Monday 29 July 2019

Whatever could go wrong? A pantster tale by Jo Wanmer


It was a great idea. Whatever could go wrong?

‘I’ll make your wedding cake. Would you like a two-tiered cheesecake decorated with fresh flowers.’ It was my idea. The bride loves my cheese cake so jumped at the offer. At least we had one thing organised for the wedding that was bearing down on us. A wedding organised by a pantster! 

She had a general idea of what they wanted. Casual, and held in their back garden. A grazing table. She was confident it would all come together, but we agreed we really needed a plotter – someone with a plan. Somehow it never happened.

Are you a plotter or pantster? I suspect our writing styles follow our personality types. Are you a carefully organised list-maker? I’m guessing your writing would happen the same way.
Or are you an impulsive, last minute, throw-a-function-together sort of person? I am and I write that way. Of course there are many different personality types and many writers who mix styles very successfully.

But back to our two tier wedding cake. I could see it, covered with cream, smooth sides, soft flowers flowing down from the top to the cake board. It would be so pretty. When I was mixing the beautiful, rich, fluffy concoction, I began to think the model through. Can one cheese cake hold up another? The answer was obvious. No. But there is always a solution. I’d leave the lop layer on the base of the spring form pan and support it with shortened skewers. I walked around the garden and checked for flowers a couple of days before. Yes, I felt organised and so I ignored my daughter’s pleading to make a trial one.

In the middle of the night before the big day, I wondered if soft cheese cake would hold the skewers upright.  Would the biscuit-crumb sides cave in under pressure? I dreamt I should wrap it in sandpaper and smooth cream over the rough side of the paper. In other words, I suffered a pantster panic!

Undaunted, I whipped the cream, having researched how to stabalise it. I washed flowers and leaves, packed everything ready to be assembled on site. Ever cautious (haha) I decorated the top tier, covered the bottom tier with cream, and carried them separately to the table to finish the work of art. Yes, it worked. The bottom cake held up the top tier. The flowers flowed. It was beautiful. 

But…The groom wasn’t quite ready to cut the cake. Then he wanted it moved to another table. Eeeekk. But he was the groom. So with much trepidation I moved it. More minutes passed. This was when I realised making a gelatine based cake wasn’t the smartest idea. It needed a refrigerator. I held my breath. Finally, the bride and groom stood behind the cake and I  began to breathe. But no, they launched into speeches! Others clapped. I prayed.

At last. The words I was waiting for. ‘We will now cut the cake.’

Just then a guest  yelled, ‘It’s falling!’

I ran and caught it on the slide. I held the top tier while they cut the bottom one – the one that had disintegrated on one side, the side away from the crowd.  It caused a lot of merriment and the guests ate every last bit – even creeping into the kitchen to clean the board with spoons.

As I think about this disaster, or near disaster, I am reminded of my writing, of my book in progress. It’s been stalled for a long time. I had a plan for it – a one line plan. From there I’ve written by the seat of my pants. As I’ve progressed, the story has taken on a life of its own, as books do. Dan has run into many adventures I had never imagined. The only planned event was Dan’s encounter with God. Not just learning about Him but having a life changing experience of the living God. 

And now Dan is ready, the plot is ready but this pantster is clueless of how to proceed.

In a previous book, my protagonist found herself locked in a remote hut. When I returned to my manuscript the next morning I realised the whole story was locked up with her. She told the story. Hers was the only point of view. I spent four days wandering around muttering to anyone who would listen, ‘Milly is stuck in a hut and I don’t know what to do.’  Just as the whole plot was about to slide (read hit delete button) the penny dropped. There was a reason for her being there. A great reason. A plot solving reason. My fingers once again flew over the keys.

So now I’m circling this current work in the same way I watched the cake. God encounters are usually orchestrated by God himself. I’m out of my pantster depth. I’m hoping the Spirit gives me revelation soon or maybe this bit of creativity may slip away as well.

Have you had any pantster disasters or are you all calm controlled plotters? Please share your adventures.

Jo Wanmer has decided to give up organising weddings and return to her computer. She is thankful for editors who catch most 
disasters before publication. She lives with her husband of 48 years on the northern outskirts of Brisbane. Her book, Though the Bud be Bruised, was published 7 years ago. Three other manuscripts are currently recovering from pantster writing and being edited by her plotter brain.

14 comments:

  1. What a great story, Jo! With and happy ending, as it turned out. :) Sometimes that burst of creativity (or creative problem solving, or cockamamie idea erupting from a good heart) feels like someone's turned on a faucet. What happens next? Do we watch all that water run down the plughole? Do we shove the plug in and try to capture the flow? What if the tap-turner runs away? In my life and writing experience, I've discovered the best plan is to stay on good terms and in regular communication with the divine tap-turner to avoid a disaster - an arrangement you seem to have well sorted. :) All the best with that next book. If it's as powerful as your first one, it'll be great.

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    1. MAzzy. Thank you for a brilliant comment. I learned a new word - cockamamie- one I clearly need in my life! Yes, we must run with the flow when it is running. In those place I don't allow my critical brain and space. I just keep typing and I've gleaned so much from the flow! However I do have a disciplined brain hidden away that edits my manuscript and ignores all pleading from the pantster. Well...most of it anyway.
      Blessings on you.

