Bonus: Plotting for Pantsers: How 3 Writers Found Freedom in Story Structure

For anyone who likes math , this means I went from around 2,300 words per daily writing session to 800 . I eliminated nine months of painful developmental edits while also writing less each day .

I slowed down to speed up and , for someone who loves efficiency , that was my biggest and happiest aha moment of the entire course my biggest and happiest aha moment of the entire course .

So whether you're brand new to writing or more of a seasoned author looking to improve your craft , this podcast is for you . So pick up a pen and let's get started . In today's episode , we're tackling one of the most stubborn myths in the writing world , and that is that plotting and structure kill your creativity .

If you're a discovery writer who's been told that you need to outline but you're convinced it will ruin your process , or if you've been pantsing your way through multiple manuscripts without ever reaching the end , then this episode is for you . You'll hear from three committed pantsers who thought outlining was creative .

Death Catherine , a discovery writer who could easily write 50,000 words in three weeks , but then who would spend a year trying to edit manuscripts she'd eventually abandon .

Bree , who identified as a pantser for a decade , editing and re-editing the same 25 pages for years and years , while following the advice that you only need to see as far as your headlights in the dark , and Casey who kept getting stuck when her stories would just die in the middle with no idea how to move forward .

Now here's what I love about these stories . Each writer discovered that the right kind of structure actually amplified their creativity instead of stifling it . They found ways to maintain the discovery and the creativity and the spontaneity that they loved , while giving themselves the roadmap they needed to reach the end .

So if you've been resisting outlining or creating some kind of roadmap for your story because you think it means rigid paint-by-numbers storytelling , then these writers are about to change your mind . Completely .

Is my signature eight-week program designed to help you confidently write a story you're proud of , without the self-doubt , frustration or overwhelm that stops most writers in their tracks ? So if you've been wanting to work with me on your novel and follow a step-by-step framework to turn your ideas into a finished draft , then this is your chance .

I'll be sharing more details soon , but if you want to be the first to know when doors open and snag a few extra goodies in the meantime , make sure you're on the waitlist at savannahgilbocom forward slash waitlist . Let's go ahead and dive right into the first clip .

issues and scientific progress Think Black Mirror for optimists . I'm a discovery writer through and through . I have wasted years attempting to be a plotter or someone who outlines before I write . It just isn't how my brain works .

I need to build the story as I write it , and I'm sharing that because I feel my experience with Notes to Novel will differ from others who can see their story before writing it , and I want to offer some insight to those like me who might wonder how a course like Notes to Novel could help them . I'm a quick drafter .

I can write a zero draft in three weeks without a problem . What I can't do is edit that zero draft into what I call my functional first draft that has no story level issues or plot holes . I signed up for

Nosta Novel specifically for help at the story level editing stage . Spoiler , the course did help me with editing , but it wasn't in the way I thought it would be . Before Nosta Novel , I gave up on seven manuscripts would be . Before Nostanovel , I gave up on seven manuscripts , all in the developmental editing stage .

I would sprint to the end of my zero draft and then stall out while editing . But after going through the course , I made one change to my drafting process . It isn't exciting , but it was oh so effective for me . I checked in with my scenes . Savannah urged us to write a few scenes and then go back and check our outlines to see what needed to be tweaked .

Because I didn't have an outline already , I had to create one . As I wrote , I printed off the flexible outline worksheet that she provided and after every writing session I would write two to three sentences about the scenes I had just drafted one sentence about the external plot and one to two sentences about the internal arc of change .

If you were like me and don't write chronologically , don't worry , scenes tend to move around in editing . Just put the scene where you feel it might belong and keep moving forward . After filling in my outline worksheet for the day , I would ask myself a couple questions .

Were my scenes moving the plot forward while providing an internal arc of change through the classic goal , motivation and conflict , and was it a key scene or leading to one ? I would also check my genre cheat sheets , also provided by Savannah , to keep it clear in my mind what readers were expecting of my story .

I didn't write down the answers to these questions , I just thought about them . If I felt that the scene wasn't doing what I wanted it to do , I made a color-coded note at the start of the scene of what I would improve and then moved on . But because I was considering these questions daily , they began to subconsciously change how I wrote .

My drafting speed slowed to what felt like a crawl and while I was frustrated that it was taking longer , I knew personally that , and through feedback from critique partners , that the story I was writing was much stronger than it would have been otherwise . My scenes deepened and my characters became more vivid , all while the story remained complex .

Without becoming confused . By slowing down to check in with my scenes and the outline I was creating , I ended up with the cleanest zero draft I've ever written Not only the cleanest , but the longest . I'm an underwriter , so this was a big win for me . Instead of three weeks to draft 50,000 words , it took me three months to draft 72,000 .

Instead of one year to edit those 50,000 words and then abandoning it out of frustration , it took me only two months to do a developmental edit on the 72,000 words . For anyone who likes math , this means I went from around 2,300 words per daily writing session to 800 . I eliminated nine months of painful developmental edits , while also writing less each day .

I slowed down to speed up and , for someone who loves efficiency , that was my biggest and happiest aha moment of the entire course .

So that's how I landed in journalism , and there's not a lot of money there , but I guess you know it met the criteria of some . My first dream was always fiction , and I joke that my second grade teacher ruined my life by telling me I should be a creative writer when I grow up . So I guess if I finish this book at 45 , then maybe I'm finally a grownup .

I guess that's probably debatable , and luckily I'm writing for teens though , which is really my level of maturity . So it works out . After 10 years of struggling to write this novel , savannah's notes to novel class changed everything and got me to the end Not once , but multiple times , which

really is the goal right . Every time you make it all the way to the end . You add in that dimension and complexity you really want to see in your writing . That beautiful prose will always be there . You have to trust that .

