Beyond Plotting and Pantsing -- Creating and Maintaining Your Story Structure

Okay, writerly types, it's time for another Writer Roundtable here on the blog. For this one, let's talk about story structure and how you build your stories.

Instead of rehashing the same old plotter vs. pantser argument, let's talk about how to work your plots regardless of which method fits you. 

How do you store ideas that you want to work into your stories? How much detail goes into plot "nuggets" when you store them?

Sheela Chattopadhyay: I either write ideas down in a small nugget/trivia like form or I record a voice note for later on to add into my writing notes for later. The detail level varies by the idea's depth at that moment in time.

Duane Laflin: I simply have a file on my computer labeled "Book ideas." When I see something that might work in a future story, I put it in the file.

Nancy Hansen: I don't outline, but I generally start something with a vague concept of what might happen. Now and then I will get a good idea that I can't work on now, so I'll shove it in a file for that particular story, which are all in virtual file folders on my PC, and backed up elsewhere on thumb drives or a portable hard drive. With AI out there, I'm not into cloud backups. I just get enough of the general notion laid out in a few sentences so that when I pull it up again, I have something to go with. Sometimes it's just a picture I saved that sparked an idea. That goes in the file too.

Klara Schmitt: While formatting goes out the window, I do try to be pretty detailed in my idea chunks. I do not bother trying to account for redundancy (e.g., when one idea undoes another), though. I'll sort that out later.

Tony Sarrecchia: Story ideas go into my Notes app with a hashtag Story Idea. This is my clearing house as I also have notebooks where I capture ideas in greater detail, but eventually move them into this file. Some notes are detailed down to dialogue and actions, while others are ‘guy discovers a pack of werewolves live in his garage’.

Sean Taylor: Pre-structure, I use speech-to-text to store any ideas that hit me from out of the blue. I keep them in a file on my phone. Eventually, I cull what doesn't work and write the others into plot points in my plot document in Word. Sometimes, these nuggets can be very details, with word choices and beats and what scene they lead into. Other times, they may just be a kernel of an idea that isn't fully popped yet, just sitting there waiting for another new idea to help it make sense and fit it. 

Van Allen Plexico: My outline and first draft is in a Google Doc, and I just add stuff as I come up with it, in order, while writing the actual draft from the top.

Brian K Morris: Little bits of business or scraps of dialogue are dutifully scribbled onto a small notepad I keep by my laptop for when these ideas occur. However, if I know exactly where one of these nuggets can go, I will stop what I'm doing and insert it into the story. As I work, I tear off the paper where the event/special words waited for me. And yes, I know I shouldn't edit as I go, but this works for me.

Do you have a system for keeping those ideas in order? If so, what do you do? Keep Post-Its™ on a board? Index cards in a file? A document with all listed in order? Inquiring minds want to know?

Duane Laflin: I know my characters well, but don't really think about their past/present/future as I write; instead, I simply insert details, thoughts, etc. as they apply to the story as it proceeds. 

Tony Sarrecchia: I use a lot of hashtags so ideas come up when I search for specific stories (i.e., #skinman #audiodrama #werewolf). This is all in the Notes app. When a project is in work, I will use note cards or a whiteboard to keep track of major plot points. I find the whiteboard helpful so I can block out scenes and see which person is where and how to get them all in the same place or make sure they avoid each other. The other helpful bit with the whiteboard is making sure the right people/objects are in the scene.

Sean Taylor: When I first started writing decades ago (God, I'm old), I used the notecard system because a book I had read about how to write recommended that method. It worked well for me, but I gradually learned to internalize that process without the cards. Later, when I was writing for comics, my publisher requested full pitch documents broken down by issue and even page counts per scene, so I started doing that for my prose tales, too. I enjoyed that, and it reminded me of writing a pitch document for a screenplay. 

Now, I vary the method per the book or story I'm working on. Short stories might be a full synopsis -- or not. Novellas might get a beat-by-beat breakdown -- or not. My recent novel, in fact, had neither, just a loose skeleton that was missing a lot of major bones I found myself constantly revising as new characters and new plot points demanded to join the party. 

Lucy Blue: An unholy combination of all of these. But my most useful and least elegant method for holding on to those sudden stunner ideas that hit me as I'm writing is to scribble them down on the back of the yellow legal pad or back page of the notebook I'm writing in. I use digital media as a writer because I have no choice, but my most comfortable and effective tools in the process of that first draft will always be pen and paper.

Sheela Chattopadhyay: I keep a few different files for it. Not index cards, even though I do have access to a Zettelkasten system. I find that I tend to lose index cards, so it's either a voice note on my phone, voice recorder, or a notebook since those are harder for me to misplace.

Rachel Burda Taylor: I write the nuggets into the story right when they come to me. If I can't, I write them into my reMarkable or where they would go in Scrivener. However, 99% of the time, I don't end up using them because I get better ideas when I actually get to the point of needing to write them. But the original nuggets are foundations for the later nuggets. And the final nuggets are the flowers that bloom only because I cut all the other deadwood/prior nuggets out once I hit about my 101st draft. 

