By Elizabeth Goddard, @bethgoddard
Your Writing Style May Vary
And that’s okay!
If you’ve been writing for a while, you’re already familiar with the whole “pantsing” versus plotting methods for developing your storyline. In case you’re not familiar . . . pantsing is the term used for those writers who write by the “seat-of-their-pants.” Do you know what kind of writer you are? Maybe you’ve wondered if there’s something wrong with the way you write and you’re looking for help. I understand. I’ve been there, and in some ways, I’m still there. We never stop learning, right?
When I sold my first book, I sold it on a synopsis and one chapter. To write that full manuscript on a deadline, I followed my synopsis. Plus I wanted to give my editor the book she’d acquired. No straying for the synopsis for me. Every book that I wrote for that publisher required a chapter synopsis. A chapter synopsis simply meant that I provided information about what will happen in each chapter of the book. I learned to plot my stories out that way, and I stuck to that synopsis. Outlining or writing synopses helped me to write incredibly fast because I didn’t have to stop and think what would happen next. I was always reading ahead as I wrote and knew exactly where I was going in the story.
But then many books down the road, and as I became more experienced, I began to veer from my synopsis. You can think of a synopsis or an outline as a roadmap. Sometimes, I would take a detour. So long as I got back on track and found my way to my destination, those detours were okay.
While writing for Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense, I definitely have to send them a synopsis. But the last several books I’ve written for them, I’ve found that I’m still trying to figure the story out as I write. My synopses for them have become more general in some ways. I leave things as vague as possible while still providing my editor with the general premise. For example, I can’t quite decide on who the villain really is. Or I’m not sure about the character’s backstory until I start living vicariously through their eyes.
Now here’s the strange thing. I’ve recently started writing full-length trade novels and I’m finding that I’ve shifted over to the “pantser” side of the spectrum! That’s how I see it these days–pantsing versus plotting is really a spectrum. The plotting pendulum can swing far and wide depending on what the story requires.
Everyone is different. Knowing that you fit somewhere on a big spectrum of writing styles can be freeing. Embrace the freedom!
As a forensic genealogist, Willow Anderson is following in her late grandfather’s footsteps in her quest for answers about a baby abducted from the hospital more than twenty years ago. The case may be cold, but things are about to heat up when someone makes an attempt on her life to keep her from discovering the truth.
Ex-FBI agent–and Willow’s ex-flame–Austin McKade readily offers his help to protect the woman he never should have let get away. Together they’ll follow where the clues lead them, even if it means Austin must face the past he’s spent much of his life trying to forget. And even if it puts Willow’s tender heart at risk.
In this fast-paced and emotional page-turner, bestselling author Elizabeth Goddard keeps the stakes high, the romantic tension sparking, and the outcome uncertain until the very end.
Elizabeth Goddard is the bestselling, award-winning author of more than thirty romance novels and counting, including the romantic mystery, THE CAMERA NEVER LIES–a 2011 Carol Award winner. Four of her six Mountain Cove books have been contest finalists. Buried, Backfire and Deception are finalists in the Daphne Du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery and Suspense, and Submerged is a Carol Award finalist. A 7th generation Texan, Elizabeth graduated from North Texas State University with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and worked in high-level software sales for several years before retiring to homeschool her children and fulfill her dreams of writing full-time.