Plotter or Pantser (or: The Book I'll Never Finish)

Today I get to sign off of 2020 on behalf of the Novel Points of View team — and I don’t imagine there are many people who aren’t glad to to see it go, even though there's a possibility 2021 is sitting round the corner sharpening its claws. 

Still, every cloud has a silver lining, or so they say, and one of the very small ones for me is a lesson I learned about my writing. I discovered the definitive answer to that old writer’s question: was I a plotter or a pantser? (A pantser, if you don’t know is a writer who flies by the seat of their pants — no plot, no characters, no structure.) 

Once upon a time I would have said I was neither. Over my lifetime I’ve plotted more and more and these days I would definitely call myself a plotter. But once upon a time I believed in letting a story tell itself and editing it afterwards. 

This year I tested that theory and discovered it wanting. It began with NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, where writers are encouraged to produce the first draft of a novel/50,000 words during November. I’m a regular NaNo participant. It suits me. I write to a plan. But this year 2020 made it difficult. I’d rather lost my writing mojo and was stuck at about 24k words in a draft. So I took on NaNoWriMo to help me finish it. 

Well, I finished -- but the book came in at around 70k words and that left me some 6000 words short. Rather than not complete the challenge, I did what I’ve never done before. I opened a new document and began, with no ideas, to write. 

No ideas. No plot. No character. No location. The first day I wrote a thousand words. It was easy. The second day I did the same, sitting down with no idea of what I was going to write.and I wrote… Easy. The third, fourth, fifth days…the same. I completed my numbers. And when I read it back I was pretty impressed with its coherence and even with the couple of twists and teasers I’d managed to put in.

And then I stopped. Because the reason I’m not a pantser is nothing to do with writing actual words. Everything I produced was superficial. I’ve learned that, for me, planning isn’t about knowing what’s going to happen but about becoming engaged with the characters and I have no desire to carry on the journey with Tara (whose husband has just in a car accident in France in the company of another woman when she thought he was away on business in London) and her best friend Zoe (who was secretly in love with the husband). I wasn’t even interested in the handsome Frenchman who’d just rolled up on Tara’s doorstep with a small child in tow. 

I may go back to these characters, in time, but not until I know who they are and what they’re doing. Not, in other words, until I have a plot…

Hi, I'm new! Since this is my first ever post, I thought I'd introduce myself. My name is Andie Newton. I live in Washington state and I write historical fiction set in WWII about badass heroines. I'm the author of The Girl from Vichy (2020), and The Girl I Left Behind (2019). My next novel, The Girls from the Beach, will be released in July 2021.

So, why/how did I start writing?

I had an idea. Seems simple enough. This is where I talk about inspiration. You never know when it will strike. For me, I was doing the laundry, running up the stairs with my laundry basket while my kids were napping. I’d like to point out that up until I wrote those first words, I’d never attempted to write a novel before. I was a complete idiot novice when it came to publishing and writing.

Now, back to that inspiration thing…

The History Channel was on the TV and set to a program about what it was like being German in Nazi Germany. I've seen a hundred programs on Nazi Germany, but this one was different. This show talked about the historic Nuremberg Kunstbunker, a secret art bunker the townsfolk hid from Hitler.

I was intrigued, and I sent the laundry basket down. That's it. That's all it took. The date was October 3, 2009.

Now, I'd like to point out that my first drafts were AWFUL. They really were. But I kept at it. I knew my idea was fantastic, I just needed some time to get my writing up to speed and learn a few tricks and techniques. I literally wrote every day for years. Sometimes just a paragraph, hell, sometimes just one word! Point is, I never gave up.

That novel ended up becoming my debut, The Girl I Left Behind (with Aria Fiction, published in 2019 and part of a 3-book deal), while my second book, The Girl from Vichy, became a USA Today bestseller!

So, inspiration is a very powerful thing. You never know when it will strike, or where it will take you. Has inspiration ever struck you in the strangest of places? Honestly, I never thought laundry would have changed my life. I'm just grateful I get to write every day and it's become my full-time job.

What is your inspiration story? Share in the comments if you'd like.

Wishing everyone a safe and healthy 2021!

Andie Newton

Books To Get You In The Festive Mood!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas and there's no better way to get into the festive mood (and escape the pre-Christmas madness) than to settle down with your favourite tipple and read a Christmas book!

