I’ve been writing all my life and never finished a project until last year. Doing so has taught me a lot about what is required to arrive at the finished product, a complete story.

I wrote The Waking using a very loose and free style of writing, where I brought no expectations to my work, and I always came away surprised at the turns the story was taking, and was delighted with the results. Writers refer to this style as “pantsing” or “flying by the seat of your pants” and it’s a lot like improvisation in music. The writer feels inspiration, sits down to write, and lets the story take them where it will. New characters “appear” from stage left. Plot twists surprise the author as much as though they were reading someone else’s work. Creativity flows unhindered.

But inspiration can be capricious. Sometimes the urge to write is missing for weeks that drag into months. Trying to write without it feels like squeezing water from a stone. Hours of sitting in front of the computer can leave the writer with barely a page. Alternately, sudden bursts of inspiration can carry the writer through a long string of writing sessions, producing entire chapters.

Now that it’s complete, The Waking feels like an unruly beast. I have already revised it four times, adding or subtracting content, significantly changing the plot and character arcs for the better. But it still isn’t enough. There are gaping plot holes. My character’s motivations are weak and need to be clarified. I cut an entire character out of the story in a previous revision and another point of view still needs to be removed. The complete, rough draft has taught me a lot about storytelling.

Every scene must tell another piece of the bigger story. Agents and editors online like to chorus “Each word of every sentence should be necessary to move the plot forward”. This sounds like an impossible task. I like my words! I enjoy using them how I want to use them! But, the more I revise, the more I realise my story suffers when it bleeds unnecessary words all over the page. Pantsing naturally leaves the writer with a rough-cut gem that needs a great deal of revising to be worthwhile reading matter. Revising can be fun, but it sure is a lot of work.

“Plotting”, on the other hand, is a style of writing wherein the writer has a good idea what the story looks like as a whole. Often a detailed outline is written first, and then writing is done each day—as much or as little as comes to the writer in that session. Habitually sitting down to write fosters discipline that can help the writer overcome the daunting emptiness of the page.

I would have thought, previously, that plotting constrains the writer too much and hampers creativity. However, when I first conceived of A Voracious Grief, I had a clearly outlined plot come to mind almost immediately. When I jotted it down, it became even more concise. Since then, I go to my outline for help whenever creativity stalls. I’m often given a renewed sense of direction and can carry on, despite feeling at a loss moments before. As I write, new ideas still come to mind, the same as when I was improvising. But these ideas have a sharper sense of focus, because I know the direction the plot must take. I’ve already outlined the character arcs and motivations for each subsequent action taken, and can avoid adding unnecessary elements that don’t add to the overall story.

This has allowed the writing process to go rather smoothly, and I can easily multitask. Even though I’m still writing the first few chapters, my mind is constantly teasing the problem of how to end the thing in spare moments. I believe the story’s themes will be that much richer because I’ve given the overall plot so much thought.

I can’t say that I’ll be a die hard plotter from now on. I’m too much a rebel and free spirit for that. But I’d like to become more skilled at seeing the bigger picture as I write. Though I’m sure the winds of inspiration will continue to take me on entertaining rabbit trails, even so.