How I Pants My Way Through a Manuscript

Three books in now, I've learned a lot about my writing style.

I've mentioned several times that I am a pantser/discovery writer. I’ve tried and I haven't found any planning method that works for me. I need to chaos and uncertainty while writing my manuscript. Here are some tricks I utilize now in my drafting to accommodate my style.

Ideas come to me scene by scene, and are often character-based. Sometimes this thought process happens in a natural order, but I add or reorder scenes as the story increases in complexity. In Twisted Monarch and Defiant Dominion, I added new first chapters late in the self-editing process as I didn’t think original first chapters had enough tension.

Similarly, I skip story elements that require more critical thought and revisit them later. I can get bogged down in the details and skipping sections helps chip away at my completion goal. Or skipping it gives me ideas later about how to write it. Conversely, I may intentionally wait to write a scene I am excited about so I can work through those elements I am less excited about.

Also, I hold off on character and setting descriptions in first drafts. My process thrives on introducing a character multiple times! If there are particular setting details or character traits I like or are important, I'll include them, knowing that I will shift it around as needed.

There are no rules in my writing, but these tricks help to make my process more manageable. Thankfully, it all works out in the end.