Last year I shared the Christmas releases of an independent, award winning publisher, Choc Lit. Interested to see what they were publishing this year, I did a little research and am now pleased to list them below for you. I will leave the books to do the talking and hopefully you will find something that might go nicely with your favourite tipple!

Christmas of the Little Beach Cafe by Morton S.Gray
To date out in kindle and paperback. Audio to follow

Five years ago at Christmas, solicitor Justin Sadler made the decision to leave his comfortable existence behind and move to the coast. Since then, he’s tried his best to ignore the festive season and, as he sits in the little beach café and reflects on that fateful night when his life was turned upside down, he expects his fifth Christmas alone to be no different to any of the others since he made his escape

But when he encounters a mystery woman on the beach, he soon realises he may have found a fellow runaway and kindred spirit. Could Justin finally be ready to move on and let Christmas into his life again?
Click Here To Find Out More

Christmas at Moonshine Hollow by Angela Britnell

To date out in kindle and paperback. Audio to follow.

Moonshine Hollow’s famous ‘Lightning Flash’ might be an acquired taste, although the same could be said for moonshine distillery owner Cole Landon, what with his workaholic habits and ‘Scrooge’ tendencies when it comes to all things Christmassy.

But when Jenna Pendean from Cornwall pays a visit to Cole’s family-run distillery in Tennessee during the holiday season, will Cole’s cynicism about the existence of Christmas miracles be put to the test?
Click Here To Find Out More

Holly's Christmas Secret by Kirsty Ferry

To date out in kindle and paperback. Audio to follow.

It’s almost Christmas at the Pencradoc estate in Cornwall which means that, as usual, tea room owner Sorcha Davies is baking up a festive storm. And this year Sorcha is hoping her mince pies will be going down a treat at ‘The Spirit of Christmas Past’ exhibition being organised at the house by new local antiques dealer, Locryn Dyer.

But as Locryn and Sorcha spend more time together, they begin to uncover a very special story of Christmas past that played out at Pencradoc more than a century before, involving a certain ‘Lady’ Holly Sawyer, a festive dinner party and a magical secret encounter with a handsome author ...
Click Here To Find Out More

Bluebell's Christmas Magic by Marie Laval

Released in kindle and audiobook last year, this Christmas it is now out in paperback!

Cassie Bell is used to mess. Her cleaning business, Bluebell Cleaning, is well known in the Cumbrian village of Red Moss. However, now it’s almost Christmas and Cassie has a slightly messier situation to deal with than she’s used to.

She’s been hired to help Stefan Lambert, an injured army helicopter pilot who’s staying at the local Belthorn Manor whilst he recovers. Stefan resents Cassie’s interference and is definitely not looking for Christmas cheer. But Cassie prides herself on sparkling surfaces – so, can she bring some festive sparkle to Stefan’s life too?

Click Here To Find Out More

I hope you have enjoyed reading the blurbs. This is my last post for 2020 (don't worry, there are still more posts to come from the rest of the team). Therefore, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year! See you again in 2021!

Victoria Cornwall

Stress, stress and more stress

Writing Under Stress

This is what I am doing at the moment, and no, I don’t mean writing when there’s a tight deadline approaching. Of course that can be very stressful, though some people thrive on the pressure.

My personal stress, writing this, is due to the fact that three days ago we moved house. We’ve downsized, from a large family house to a neat little bungalow. It’s something we’d talked about doing for a while, and the stamp duty holiday plus Covid forcing us to stay home, made this year seem like a good time to do it.

Moving is always stressful – our estate agent said the three most stressful life events are divorce, bereavement and moving house, and the third of these can easily lead to one of the other two! (He’s not wrong, though thankfully we both survived and are still married.)

I reckon having the builders in can also be pretty stressy. We decided we might as well get it all out of the way in one hit. We’d planned a number of small alterations to the bungalow, and booked a builder to start on them two days after moving – ie yesterday.

So I’m writing this surrounded by boxes, furniture that has not yet been reassembled, and behind me two (very nice, friendly) workmen are drilling and sawing and generally making lots of noise and mess with their power tools. I have no idea where anything is. Our duvet was eventually uncovered on the first night in a box marked Shoes.

Thankfully I do not currently have any writing deadlines – I think if I did, my head would explode. So other than knocking this piece out so I can fulfil my obligations on this blog, I have told myself if I write nothing until after Christmas that is OK. It’s permitted. It’s allowed. If I do manage to add to my work-in-progress, that’ll be a bonus.

And if the work on the house is all finished by Christmas, I will be one very happy writer!