Writing Your Story: Is the Plot Versus Pants Debate Really So Important? 

"He was a dark and stormy knight, perhaps anger management would help?" First line done! I built a deck and pavilion for my wife. I made a plan, sort of rough but sufficient for my needs. The pavilion roof came out pretty good but when I sketched the plan and roughed out the dimensions it didn't occur to me to use multiples of 2' which is the rafter spacing. So here I am up on a ladder dividing so many feet and inches by how many rafters so I can space them evenly.

I find myself writing more and having fun when im pantsing. I still use outlines but theyre not as detailed as they used to be. Cuz the more you work on an outline. The more it feels like you are already written the book and now bored of it. Sometimes you just let the characters speak for themselves or drive the story. Like stephen king said about pantsing. 😊

Thank you for the well structured, but seemingly ad-libbed video, a testament to your skill and talent. I present every day, and occasionally act on stage. Your shared wisdom, regarding structure complimenting improvisation is excellent. In the gap created between those two methods is the sliver of light we are opening that defines our unique creativity. The more we're able to open that gap and tailor it to ourselves I believe gauges the quality of our skill, and talent.

Apologies this is a long one, I had to write it twice and this is the short version...phone decided to restart...thanks for that, so in a way, the first was an outline.... Hey Damon, my Brother from another Mother, lol, a little Sassyfrass there this Wednesday morning...great song in Axe Assassin, found here on RU-vid check that out with Bad Lip reading.... I think another reason people, writers especially really creative people even really talented writers, don't like the idea of doing Outlines or Plotting, is because simply, not laziness, but because they don't feel they need it, they honestly believe they can get by on utter talent, and understand this, as I too was one of these poor tortured souls. I didn't think I needed it, I could think of a story, have it all in my head zero notes, type it all out short or a few months a book, and bam done, I could tell people lol what it was about and then couldn't understand why after spending lol 30 minutes pitching the damn thing to someone and watching their face go from that twinkle of wonder, the breast and milk feeder my baby story needed, great metaphor huh, lol only to watch with age their face like the tit just fall and sage and look deflated dejected and so sorry I asked what your book was about, and then I had the arrogance to think, Well they didn't get it, IT because they're not as creative as me. I wish I could go back in time and slap the living shit out of my self, I allowed years of being self fed that it actually hindered my writing, it was only by talent was able to get anything done, but it was not good. But slowly when a light came on that said, why can't anyone understand my stories, what's going on, what's wrong with people, what's....wrong....with...my story.... what's.....wrong with me? I read more, took workshops slowly at first and it's because it stem from one fact I was not translating my Dream into English for others to understand, I starved and craved to be a better storyteller, I was a BIG pantser with a several oceans deep full diaper, lol And not only did I think outlines or paradigm work was needed because I'm such a bad ass, but secretly, I didn't understand them, thought that was what people did when they didn't have an imagination, a super black hole a gigatron mind of story that can enter in and out of the land of make believe because I knew a way in, I had the keys in my pocket, I knew a guy lol. It wasn't until I knew something was not working, what was I doing wrong why were my stories, my Babies, why were they ending up DOA to others....I was not a good parent. I needed parent training lol basically. I took classes and workshops, and learned that plotting and outlining are tools to help you become that master storyteller, I was a sculptor and the story a huge block of plaster, and I had toothpicks, Popsicle sticks, my hands and fingers, which got tired my wooden tools that grew, just broke and snapped when I used them to carve out my David, and when finished, I could see the finished product, but others couldn't. Like a child who hands a parent a big scribble nightmare and asks do you see it, oh yeah but you tell me what's there and they launch into this detailed vision of what they had drawn, and we say oh yes, that's exactly....no it isn't, lol we lie to be nice, but in truth even that's not helping. My Mother was always so brutal with honesty, made me cry, but now I know when she reads something I wrote, her feed back is honest and true, it's something I've done with my step kids and lol at first it didn't go over very well, fast forward nearly 10 years with me, my family knows if I say you look good, it's the truth, if you look bad it's not meant to hurt your feelings, but to help you. They all come to me for that honest opinion and know how to value it. Another point I can make is, if we all, depending on age here, if we all reached in to our bags and pulled out a manuscript or short story, or screenplay we wrote 20 years ago, it would be cringe factory lol utter garbage, it was probably not mapped as I call it, not worked, probably a one take Franky job, (probably dated myself, but you'd be wrong, just a really well educated guy on history) It would be trash, our best story then a titan at the time would hold up against our current story like wet paper against a speeding locomotive, or tissue paper vs. a fire pit. I know, write is a craft you get better over time the more you do it, true, but you REALLY get better if you learn to be better. And even though I plot and map and do paradigms, and Health checks or vital signs as I call it, going back to my medical training, index cards, synopsis, outline, overviews, deep psychology character analysis (Anal seas as the English say....wait, what) Just all this extra work, but it's absolutely needed, and vital to the survival of your baby, the story so it can grow don't hit the page running, that's poor craftsmanship. Now when I am about to start a new sculpture, a new block of plaster, on the table I unroll my metal sharp tools from a deep tool box , I sit and think on how I want to tell this story. I may take a pen and start to trace some faint lines, but I'll also start drawing out on the table exactly what I want and how I want it, I am in control not my characters, some spontaneous interactions are welcome, but not for the whole thing. It needs structure, and so even before I pick up a tool and start carving, or typing, I'll have started first the outline plotting and planning, I may then type a little more, then stop and more mapping. Once I have a clear road map, I know EVERYTHING, and know it all clearly with no doubt, I hit the key board and start the story. I'll tell you, your writing is so much more powerful, an example, with outlining and planning, I started a story, typing it, a week ago, and I just hit Page 90 yesterday 03-25-2024. Today's the 26th. Yeah I also type about 100-120 wpm, and have trained myself like a marathon runner to hit a goal of 10 pages as max more welcomed, but a minimum goal of 6 pages a day I don't work on Sundays. And this is single spaced pages, or as a mentor of mine use to say, REAL PAGES. In fact, I actually could use a kind of refresher course, to help hone my skills further, and see how things are, add to what I know, I plan on taking your course Damon, in April. Probably mid April. Sorry for typos, it's on my phone, and I try to edit as I go but between what room RU-vid gives me on my phone to what my phone thinks is better, lol, typos. Most of what I wrote for my Cosmic horror, was done in bed as I have a nerve disease, and I'm stuck in bed often, so I found writing on an old piece of tech, a brother EP-43 and EP-20 When I really want to relive the 70s. Lol, and when able to make it to the table on good days, my 1964 Galaxie Deluxe by Smith Corona, oh man that fully mechanical non-powered typewriter wants to be powered so bad acts like it. Yeah I probably could have shorten this too, but that's never been my style. Thanks for reading. And yes you can be both a plotter and a pantser, but it's important to either keep them exactly balanced or be more on the plotting side then on the panter. But being fully pants only, You will fail and not go anywhere. I used to dread things like tag lines but now they are fun, and Syd Field used to say, paraphrasing here, if you can't give a one short sentence (a tag line) then you do not know your story. And if you do not know your own story, why the hell are you writing it and then expect people to get it and your career take off? It's like being the Capt of a great big ship and you tell people to get on and they don't, can't, or won't and you are looking out the window wondering why, and they look at you in your ship playing Capt from the dock and see it's the Titanic. Or worse on the bottom of the Atlantic. Okay long enough, good morning! And looking forward to that writing course Damon. Thank you Sir!

