Planning as a Pantser
First Meeting of the Discovery Writer Recovery Group
I mentioned the genesis of this article in a recent note:
I wanted to talk about needing to find myself at Literary Salon again as I seek to revamp its direction, and because that felt philosophical in nature, I wrote about it in my little philosophy / history newsletter. In the process of writing, I discovered exactly what I need to do: be true to my purpose, and that purpose is success as a writer, for my clients, yes, but for myself as well. That means this period of setting aside my fiction to focus entirely on Substack has to end. I need to learn to balance the newsletters, the Bookmotion business, work, life, and… my fiction.
As a follow up to that article, I’m writing this to explore that new direction, this time by focusing on the WIP that’s been waiting in the wings and what it all means for potential changes at Literary Salon.
This is like when CBS does a cross-over event across it’s three FBI shows.
Unblocking an Abandoned Novel
The book in question is “The House of Haunted Women,” and I didn’t merely set it aside because this was taking up my time. What was going to be a side story needed to be the focus on book one, and that was a big change because I’d written it in journal entries, and it needed to slow down and spend time with more of the characters… and change is scary.
In the time that I’ve been focused on Substack, I have returned to the book before. I did a read through and an edit. I wrote a little more. There’s a little over 12k words, and I’ve barely begun chapter eight.
At heart, I’m a pantser. Discovery writer is the term I prefer, but what’s required now is a little plotting. I developed a new method on my previous book that I’d like to apply here, and it allows me to work on the plot while remaining true to my pantser nature.
The biggest issue with being a pantser are the rewrites. It took my 3 years to write Detective, 26 A.D. One reason for that was I had to strip away half the book, an intertwined second-story half, and rebuild. One goal I’ve had recently is to reduce the need for rewrites, and this particular method allows me to fail in advance—to do the rewrites when its easy and fast.
One reason I never liked plotting was I always hated my plots. They felt lifeless compared to the story I’d write my way. Well, of course they did. I was writing and rewriting and then rewriting my novels. I treated plotting like it was something I had to get right immediately.
With my most recent novel, I wrote a partial summary of events. Then I wrote another. Then another. And another. I think I had sixteen summaries written before I got serious writing the novel, and I used very little of it. Following the summary wasn’t the point.
Instead it was a space to experiment and fail in advance. I now knew multiple paths I didn’t want to take, but I also had a potential path and some ideas that I liked.
Over the next few days, that’s what I’ll do now. Beginning with what I already have, I explore possible paths, and when I begin writing the novel again, I can take it wherever it needs to go.
What Does This Mean for Literary Salon?
Starting the novel again is about remaining true to the purpose for all this, but there’s more that needs to be done, personally. One of my published books has only ever been released as an eBook. Both of them are only available on Amazon. I have other books waiting to be published.
In all these areas, I need to move forward.
I had planned on moving my direct-sales bookstore from Laterpress. Do I set something up now at PayHip or at Fourthwall?
My books need some more attention in the midst of promoting everyone else.
The focus for Literary Salon since my return from vacation last June was on building a bookselling ecosystem and sharing that journey on Substack. The telling of that journey had become a big unwieldy. It needed structure, and at the time I planned on using a course as the means to structure it. Once I found my way forward, I could then share the journey in course form.
Only, now making this course—a product—at Whop.com was becoming part of the process. It was part of the journey I needed to share, and I didn’t want to have a course teaching you how to build a product, when the only product I’d built was the course.
I needed to build another product first, and it was then that I built Bookmotion.
The idea of building a course has been tucked away in the possibility drawer. It’s not the time for that, but more than ever, Literary Salon needs to be organized and re-focused.
I think the plan for Literary Salon is to treat it like my novel. I’ll write a plan summary, and then another. And then another.
They can be as short or as detailed as they need to be, but in the process, I’ll know the potential paths the newsletter can take, much like Dr. Strange in Avengers 3 & 4.
Once again, this pantser needs to plan.
—Thaddeus Thomas
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