Shouldn’t An Engineer Be A Plotter

Yes. Yes I should be a plotter.

I’ve designed and programmed multi-million dollar pieces of assembly equipment. Each and every project was planned out in excruciating detail.

I knew what the machines were going to do before they were built.

I knew what they looked like, down to every nut and air fitting.

I knew what they would cost to the penny before I ever wrote a purchase order.

I am a planner. And I’m damn good at it.

At least I’m damn good at it when it comes to the technical, engineering world. When I tried to plan out my novel the wheels fell off in a way I’ve never experienced before.

The Planning Methods That Didn’t Work For Me

I tried several methods of planning. First, I stumbled on the Snowflake Method by author Randy Ingermanson (note: I didn’t try the software, so I can’t vouch for it). I got fairly well stuck somewhere between step 3 and 4. I just flat ass couldn’t come up with an ending.

So I moved on.

I looked around the interwebz for various methods of planning a novel. I tried several and promptly crashed and burned.

On the bright side I did find a couple of websites that I absolutely love (shameless link posting):

Write to Done
How to Write a Book Now
Men With Pens

Those were just a couple that I stumbled on while I was looking for planning tips. They ALL have excellent advice and tips, but none of them actually worked for me.

So why the links? Because I can recognize that even though a piece of advice doesn’t work for me doesn’t make it bad advice. The tips may work for you, but no matter what planning method I tried I couldn’t find one that worked for me.

What I found that the story was changing too much while I was trying to plan it out. Now, changing a story isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Very rarely will a story wind up like your original idea anyway. But I felt this one was changing too much.

For instance, I would try to map out a three act structure: Introduction, Disaster I, Disaster II, Disaster III, Resolution, Denouement. I would outline the intro and the first two disasters. Then I would decide disaster I wasn’t big enough, so I’d change it. Then the intro wouldn’t make sense. So I’d change it. Then I’d modify disaster II.

Each and every planning method I tried was like two steps forward and three steps back.

So Why Did Planning Fail?

I struggled for a while to figure out why I wasn’t able to create an outline for my novel. I have written millions of words through undergrad, grad school, and my engineering career. Each and every individual report, specification, work instruction, and anything else technical that I wrote always had an outline.

Physical machines always had an extremely detailed project plan that outlined everything you could ever possibly need to know about the machine.

So why the hell was planning a fiction story so difficult?

In writing fiction you are creating something that has never existed before.

The world of V’ek Aldun, the primary setting of my novel, has never existed. I created it.

The main character, ANY of the characters, have never existed. I created them.

In technical writing, even in engineering design, something exists before I start work.

Back in my school days, if I was writing a lab report then I already had the data from the completed lab. The lab report was describing things that already happened.

When I design a new product, I’m designing to a set of specifications. Sure, there is a lot of flexibility and creativity in the design, but there is something there that is driving my design. It could be as simple as the customer saying “It would be cool if…” but the impetus is there. My design is not completely new to the world.

The same is true of my chosen profession, manufacturing engineering. When I design assembly equipment I am designing around existing product designs. A physical product may not exist, I may b e dealing with strictly digital models, but the product does exist in some form. I’ve done some things with assembly equipment that I am extremely proud of, but they were not brand new creations. Something existed before I started my work.

With fiction, there is nothing before. The story is strictly my creation. It’s a complete paradigm shift from what I’m used to.

And it’s the reason that I decided to pants Regent of Aldun.

What Makes You Think That Pantsing Will Work?

Really, I don’t know that pantsing will work. I’ve never written a long work of fiction before. I could land on my face. But when I had the realization that I was creating something from nothing I decided to pants it until I at least had a complete first draft.

The only other strictly creative work I have experience with is drawing. I used to draw, a lot. I never got much into painting. I’m far too impatient to wait for shit to dry. But I always loved drawing and sketching. If you’re (un)lucky I’ll post some old work up here. In any event, when I was at the peak of my drawing ability I pantsed just about every drawing I created.

I would start with a vague idea of what I wanted to draw and I would turn out a drawing that (on occasion) I was really proud of. It’s what happened in between idea and finished drawing that I’m hoping to recreate by pantsing Regent.

My drawing method looked something like this:

1. Get idea
2. Start drawing
3. Completely zone out
4. Produce art

It’s the “zone out” part I’m hoping to recreate. When I was in a drawing zone I really wouldn’t be thinking about anything.

I wasn’t thinking about the subject.

I wasn’t thinking about the paper and pencil.

I wasn’t thinking about how my hand was moving.

When I was really in the zone I could completely tune out the world AND the art. The output of that process were some pieces of art that I am still proud of.

And I’m hoping for the same thing out of pantsing Regent of Aldun. I’ve seen the starts of a writing zone similar to what I used to get while drawing, but I haven’t really gotten there completely.

Why Pantsing Isn’t For Me

I really believe that I can produce something great by completely pantsing it. I’ve done it before in a different medium. But I don’t see it as being a viable long term solution. As I write more and more I’m going to need something a little more systematic.

It’s just the way I’m wired.

What I’m planning on is finishing the first draft of Regent of Aldun by completely pantsing it. At that point it’s no longer a brand new creation, it exists. It’s a real thing. Then my “normal” engineering way of thinking can take over.

I’m counting on the editing process to work a lot like the previous engineering work I have experience with. The project will shift from raw creation to crafting something wonderful from something that already exists.

I’m extremely excited for the editing process.

My Future Process Plan

I have a top-secret, hush hush project in the works alongside Regent of Aldun. All I’ll say about it for now is that it’s going to be a fantasy-horror-western in serial format. And I’m most definitely NOT pantsing it.

In fact, I already have beat sheets created for the first season. In listening to the Self Publishing Podcast and adapted their version of a beat sheet for what I want to do with this project.

Heading in I know how long the project will be, what the major plot points are, and how the story evolves from episode to episode through a season.

I’ll post later officially announcing the project and detail how I’m planning it out. I’m as excited for it as I am for Regent.

But the big difference is I have a definite plan put together ahead of time. That way the story exists in a very raw form and all I have to do is polish it into something to be proud of.

photo credit: opensourceway via photopin cc