5. Lack Of Prep

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It doesn't matter if you're a plotter (someone who plots out the entire story), a panster (someone who has an idea and runs with it, aka flying by the seat of their pants), or a planster (somewhere in between). If you don't put in some prep work before you sit down at the keyboard to write, it will trip you up and slow you down.

Think of it like trying to cook a meal without sourcing any of the ingredients. Aren't you more likely to make sure you have everything you need first and lay it all out?

Before you start writing and get caught up in the story is the best time to consider things like what you want to get from your writing, where the book will be aimed, where it is set, the tropes you want to use and, most importantly, the characters.

Knowing what you want to achieve from your writing will influence a number of things. How much time and effort you want to put into it is the first decision, one which may be limited by a day job that pays the bills, assignments for a course you may be taking, family commitments and your mental health. Starting out, finishing the book may be your only goal. Sitting down and writing a 50 or 100k story isn't easy. Some people are better at starting books than finishing them. But if you plan to submit a story to an editor or share it with the world in another way, you're entering into a silent agreement. You're making a commitment to deliver a complete manuscript if its requested by an editor or to update a story/release books at regular intervals for your readers. Break that trust and it might be twice as difficult to earn it back! 

The number of stories which don't get finished, when added to busy lives and a tendency to binge the entertainment we love onscreen or in a book, is the reason why so many readers won't commit to something until a story or series is complete. So, think about how much time you have to write, how long it might take you to finish the story, and set a self-imposed, realistic deadline. If posting chapters weekly, think about getting a few chapters ahead of where you are now in case life gets in the way or you need a break. Consider the amount of pressure you want to place on yourself, particularly if you view writing as an escape and simply want to share your stories with the world rather than making a living from it.

If you want to make a living from writing, or supplement an existing income, you need to don your small business cap and think about the best path for you as an individual, in terms of production and creativity. If you're flexible about where a book is aimed, it doesn't have to fit into any guidelines other than the reader expectation for the genre. A murder in a thriller, supernatural beings in a paranormal, a certain time period in a historical, comedy in a chick-lit, etc. are all tags you can use for marketing, too. Other than that, while keeping in mind the commitment you'll make to readers, you can write what you want, when you want, and stretch your imagination as far and wide as you choose. Obviously there is a risk some readers won't like it if you don't give them something similar or more of the same thing they loved, and you don't want to alienate them. But if you try something different, there is also a chance you may find new readers, who will check out your back-list.  You'll also be able to control your release schedule, which means if you're a slow writer or your writing time is limited by other things, you can complete a few manuscripts before you release them into the wild.

Lease the distribution rights of your book to a publisher and they may want more of the same/something similar for a longer period of time and tie you down to regular deadlines at regular intervals, meaning you have less time to write anything else. This is particularly true of category/series romance. So, if you can't envisage writing to order to fulfill a set of guidelines, quite possibly for years, you need to weigh up the effect it could have on your creativity versus the incentive of a relatively steady income. 

That's not to say you can't expand your repertoire further down the line. There are numerous paths to publication these days and you can adapt them to suit your needs in various different ways. But again, it's a matter of time. There is only so much of it in a day. What you write, when you write, and how productive you are, all need to be taken into consideration before you commit to anything.

Think about those things in advance, and you'll save time later on. It's also worth revisiting the decision from time to time. Recap how things are going and you can change the things that didn't work for you.

Where you set your story is another consideration. Not in terms of whether your story is set in New York or London, though whether you choose a place you know well or somewhere you have visited can have an effect on your prep time. Consider how much research and world-building is involved. If you are a historian who is familiar with a time period, then setting your story there will be simpler for you than someone who has to start from scratch and research everything from the foods people ate to the political landscape of an era to add authenticity. World-building for a paranormal or fantasy can take even more effort as rules are invented. Without them, some of the things that happen can be contradictory, which in turn can lift the reader out of the story as they try to figure out what is wrong. Again, these things take time. It's not that you can't wing it, or research as you go along. That's entirely up to you. It's just less likely to interrupt your writing or force you to stop writing if you do the prep work in advance. It also avoids the danger of procrastination when you fall down a research rabbit hole!

Tropes have been a much debated topic over the years, some of them equally as hated as they are loved. But they are more than a marketing tool. Readers will search for tropes like enemies to lovers, second chances, soul mates or forbidden love because those things are their romance reading catnip. Granted, some can be a harder sell depending on what is going on in the real world. Secret babies for example. There has to be a really good reason for a mother to hide her child from its father these days. The same thing goes for arrogant heroes who come across as bullies or emotionally abusive or tread a thin line between seduction and sexual harassment. It won't matter if he's a drool-worthy billionaire if he's a narcissist or a sociopath. Turning a trope on it's head is also worth considering. The hero who had a Cinderella makeover or is a virgin. The heroine who is the CEO or seduces the hero. Taking a familiar trope and putting a new spin on it can be a huge hit with editors and readers alike.

As a instinctive panster, I've always found plotting everything to the last detail stifles my writing and can lead to a power struggle with my characters. They may want to lead me in a different direction while I fight it and force them into shape. But by doing the latter I could have missed out on some great opportunities.  Fact is, your characters should grow and take on a life of their own. In order to do that, you must build a solid foundation. You should know more than the basics like height and hair/eye color and what they do for a living. You should have a clear idea of their wound and why they react a certain way. Knowing that gives you a baseline, which will allow you to demonstrate growth as the story progresses. (More on this in the next section)

World-building wasn't something I thought too much about when I was writing contemporary romance. I did research as and when it was needed, but otherwise my pantster inclination was given free rein to wander in any direction the characters took me. For that reason, the move to paranormal romance involved a steep learning curve. The ambition of the project was part of it. As is the fact the books are all linked and must be capable of standing alone while also being viewed from the perspective of a massive plot arc which threads throughout the series. It forced me to plot and world-build like I never had before, research myths and legends on an epic scale, and in between writing my usual contemporary romances, it took years to sort it all out. 

It is, however, time well spent. Because now I'm writing them, I know exactly where I am going and all of the rules of the universe my characters inhabit. It's become real to me. What's more, with each piece of information I added to the relevant folders on my laptop, ideas popped into my head and the characters became more vocal. I still don't plot every single detail of every single chapter. But when needed, I am now a planster. 

Prep time is about getting organized and ready to work. Then all you have to do is write!

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⏰ Last updated: Mar 10, 2021 ⏰

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