When it comes to writing, I lean more toward being a planner than a pantser. I enjoy developing characters and worldbuilding, even before I’ve written a single word on the page. I like to map out chapters based on the Five Commandments of Storytelling before filling in the margins. Your writing process may be similar or very different. Each writer has a unique process that works for them. My process works for me.
THAT SAID—my preparatory inclinations can put me in danger of putting off a story when I’m actually ready to write it. I’ve done this a lot over the past several years. I find myself obsessing over a variety of story structures (Three-Acts? Five-Acts? 7??) and hoping to map out every detail before actually writing the darn thing.
Planner’s Block
But every time I try to do that—without fail—I hit a wall. The flow of ideas turns to a trickle. Call it creative diminishing returns.
This happened recently when I was preparing to write a screenplay. I was excited about the overall concept and had a good sense of characters, setting, and tone. I even had a number of set pieces clearly defined. If you’ll imagine my plan as a roadmap, I had all the major stops planned out—A to B to C to D—but there was a lot of blank space in between.
Getting My Boots on the Ground
Though I wanted to plan further, I was hitting a creative block. In some ways, the ideas that I had come up with contributed to my problem. Those established ideas squeezed out the new ones. I was stuck.
Eventually, a helpful phrase came to my mind: I needed to “get boots on the ground.” The phrase originated as a military shorthand, but I felt it applied to my situation. I needed to get on the ground floor of my story—to walk around, get the lay of the land, figure things out. In short, to nail down the specific details of my story that had been, up to that point, frustratingly elusive. By doing the writing, whether I felt fully prepared or not.
I had reached the point where no additional insight would be given to me (at least, not anytime soon) if I didn’t suck it up and start writing the story. To be forced to connect the dots.
And whaddayaknow? Once I committed to the writing, I began to discover how to connect those distant plot points in a way that made sense for the story. It sounds simple—and it is, I’m a simple man—but it was a mantra that helped me do what needed to be done and finish my project.
Conclusion
You, as a writer, can come up with some incredible things, but you may have to reach beyond your comfort zone to do so. Whether you’re a pantser or a planner, get your boots on the ground—get in the midst of your story, up close and personal—figure out the details, and get stuff done!
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