What Happens Next?
Headlights in the Dark
Hello!
Here is a question: As a writer, are you a pantser or a plotter? Pantser make it all up as they write and plotters tend to create an outline of their piece, beat for beat, and then commence the actual writing.
In my initial drafting stages, I make it all up. Write and find words along the way. Especially when writing fiction — I start with an image or an idea which makes me curious, curious enough to investigate with one leading question: What happens next?
This question acts as a headlight while I traverse through dark, sometimes morbid, (and hopefully engaging) storylines, drawing from my personal beliefs and worldview and some, lately, from without. The only way to satisfy this question is to reach the end. The itch to know what happens next is what helps me finish an early draft of every story I write.
One of the biggest advantages of this method is the not knowing how a story moves or how a character reacts. It helps me come up with surprises, surprises even I didn’t know were coming, surprises that have surprised me as well.
In the story I’m currently working on, there is a moment when my character, escaping from the “baddies”, encounters a door. She rushes to it, places her hand on the handle and turns. It’s locked. While writing that bit, I never knew the door would be locked. It surprised me as much as my character. In all the early feedback I received about that story, that moment when she places her hand on the handle and finds the door locked is marked by all the readers saying how surprised and shocked they were.
This and other similar feedback has given rise to my personal belief: the emotions with which a writer writes their work also bleeds into their writing. If you’re surprised, the reader will be too. If you’re scared, the reader will be too. If you’re enjoying writing it, the reader will too.
It also works as a great litmus test to know when what you’re writing is any good or not so. If you’re not enjoying putting those particular words to paper, it clearly means you’re not in it and it may help to write something else. Or take a walk. Think of the problem differently. But if you are, stay there. Write!
While I still apply the what-happens-next-is-my-headlight-in-the-dark method to my early drafting stages, I do not think of myself as a pantser any more.
My first drafts are usually handwritten. Especially if it’s fiction. I call this my Draft Zero. When I start typing it out, a lot of magic happens, a lot of the story alters, some characters are left on the cutting floor, some locations may shift. But the story beats, the direction in which I was going, remains, loosely but mostly, intact. That Draft Zero becomes a map for me to complete the story to the best of my ability. An early semblance of what I wanted to write. Almost, an outline.
While it is not an outline in the strictest sense of the word, lately as I near completion of my draft, I’ve found Reverse Outlining my story to be super helpful.
Reverse Outlining is when you have a written work and you break it down into an outline to check for particular aspects. For example, in the screenshot attached, I have listed down all the chapters in part one of my novel with the word count next it. I also indicate where I am dropping hints of the backstory and the exposition. The word count helps me understand the pace of the story, how fast things are moving and if a chapter is too slow, why? It helps me move chunks around and ensure that I’m providing the reader with enough exposition to carry forward but leaving enough mystery for them to whet their appetite — to know what happens next.
While I still prefer not outlining a story before and write as it comes along, I do enjoy outlining at the end. It’s become an indispensable part of my process. But does that mean I’m still a pantser or I’ve become a plotter?
It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that it helps me write better. In the end, that’s all there is to it.
Until next time,
Keep writing,
Akshay
You’re reading Missives from an Island a newsletter by Akshay Gajria, a prize-wining writer, storyteller and writing coach. This newsletter is delivered to your inbox on the 30th of every month. You can also find Akshay on Twitter (X), Instagram, and Medium. If you enjoyed reading, consider tipping him by buying a cup of tea (or three) here or buying his ebook (linked below). You can discover his work at akshaygajria.com