Nancy Hansen: Having separate file folders for each project makes it easy for me to pull up something and not have to read through a bunch of text files to find what I'm looking for. As ideas come, I can add to that sequestered text file at any time. It's also a dumping spot for scenes that aren't working for this particular part of the story. if I'm not at my PC, I've learned to scribble myself a note. I have pens and paper everywhere—even in the hutch headboard of my bed. I've turned an interesting dream into a story more than once.

Do you have a solid plan for your (generalized) past/present/future of your characters that drives your story? Or do you think about plot first with a (generalized) beginning/middle/end? 

Klara Schmitt: If it's a plot idea for the near term, it goes into a bulleted list divided by character name. If it's further out, it becomes its own note, but in a different folder. I don't love my current strategy, though, and I really want to get my character timelines into Figma (design software I use for work) for a visual, linear reference where I can use lines to see where people will intercept. I am more of a character-first storyteller and use their trajectories to figure out my plot.

Brian K Morris: For most characters, I construct an outline of their lives that fits within the story I'm constructing, and influence it as I get to know these men and women. Most of the backgrounds contain just enough to get through the story I'm writing. But for some of my series books, I know almost every major event in my principals' lives, even down to the names of the schools they attended and when they graduated.

Jon Rogers: I am an outline junkie. I want to have a road map before I start writing a genuine draft, which also lets me work out plot holes and setups/payoffs early so they don’t surprise me while writing the real thing, and then I have to retroactively fix an issue and lose my writing momentum.

Nancy Hansen: Once I know what I want to do with an idea, the plan sort of evolves as I start writing that first draft. I've learned over the years to trust in the process, that more ideas will come along. If it's a short piece or a standalone novel, then I know I have to begin and end the entire thing in that single format, so I have to speed through the details. With series work, I've got more wiggle room to carry something over to the next novel or installment. But yes, every story, no matter the length, must have a solid beginning hook, an interesting middle, and something accomplished by the end that reflects on the title. When you get comfortable with writing, your instincts tell you what it needs.

Duane Laflin: I am definitely a plotter, and usually spend several days developing an outline for starting a book. I don't think my outlines are as detailed as what some may create, but I make sure I have plenty to work with and a full story before I begin. 

Van Allen Plexico: Yes—the more I know about my characters before I start, the better the first 1/3 of the book will be, because I’m not having to figure them out as I go, and as the reader goes. I’ve gotten better at this over the years.

Sean Taylor: When it comes to my characters, yes. I know their past. I know what they are trying to achieve. I know what is getting in the way. And I know their play to accomplish the future they want. My job as a writer is to put all the characters' wishes together and interrelate them in such a way to tell the story. My plot specifics grow out of that web of character wants. 

Sheela Chattopadhyay: I think more of the ending of my plot before I get into characters, unless the characters come across first. The generalized plot line often happens early in the process for me.

Tony Sarrecchia: Solid plan? No. But I have a general idea where I want the character to end up and/or where I want the story to be by the end of the scene/section/chapter. What I won’t do is force anything to meet my plan. Things should happen mostly organically within the context of the world. I live by the rule that all things serve the story.

How well does that system work for you? Are there things about it you think should change to improve it? Or are you happy with it the way it is?

Tony Sarrecchia: The system is a living process, and I can safely say it varies with every project. The only thing that is consistent is how I capture story ideas.

Van Allen Plexico: Fine, but I’m always tweaking and improving things.

Sheela Chattopadhyay: I'm always tweaking it since it changes each project, and that's okay. It doesn't have to be stagnant in order to work.

Klara Schmitt: I think being able to visualize the major arcs of my characters will help me in finding places for them to cross paths and also determine where to plant red herrings. I just haven't gotten to this task yet because I write in a different part of the house from where I work. But Figma will be easier if I do on a large monitor using a mouse... but urg, I already spend so much time in that room.

Brian K Morris: This system is the result of much trial and frequent failure. I can't think of a way that makes the process faster than what I'm doing right now, but I'm open to suggestions always.

Nancy Hansen: My system works for me and I'm content with it. My first pirate series book came out in 2015, and I'm just starting the 11th one now. I've written plenty of other stuff as well. How I write might work for some and not for others; or somebody could take away a small bit of what I do and use it in their own way. The bottom line is there's no WRONG way to write if you're putting work out and it's seeing print. Do what's comfortable and gets the words onto the page for you. The only sure way not to get published is to not write at all. Don't change what works for you, that's your writing superpower!

Sean Taylor: Being flexible is really working for me. At least up to this point. Maybe I'll hit a story where it doesn't, and I'll have to go back to hardcore plotting for a specific story. But even then, it'll be the flexibility that allows me to jump back to that particular method. 

Duane Laflin: The way I write works great for me....to the point that I don't understand how someone could write without an outline, yet I know many do. We're all different!