Recently I read an interview with
the wonderful British crime writer Ann Cleeves. I’ve read every one of Ann’s
Shetland and Vera series, and I’ve watched every episode of the wonderful
television shows. I read her books, not only for the amazing plots, fascinating
settings, and fully realized characters but also for her craft. That’s why I
was so surprised to learn that Ann Cleeves is a pantser. If you don’t know what
that is, see below. Here’s a part of that interview by Deborah Crombie, asking
Ann Cleeves about her new series starring Matthew Ven:
Debs:
This book has such a twisty-turny complicated plot. I wondered how much you plan ahead.
Ann:
Not at all! I don’t know anything about the book, except the setting, when I
start. Very quickly I decided that this would be more of an adventure story than anything else I've written.... But I still didn't know the plot details.
Really? Now that caught my
attention. And raised questions. But first, what are plotters and pantsers? Plotters
plot in advance, sometimes in great detail. Pantsers let the story evolve
naturally. They “fly by the seat of their pants.” I always think of the two
approaches to writing in terms of travel.
A TRUE PLOTTER would plan out every
day’s route in detail and make hotel reservations in advance. They might even
locate gas stations and restaurants along the way. All this would be programmed
into their GPS, of course, for mile-by-mile guidance, complete with speed traps
and traffic congestion.
A TRUE PANTSER would just get in
the car and head west. The trip might take a few days longer. Some roads might
turn out to be dead-ends, and there would probably be a lot of necessary course
corrections. But think of the surprising adventures the pantser might have
along the way! In our real travels, some of the most memorable experiences have
happened when we ended up someplace we hadn’t planned.
Why am I so interested in Ann
Cleeve’s writing process? It’s because the more books I write, the more of a
pantser I’ve become. The manuscript I’m about to turn in, A Grave Deception,
Book 6 in the Kate Hamilton Mysteries (coming Fall 2025) was written with less
plotting and more pantsing than I’ve ever done. The result was both exciting
and terrifying. And required a lot more revision.
Could I ever really cut myself off
from all pre-planning and just go with the flow? I honestly don’t know. I think
I’d need more than a year for that book, but I may be wrong.
So here are my questions—and I really
am curious:
If you’re a pantser, do you really,
really not plan ahead at all? Do you just put down ideas as they occur
to you? What if those ideas turn out to be dead ends?
For you plotters, what would it
take to persuade you to write a book with no planning ahead whatsoever?
I am such a plotter that if I didn’t know how the book was going to end, I don’t think I could write the beginning. Maybe I should just try some free flow writing and see what happens.
ReplyDeleteMurder by the Book did an extensive zoom interview with Ann Cleeves during the pandemic. Ann sat at her kitchen table with a mug of tea and I sat at mine with a jumbo mug of dark coffee. Yes, she's a pantser, talented enough to open up a word document and start writing multiple plot lines and points of view.
ReplyDeleteI still pants my short stories but for my books, I know the opening scene, victim, ending, and "tent poles" at the quarter, half, and three-quarter points. I encounter some amazing secondary characters and incidents along the route to the climax and conclusion.
I've tried both. Full-on pantsing was so much fun. I loved it. Every day was an adventure. And it took three years. Good think I loved the story. Then I tried plotting in hope of speeding up the process. I got bored and never finished the book. It took a while to find what worked for me, but I think I have - subject to change without notice. Now I use a system very similar to Margaret's. I know my inciting incident, three major plot points, and the climax. As for the rest, I set scene goals for each scene as I get to it and then write it. So far, so good.
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