The Challenge of Getting in My Right Writing Mind

by Beth Vogt @BethVogt

I am not a pantser.*

I write those words without apology to all the pantsers out there.

“But Beth,” you say, “That’s not very nice.”

It’s not about being nice but about being honest. I’ve been living the life of a pantser for months now and it’s made me bonkers.

There’s the honesty again, writing friends.

I’ve always been a plotter*, so why was I pantsing my story? Desperation. Sheer desperation. Writing has been a slog for months and to get words on the page, I decided to write something … anything … whatever came to mind. 

Did I get words on the page? Yes. Goal accomplished. 

But the process was like sitting down to write and then throwing my pages on the floor when I was done. The next time I sat down to write, I’d pick up those scattered pages and start to write again. No need to organize my completed pages. Just go.

I wrote a fun scene because, well, it seemed like (ahem) a fun thing to do. I wrote some of the manuscript’s middle scenes. I wrote a couple of climactic ending scenes. 

I was lost, lost, lost in all that increasing word count.

Until …

I decided to get in my right writing mind. 

A weekend away afforded me hours of uninterrupted time with my fictional characters. But rather than focusing on writing some new scenes, I backed up and plotted my story. What did that look like?

• I read through my manuscript and listed my chapters, breaking them down scene by scene and point of view (POV). 
• I created a timeline for my story, noting both the specific date and the time of day. (My novella takes place over a single month.)
• I listed the scenes I needed to write or rewrite.
• I started a side list of notes I needed to remember, including name changes and overlooked elements to weave into the story. 
• I reworked my hero’s Dark Moment Story (DMS) because the original one wasn’t “pinging” for me. 

By the time I was done, I was a happy writer. All the virtual scattered papers? Stacked neatly in my head. The next time I sat down to write, I opened my manuscript, looked at my list of scenes to rewrite … and I wrote.

It was as simple as that.

The next time writing is a slog (because yes, I know it’ll be a struggle again) I’ll know to stick with plotting before I write. 

What about you? Are you a plotter or a pantser? Maybe a bit of both – a plantser*? 

*pantser: a writer who writes without an outline, meaning they “fly by the seat of their pants” when they write a story

*plotter: a writer who uses an outline when writing their story

*plantser: a writer who does a bit of both , but usually prefers one method more than the other

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The Challenge of Getting in My Right Writing Mind from @BethVogt on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Beth K. Vogt believes God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “Never.” She’s authored 15 novels and novellas, both contemporary romance and women’s fiction. Beth is a Christy Award winner, an ACFW Carol Award winner, and a  RITA® finalist. Her newest contemporary romance novel, Dedicated to the One I Love, released June 20, 2023. Her novel Things I Never Told You, book one in her Thatcher Sisters Series by Tyndale House Publishers, won the 2019 AWSA Golden Scroll Award for Contemporary Novel of the Year. An established magazine writer and former editor of the leadership magazine for MOPS International, Beth blogs for Learn How to Write a Novel and The Write Conversation and also enjoys speaking to writers group and mentoring other writers. She lives in Colorado with her husband Rob, who has adjusted to discussing the lives of imaginary people. Connect with Beth at BETHVOGT.COM.