Pantsing It

An aha moment and lesson in writing for this plotter. Mapambo Adornments - Edition 2024:4

Feb 25, 2024

Dear Moodler, welcome to another Sunday edition of Mapambo Adornments.

Am I allowed to feel pride? Euphoria? Incredulousness?

Who would've thought that my small format art maps, created as stand alone art pieces in 2023, without stories attached, would open up a treasure chest of creative ideas? Enough to write an entire 10-episode fiction series?

person holding light bulb — Photo by Diego PH on Unsplash

Let’s take a moodle through what happened

I had an important aha moment when I came to the end of the writing for a recent fiction series. I want to share what happened because I believe “behind the scenes aha moments” happen for all writers - just in different ways, and at different times. There has been a lot of learning for me here. At the time, I felt a mixture of pride, euphoria and incredulousness. And as I embark on writing the second series in the same way, I want to keep hold of those feelings. Writing about it is one way I can do that.

Kathy Fish

writes in The art of Meandering about flash fiction: “... consider what can be accomplished if your flash is somewhat less aimed. Consider what you discover when you allow yourself more space as you draft”.

Oh yes, I certainly allowed myself space! Space to NOT do what I normally do - plan, outline, research... In essence, I morphed from a “plotter” to what is known as a “pantser” - I wrote the whole series by “the seat of my pants”!

Aha!!

Mirroring the fiction Curious Questers story, I went on my own mini quest, kind of like my characters did. Like them I had no idea where the end point was, where the story would lead or how I was going to get there. I had a few parameters I suppose: I had come up with a vague quest description - to find a key to something. I wanted to flash fiction in less than 500 words, as a weekly story using a hand drawn art map as a prompt for context or location.

What I didn’t know when I started was which maps would get voted for, who my characters were, where this was all taking place, what the “key” actually was or how the series would end.

Pantsing!

If I didn’t plan, what helped me write ten episodes?

The broader quest of finding a key made it easier to move the story forward - I knew by the end of the ten episodes that the characters had to find something of note by wandering through adventures they’d had in my fictional map places.

A couple of things happened early on that sent the story on an unexpected path.

First, the maps. It's obvious to me that I have gone deeper into these than I ever thought I would. The ones that have become part of the story were not the ones I thought they’d be. Of course, I chose the first one to get me started but because I let the readers choose the next map for the next story, I had to trust the creative process, it went down a different path, one which I couldn't have predicted. And I like that.

After the first episode came out,

Susie Mawhinney

generously offered to write the next episode. Quite honestly, the entire series would not have been what it was without her creation of Jalisse, the half fairy, half insect character. This sweet but brief collaboration gave me insight into the power of connecting with other people and of sharing ideas.

Importantly, I learnt that when we release our tight hold on something (an idea or a vision), unexpected and delightfully surprising things can happen.

Having a limited cast of characters also helped. They emerged and unfolded as the story progressed.

Imagining and writing the behind the scenes stories about the fictional world as I went along gave me space to explore and flesh out ideas and connections between places and characters. For example, one day, I wrote a piece about how the fictitious world came to be but had no intention of publishing it. It was just a little excursion into my imagination at the time. Yet, when it came to finish the series, it seemed a fitting way to end, with the person who actually created the world. Hazel was ‘found’ (and freed) on To’Boam and it transpired that she is the Benevolent Spirit. Getting her to tell her story via a news broadcast felt like genius. I couldn’t believe that idea appeared from my imagination and flowed out of my pen.

Other things helped develop the story too. Imagery and experiences from real life filtered into the stories. For example, Benevolent Spirit was inspired by stories of the sacred Matobo Hills in Zimbabwe. The lakes in story nine came from a snippet of a mediation visualisation. The dolos structures in story six are actually real life structures in South Africa.

It's obvious that the limited word count for the stories was helpful too. This limitation made me write more succinctly without lots of backstory or explanation. It also made me write in different styles: present tenses, using dialogue, news articles etc. These techniques were useful in that they gave me a container to work within.

Of course, there was angst along the way

Sitting down every week and wondering where to begin, made me incredibly anxious. What if I couldn’t think of what to write?

Angst is part of the creative process. The times when you’re stuck.
And at those times, we must Trust. Show up. Be curious and open. Write.
I did.

I’ve learnt a whole bunch from this experience, but the main thing is this.
The details come when they need to.

I don’t need to have the whole story planned out before I start. I can have an idea of where I want to get to but the details come from being receptive and open during the writing, not necessarily from pre-planning. As a recovering-perfectionist Virgo, this is quite an eye opening admission for me, and a steep learning curve. There IS value in being more open, less controlling and trusting. I don’t need to have all the ideas neatly packaged, ready to write.

Hold thumbs that this new (for me) way of writing will work for Series Two!

Until next time, Debs

Do you feel we should share more of our process stories like this?
What epiphanies have you had from your writing process recently?
Leave a comment and let’s get a conversation going 📝