First time writing – finding your path – “Plantser”

Summary of my findings: It’s ok to be a pantser. Be a smart plantser (Pantser who plots).
https://thewritepractice.com/plotters-pantsers/
(Source suggests get out of your comfort zone and be the opposite for a while.)

Why be a plantser? Because inching along in your story is better than not at all. I admit as a new writer, I was too scared… I discovered the 10-minute novelists facebook group and allowed myself this. If I wrote 10 minutes a day, it’s better than none at all. So what if I don’t have a path to follow? So what if my path is windy and I don’t get to my destination? At least I would have “traveled” and thus have learned something along the way.

 

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Here’s a little about me so I can explain:

I am highly analytical (I love math and science)
I am NOT creative.

SOOO I naturally thought I would be a plotter. I like to plan ahead, and I don’t like to waste my precious time.

But actually that was ALL I DID. I JUST WASTED TIME.

I plotted my first novel, the best I could… It was excruciating. Then I tried to write it. My MC was too boring.

Now, I have an idea of the characters of my new story, with enough promise, but I could not at all PLOT IT OUT! I had an idea for the ending, and somewhat of a middle. Then I let my characters do their thing. I like the 10-minute Novelist idea. If I am stuck, I don’t kick myself, I just go back to it the next day. It gives me time to think about what my MC would do and how she would react. (So the analytical-side of me kicks in and the story progresses).

Although I don’t see the end of my tunnel, I am hacking away at the forest to clear some ground….

Learning to Plot – By Example

So here is the “story” I took off wikipedia from “Partly Cloudy” to help show you each plot element.

“All day long, cheerful clouds in the sky make cute and cuddly babies, such as human boys and girls, kittens, puppies, and other creatures, and give them to storks for delivery to the expectant parents. However, one lonely gray cloud named Gus has the task of creating animals that are cute but not so cuddly. His delivery stork, Peck, gets the worst of it, being bitten by a crocodile, butted by a bighorn sheep, and pricked by a porcupine. When Peck sees that his next delivery is a baby shark, he grows more than a little fearful and flies away.

Feeling rejected, despondent, and angry, Gus unleashes a brief thunderstorm, then starts crying with rain pouring from below him. Peck, however, soon returns with a football helmet and shoulder pads, created for him by another cloud to keep him safe (alluded to in an earlier scene, where the same cloud creates a baby that would grow to love football). Gus instantly cheers up and gives Peck an electric eel to deliver, which shocks him despite the protective equipment; this time, though, Peck remains in good (but slightly frazzled) spirits.”

First things first. Isolating the beginning, middle, and end.
BEGINNING – Introduction or Exposition, Rising Action,
MIDDLE – Climax, Falling Action,
END – Resolution.
If any of these are new to you, check out link at bottom.

BEGINNING – “All day long, cheerful clouds in the sky make cute and cuddly babies, such as human boys and girls, kittens, puppies, and other creatures, and give them to storks for delivery to the expectant parents. (Introduction or Exposition)
“However, one lonely gray cloud named Gus has the task of creating animals that are cute but not so cuddly.” (Rising Action)

MIDDLE – “When Peck sees that his next delivery is a baby shark, he grows more than a little fearful and flies away.” (Climax) The most emotional part of the story. Did Peck just abandon Gus?? :*(
“Peck, however, soon returns with a football helmet and shoulder pads, created for him by another cloud to keep him safe (alluded to in an earlier scene, where the same cloud creates a baby that would grow to love football).” (Falling Action)

END – “Gus instantly cheers up and gives Peck an electric eel to deliver, which shocks him despite the protective equipment; this time, though, Peck remains in good (but slightly frazzled) spirits.”(Resolution)

Each plot element explained here:
https://penandthepad.com/five-elements-plot-conflict-4472.html