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  2. Honestly I can so relate to your writing style as planning to write everyday doesn’t bring in any type of creative muse. Hah! Loved how the cheesecake did it’s duty and everyone scraped the board clean ... albeit surreptitiously! Love to read more adventures as I’m sure I would hear myself giggling in total agreement. The Divine always comes through for us who plot by the seat of our pants though, especially when the silent “help!” is heard and He graciously steers.

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    1. Hi Anita. Thanks for taking time to comment. Writing everyday during NaNoWriMo was where I discovered the free creativity of the pantster. In that place you never delete a word, as every one counts, whether good or bad and so my brain gets locked in the creative. Its a wonderful adventure.

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  3. LOL Jo. Love your writing. I could see the cake sliding as I read :) I'm afraid I would be admitted to intensive care from a heart attack if I tried to make that cake or write a whole novel by the seat of my pants. But I also don't like plotting out every little detail so the characters can't breathe. I'm a Tweener. I like to have the major plot posts in action, but also let the characters go off and do something I didn't expect.

    I'm still in the editing stage of my first novel. It's set in Nova Scotia in 1882 and I did what I thought was a lot of research before I started. But I discovered several places where I'd written myself into a corner because of some point of history I didn't know previously. For my next one, I'll try to do more researching and plotting ahead of time, but I do like the freedom of letting the story emerge as well. I've often felt God's prompting to go off in a direction I wasn't expecting, and it always turns out better.

    Good luck wrangling your latest novel into shape. Maybe we should book you up now to make a two-tiered cheesecake for our retreat next year. Yes?

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    1. Nola I admire your diligence in research. I don't like it at all. In one of my books, much of it is set in Thailand - a country I've only visit via Google Earth! It requires much work to get the setting correct. There is some wild scenes in that book that flowed from an enthusiastic pantster but much of it, I fear, will only be read by the first beta readers who will deem it inappropriate! It is about Pornagraphy. It was God's idea, not mine. I am completely ignorant on hte subject but found fb sites that deal with recovery. Illuminating!
      Re cheese cake and next retreat...The tiers can come, but they will be side by side!
      Thanks for your encouragement x

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  4. Lol. No one would ever ask me to make a cake for a wedding, nor should they! As for pantsing disasters, a few years ago I started a time slip story for NaNoWriMo. I had done no research or character development, I just wrote. I got to 50k Words but most of it was unusable and the proposed second half was awful. I really liked my characters though so I didn’t can the project. I have picked up that story and put it down so many times since then and I get a little closer each time. But the only way I can have a hope of finding my way through is by plotting my way through the maze. I find I work best as a plotser- a hybrid of pantsing and plotting. I don’t like to have every detail plotted but I like having the major tent poles in place before I start.

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    1. Hi Susan. I love NaNoWriMo and my best writing has come from there. But I agree. After the rush of writing there is a need to do plot lines. My first book had so many threads that it reminded me of weaving. I built a chart with a column for each theme to make sure every one was caught every three chapters or so. I didn't want any dangling threads.

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  5. Hi Jo, great story & great storytelling too :) I can just see that cake slipping.

    Like Nola and Sue, I'm a tweener though I have completely 'pantsed' a couple of short stories (stopping every little while to reflect on possible plot outcomes). I usually find I need to know two or three things, though often in different combinations (like character, setting or theme) before I can start writing. I meditate on what will work. I think God can be as much in the planning as in the pansting.

    A few times now I've come up with a mysterious device or place - and infinity box, a closed and locked room with a secret, a treasure to be protected all costs - and then find myself in panic when it comes time to reveal what it is. After researching possibilities, praying, dreaming, meditating, sleeping on it, giving it time, sooner of later, it reveals itself and it's as much fun for me to discover as, I hope, it will be for the reader.

    Thanks for a ejoyable and insightful post.

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    1. LOL Jenny, I can relate to that. I wrote my first mystery story at the age of about 10 or 11 and it revolved around different people trying to get hold of a certain package. My final lines: 'But what was in the package? I guess we'll never know.'

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    2. I was half-tempted to do that with Caverns - what is behind the door we will never know, lol.

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    3. I agree Jenny. I always know the theme to a degree and usually the location. Though with Dan's book I knew the character and the theme. None of that ever gets on paper though.
      I tend to build character sheets, location details, chapter charts after some writing to keep me consistent. I have been known to change a characters name half way though. That causes my progress ready all sorts of angst. She, of course, would be a plotter if she wrote but her disicpline is a great balance for me. I do love the adventure of writing. Thanks for adding to the blog.

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  6. Such a lovely tale Jo and I could just picture it all happening thanks to your descriptive blog. Well done - that cake looked pretty yummy and I would have loved a slice myself. I don't have confidence in my writing to be a panster - I am a painstaking plotter which seems to have worked for me! I think it's real writers like you who are pansters and allows their muse to lead the way. I pray that God will direct you to Dan's adventures soon so you can complete your story - I'm sure the world needs to hear it. Blessings dear Jo and thanks for a lovely read.

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    1. Dear Anusha I'm not surprised to hear you are a plotter. That is your strength and I'm sure you are a real writer. Interesting how God makes us all different! Blessings on you and all your endeavors. x

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