I didn't trust that and that's really for the last run through and you just have to trust that you're a good writer and when that time comes , those beautiful words will show up . I identified as a pantser when I started and I followed the advice that you only need to see as far as your car's headlights in the dark to keep moving forward .

But it turns out I was personally driving in circles for like a decade , so that advice was complete crap , at least for me . I was editing and re-editing the first 25 pages for years , much of which I ended up having to throw out anyway .

Of the million aha moments that Savannah's brilliant , useful and practical notes to novel course gave me , I'll talk about just two , and they sort of flow into one another . So one invest in the flexible outline and two write in scenes .

So , even though I identified as a pantser , the outlining process not only helped me make sure each scene moved my character and plot forward , meaning it wasn't boring to my reader . It is a fun and creative process . So I was surprised by that and I could play with it . Pressure test ideas like what if this happens ?

Or oh , what if this twist comes in , then what ? How does that affect the rest of my story ? And I could see how plot threads interacted and get an executive overview of my story so I could get control of the moving parts . So I moved from being an employee of my writing to the president . It freed me up to be even more creative with words and imagery .

Actually , when I sat down to write , because I knew where I was headed and I identified my internal and external genres , layered those in , allowed me to see the shape of my story and how it rises and falls , and then I could layer in my subplots and those key scenes .

And before I knew it I had a blueprint to write a really plot rich story that knows where it's going and why . And if that all sounds really daunting , don't worry . No novel walks you through how to do it step by step , and it's actually easy once you break it down , and Savannah helps you to do that .

The second big thing for me is writing in scenes and making sure each scene had the five components needed to drive the narrative forward . I actually posted the five parts of the scenes over my computer . I am looking at it right now and I reference it every like 1500 words I write .

Does it have an inciting incident , a turning point , a crisis , a climax and a resolution ? And if those five components are unclear , nose to Novel breaks it down for you , so it's super easy . Then I make sure each scene links to the plot or the character arc and that it solves part of the puzzle and challenges my character's worldview .

So those were my two big takeaways Make a flexible outline and write in scenes , and those helped me get from the endless spiraling to moving all the way to the end , and I highly recommend notes to novels so you can get a handle on those concepts and many more .

It really takes examples and practice for you to develop your own unique writing method that works for you , and Savannah gives you the roadmap to do that . Good luck out there . I know you can do it .

I think if I could like mash the words together , I would call the genre romanticy , but pretty much fantasy and romance . My biggest takeaway from the notes to novel course was really the like major key scenes and how those are structured within a plot and broken down in the acts .

My previous writing endeavors I had always had these stories , ideas , and I would write , write , write , and then I would get so incredibly stuck and I guess it's writer's block it felt more like the story had just died and I had

no idea where it could go from here . It's like I don't even understand how to get from this point to a next point and it seemed to really elude me , like how that process worked . How do authors get from point A to point B and onward ?

And so when I went through the course and we learned about the key scenes and the different genres and how there's like an inner genre and an outer genre , a commercial genre , and how they interact with each other , and then how you can layer the plots with their own genres and key scenes within it . It just made so much more sense .

I have built out , I've spent a lot of time on an outline , I have my key scenes in place and so currently in my writing journey , I am in the writing process and so , while I won't say I'm a full-on planner , I think a lot of things I'm doing is still would be described as a pantser .

I am now quote unquote pantsing with a direction , and so that is really helpful because I have a full outline with scenes . I guess if I say I'm a pantser , it's because I don't have a lot of my side characters decided on , fleshed out or anything , so who's going to join the party as we go ?

But the key scenes have made a world of difference in how I conceptualize the story , how I've planned this outline , and it's helped my writing process so far . When I get stuck for a day on one scene , it's great . I move to a next scene . I don't have to like think about oh , where does it go from here ? I already know .

So I really enjoy having that kind of outline and roadmap that I got from Notes to Novel .

Whether it was Catherine's revelation about slowing down to speed up Brie's transformation from employee to president of her writing , or Casey's discovery of pantsing with direction , these stories prove that the right framework doesn't have to live at your creativity . In fact , it can unleash it .

Now here's the key takeaway from today's episode Outlining isn't about controlling every single detail of your story . It's about giving yourself enough structure to stay oriented while still leaving room for all the magical discoveries that happen during the writing process .

Now , if the stories in today's episode inspired you to finally try a flexible approach to outlining , I have some exciting news . Notes to Novel . My signature eight-week live program is opening for enrollment on August 19th . This is the same program that gave Katherine , bree and Casey and hundreds of other busy writers the roadmap

they needed to finish their novels without adding more stress to their already packed lives .

But here's the thing I want you to be prepared when doors open , because this live round always fills up fast , and that's why I've created a VIP waitlist that gives you early access before the public launch , plus some really fun and incredible bonuses while you wait , head over to savannahgilbocom forward slash waitlist to get on the VIP waitlist and to get early

access when doors to Notes to Novel open . And if you're listening to this after August 19th , don't worry , you can still join the waitlist to be the first to know when Notes to Novel opens for enrollment again . All right , so that's it for this episode of the Fiction Writing Made Easy podcast . Writing Made Easy podcast .

Head over to savannahgilbocom forward slash podcast for the complete show notes , including the resources I mentioned today , as well as bonus materials to help you implement what you've learned .

And if you're ready to get more personalized guidance for your specific writing stage whether you're just starting out , stuck somewhere in the middle of a draft , drowning in revisions , or getting ready to publish , take my free 30-second quiz at savannahgilbocom forward slash quiz .

You'll get a customized podcast playlist that'll meet you right where you're at and help you get to your next big milestone . Last but not least , make sure to follow this podcast in your podcast player of choice , because I'll be back next week with another episode full of actionable tips , tools and strategies to help you become a better writer .

Until then , happy writing .