fire\",\"description\":\"All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Orion's Cold Fire\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg\",\"width\":4022,\"height\":1419,\"caption\":\"Orion's Cold Fire\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/orionscoldfire\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3\",\"name\":\"photog\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg\",\"caption\":\"photog\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/author\/photog\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Plotter and Pantsers - Orion's Cold Fire","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/10\/plotter-and-pantsers\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Plotter and Pantsers - Orion's Cold Fire","og_description":"Here on the other side of the bright line of demarcation that is the post-2024 election decision I selected outlining the plot of my poor","og_url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/10\/plotter-and-pantsers\/","og_site_name":"Orion's Cold Fire","article_published_time":"2024-11-10T16:35:53+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/DSC01716-scaled.jpg"}],"author":"photog","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@orionscoldfire","twitter_site":"@orionscoldfire","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"photog","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/10\/plotter-and-pantsers\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/10\/plotter-and-pantsers\/"},"author":{"name":"photog","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3"},"headline":"Plotter and Pantsers","datePublished":"2024-11-10T16:35:53+00:00","dateModified":"2024-11-10T16:35:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/10\/plotter-and-pantsers\/"},"wordCount":664,"commentCount":4,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["fiction writing","My Fiction","Princess Sack of Potatoes","science fiction","The American Archipelago: Book 1 \u2013 The Sniper"],"articleSection":["Book Reviews","Current Events","Life in Dunwich","Literature","My Fiction","OCF","photog's Corner","Reviews","SF&F Book Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/10\/plotter-and-pantsers\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/10\/plotter-and-pantsers\/","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/10\/plotter-and-pantsers\/","name":"Plotter and Pantsers - Orion's Cold Fire","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-11-10T16:35:53+00:00","dateModified":"2024-11-10T16:35:53+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/10\/plotter-and-pantsers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/10\/plotter-and-pantsers\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/10\/plotter-and-pantsers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Plotter and Pantsers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/","name":"Orion's Cold Fire","description":"All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization","name":"Orion's Cold Fire","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg","width":4022,"height":1419,"caption":"Orion's Cold Fire"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/orionscoldfire"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3","name":"photog","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg","caption":"photog"},"url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/author\/photog\/"}]}},"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31159"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31160,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31159\/revisions\/31160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}