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Those of you who like to just sit down and write what comes out, you all are known as pantsless writers. — KitFox

We have a question on preparing for NaNoWriMo, but what if you start a NaNoWriMo manuscript without much of a plan, how do you determine what happens next?

Are there processes I can use to keep my plot going for 50,000 words, or are pantless writers doomed to write themselves into a bottomless pit?

If there are processes I can use, I'd like a list of tips on how to concoct a next scene from the bones of the scene I've just finished writing.

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Matt Ellen
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    I thought the term was pantser -- not pantsless. Meaning "pants in seat/chair" writing. – raddevus Nov 19 '14 at 12:09
  • I guess there are two terms for it – Matt Ellen Nov 19 '14 at 12:10
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    @SaberWriter It's pantser from "flying by the seat of your pants," meaning that you have no plan. "Pantsless" means to me that you're writing either with no trousers or no underwear, or both. The practicality of that depends on the comfort level of your chair. – Lauren-Clear-Monica-Ipsum Nov 19 '14 at 16:09
  • "Home is where the pants aren't." How do you determine what happens next? Same way as ever, you think and you decide. How do you keep your plot going for 50,000 words? Keep throwing obstacles in your characters' paths. – David Conrad Nov 19 '14 at 20:28
  • It sounds like you have a really spontaneous personality, Matt. And why do you have a girl's last name? –  Nov 21 '14 at 07:23
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    @DeanCorso why does your last name rhyme with torso? – Matt Ellen Nov 21 '14 at 08:16
  • The program you use has an effect too. At least for me. I've used a few methods, and settled on a program called Scrivener (I'm sure there are many others), which is helpful. It gives a little more structure if you want to break your ideas into little pieces which can have your actual writing, placeholders, character/setting studies, notes about each part, inline notes and reminders, tree structure etc. This lets me wrangle my ideas into some sort of shape that begins to look like a plan at some point. It's also great for how I think/work, having come from a computer programming background. – Eli Dec 24 '14 at 23:19

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I keep a second word processing document open where I scribble down ideas and thoughts which don't fit into the current point in the story.

This document is a grammar-free, style-free zone.

I record the ideas as quick as I can type them, then jump back to the main document and dive back into its tempo and style.

I make no promises to the ideas in this second document, they are not guaranteed to be part of the finished story. Instead, I ignore them as soon as they are recorded, keeping my mind on the story that is becoming revealed in the main document.

Only when that main story stalls... when I have written myself into a dead end... only then do I go back and read through the secondary document.

More often than not, the next scene emerges during that reading.

Henry Taylor
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    This is sometimes called a slush file, and it's also a great place to put things which aren't quite working in the main document but have some element you don't want to delete, like a nice turn of phrase or an event which reveals character background. – Lauren-Clear-Monica-Ipsum Nov 19 '14 at 19:01
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It depends on what kind of writer you are. NaNoWriMo doesn't have anything to do with it.

Some people are "pants" or "discovery" writers. Whether they write the whole thing in a month or a year or a decade, they sit and type to see what happens.

Some people are plotters. Again, the amount of time they spend to get a word count is irrelevant; they have to have structure first before creating.

Discovery writers must treat the first round of edits as part of the writing process, because it's dang near impossible to create something perfectly plotted with great character development on the first shot. Beyond that, however you write and finish your book is up to you.

Discovery writing is no more or less practical for NaNoWriMo than plotting. I'm a plotter, and discovery writing is like pulling fingernails for me. I would trash 98% of what I did if I was just spewing logorrhea all month. But I know people who find pre-plotting to be like watching paint dry.

Lauren-Clear-Monica-Ipsum
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The writers Margaret Mitchell, John Irving, Graham Greene, Mickey Spillane, Richard Peck, Edgar Allan Poe, J.K. Rowling, and Agatha Christie all famously write/wrote their endings first, according to this website. So, you might want to reverse your thinking. Concoct the previous scene from the bones of what you've just finished writing. This ensures that your novel does, in fact, have an ending. Now you just have to find a beginning. ;-)

Or, do what I often do: Write up various scenes, in random order, as your inspiration for them gets fleshed out in your imagination. Then do some hard work and connect them.

dmm
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