For your forth coming AMA: do you have any tips for best typing technique on a typewriter? I find that I’ll have spacing issues and I’m thinking it’s my technique vs an issue with the machine. Seems like it happens when I start typing too fast. Also, for your AMA, do you have any advice for overcoming writer’s block or a process that really helps to get the creative juices flowing?

Can we see your writing setup/area? Do you have a writer's shed?

Will ChatGPT end writing?

In my work, I tend to write like Agatha Christie, yet my own style, and why not, she is to date the best selling author, ever...Google it you'll see. She did outlining. All the great storytellers do, from Alfred Hitchcock to James Cameron, Stephen King, to Grace Livingston, and many many more on and on through time. There's a reason for it. My favorite Tag line from a movie is "In Space No one can hear you Scream." Dan O'Bannon, had a chance to meet him, interesting fellow, truly a writer could see it in his eyes, it's that look like God kissed each eyeball and gave visions and dreams, I see it in other writers from time to time. I just realized most of all the writing people I called mentors or I knew are Dead....I feel like I'm that line in Leonard Cohen's song...Tower of Song. "Well, my friends are gone and my hair is grey, I ache in the places where I used to play, And I'm crazy for love but I'm not coming on, I'm just paying my rent every day in the Tower of Song." Closing Time is another song perfect for writers, like Waiting for the Miracle to Come. Today's advice people, listen to some Leonard Cohen ❤ while outlining.