April 21, 2025
Do you write your stories start to finish, or do you write scenes out of order and then assemble them in the proper order?
Most of you know I’m a pantser.
That means I don’t plot my stories out before I start writing. I may know where I want to start and finish, but everything in between is uncharted territory. That contrasts with friends who have the storyline all figured out before they put pen to paper. (Or fingers to keyboard.)
So I write chronologically. Otherwise, I have no idea where my characters want the story to go. They’ll give me hints of what is going to happen, but take me there in their own time. I’m more likely to delete a scene than to work ahead.
But there are always exceptions. My next book in the Edwards Investigations (Still unnamed) is one of those. I wrote an absolutely kickass opening scene, and then realized it wasn’t an opening scene at all. It belongs later in the book. I’ve saved it, and will pull it out to add when the plot demands it.
And then there’s Jake.
Jake Hennessey, a secondary character in the Harmony Duprie series, loves to break the rules. After the third book, I attempted to write a short story about how he and Harmony met—it didn’t work. He wouldn’t reveal his secrets to me. So, when I’d wrapped up the series and moved on to other things, he surprised me by demanding I write his story. That’s how the prequel to the series got written after everything else. Talk about out of order!
But that wasn’t planned. And those anomalies don’t change what happens when I sit down to write.
Now, I admire the folks who can plot out their books. But I’m good not being one of them.
How about the other authors on this hop? Find out by following the links below.
As always, until next time, please stay safe.
Do you write your stories start to finish, or do you write scenes out of order and then assemble them in the proper order?
Characters putting in requests for stories of their own is a familiar theme for me, too. It’s usually a bargaining chip when I have to kill them off.
I actually cried when I killed off one of my favorite characters.
Could you use it in the beginning like a hook and then show how the character got there? Like movies have done?
I thought about it. But there’s so much I see happening first, I decided against it. I needed to murder someone first!