A Plot Curveball

When I woke up this morning, I assumed my day would follow a particular pattern. Breakfast, work, home, writing, running, and bed. Not that exciting, I know. But it's my life.

Only not all went according to plan. In fact, a big part of my usual routine is missing. Which is rather upsetting. Though people around me like to act like everything is totally normal and fine.

                                        

Though unexpected surprises pretty much stink in real life, they are gold in books.

Ever read a book where you can perfectly predict what will happen? In the YA craze of dysotopian books, I've found a formula that most of them fit. Prepare yourself, it's Earth-shattering.

Usually dysotopian books are a series, and this series makes up three books (aka a trilogy). Book one involves a girl who lives in a society run by a tyrannical government. She falls in love with Boy 1. In book two, the girl realizes that the government is corrupt, and it needs to be overthrown. Boy 2 is introduced as a potential romantic interest. Hello, love triangle! Finally, in book three, the government is taken over by the rebels and the girl must choose between Boy 1 or Boy 2. The end.

                                         

This formula has worked for a lot of popular series today. But sticking to the status quo? No, thanks. Reading a book where you can predict the ending is boring.

So add a dash of unexpected! Throw in a situation that will completely throw your reader. Have them get to the ending and be like "No way!" (A positive "no way," not the ending to Allegiant kind!).                                              

Which is a pretty good reaction to the end of a book, if I do say so myself.

Creative Death By Stupidity

I almost died Tuesday night.

Not literally, but creatively. Why, you ask? I almost lost my entire book. Entire book. All because of my stupidity.

Karma probably had something to do with it too. Spiteful thing.

I spent the majority of Tuesday working on my book... at work (shh!). My office's programs are all in the cloud. I didn't think this would be a problem, so I saved my book like normal to a USB I carry with me everywhere. 

Only when I got home, the document wouldn't open. In fact, this error message popped up.

After a fair amount of "Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh" and "I'm going to die," I tried to think rationally. Maybe logging onto my office's cloud would allow me to open it. Only I didn't have the link to the log in website. Time to text a coworker. After a fair amount of taunting, he gave me the information I needed.

Hopeful, I tried opening my book again.

Same error message. There may have been tears and hysterical screaming at this point.

                                         

Then my sister came up with a genius idea that ended up saving my life. I opened my book through Word Pad, then copied and pasted everything into Microsoft Word. IT WORKED! 

                                             

...Except all my formatting is now screwed up. But I have my precious words back.

And you know what I did after this? Backed my book up on every technological piece of equipment I could get my hands on.

Which is what I should've done in the first place. So, my advice to you, wonderful readers, back everything (EVERYTHING!) up. You never know what might happen. And when it comes to your precious book?

It's always best to be prepared.

Plotting in Pants

Plotter or pantser, that is the question...

Okay, well I suppose the first question really is: What are plotters and pantsers?

Plotters are the prepared people in our world. They know exactly where they want their book to go and start the process by creating an outline. This all takes place before they even start writing.

                                   

Pantsers are a free spirited bunch, jumping in front of computer and working magic with their fingers. They've really no idea where the story is going to take them, but that's the fun of it! No plans, no destinations, just words, words, words!

                                       

Any of this sound familiar to you? Are you a pantser or a plotter? Or maybe you fall in the grey area in-between. I like to call this location Plotting in Pants (PiP).

As I've developed my writing, I've figured out the best method for me. In my first book (which I rarely mention to anyone out of sheer embarrassment), I was a hard core pantser. I wrote without a plan... And it was a disaster.

Albeit at this time I was learning how the whole writing thing worked. It was a dark period in my life where I thought adverbs were like salt on fries, to be used generously.

                                    

Not so much.

Because I know you're an understanding reader, I'll share the horrible first line of that book with you: "The bone-chilling water was absolutely excruciating." And what was my character doing? Jumping into a pool. An indoor pool. How cold could it seriously be? Not bone-chilling, for goodness' sake.

Ahem. Moving on.

So after that blunder, I thought I'd give plotting a go. For my next book, Bound, I plotted about half and then pants-ed (is that a word?) the rest. It went okay, but I wasn't entirely happy with the results.

Now for my third book, and current work in progress, I am making use of the my PiP method. I have outlined my entire book, only the outline isn't a prison, but more of a guide. I can't begin to tell you how helpful it's been when I've gotten stuck or forgotten where I want my story to go.

                                   

Which happens more often than I'd like to mention.

But, in the end, your writing process is entirely up to you. Different methods work for different people. As you grow and experience through creating your books, you'll find the right groove.

                                  

The important thing, as always, is to write.