Pantsing The Story With Outlines

I’m excited to write my next novel. Excited because not only do I get to live vicariously through my characters again, but I’ll also get to experiment with a new writing process. I have learned much from writing the first novel, and I’ve been refining the process through short stories. With those, I’m ready to embark on the second novel.

Now it might sound like an oxymoron to say “pantsing with outlines,” but after you read this blog post, you’ll realize that it’s not.

So--

There are two processes I am experimenting with: beat list and scene teasers.

Novel Number Two

Here we go! Novel number two is in the first draft phase. As for the first novel, I'm still waiting on a response from the publisher. Fingers crossed.

I wrote about 2,300 words this weekend. I'm currently tweaking my process, and I think I'm enjoying how it's progressing.

When I wrote my first novel, I was literally a pantser, the whole novel only hinged on one idea alone, which is "twins transferring sensations to one another." With this second novel, I'm keeping track of the beats I wrote. So, let's say, I wrote 1,200 words and I'm done for the day, I will then make a beat list of what I wrote, and I'll use that as a quick reference on the next writing session.

Along with the beat list, I will also give myself one or two scene teasers. Since I follow the Scene/Sequel format, I will make notes for myself what the next two scenes are, but I won't tell myself what the outcomes are.

For example:

INCITING INCIDENT: Theo/Ezra is in a coma
GOAL: Aries needs to enter their consciousness so he can rescue Ezra from the false memories.
CONFLICT: But Ezra is comfortable with the false memories and doesn't want to leave.
OUTCOME: ???

So I tease myself on what will happen, but won't tell myself how it will end. This gives my creative mind something to play around with.

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