Writing Blog Number 2

20241007 Outside In Plantsing

Outside In Plantsing

So, yesterday, I looked at a plantsing technique: "20241006 Chasing The Cat" .
         This reminded me of another plantsing technique I've seen used by writers, and so I shall explain that for completion.

Outside In!

This is a technique best utilised with a computer; doing it by hand would make this tedious as it could involve constant rewrites.
         In this technique, plan the beginning and the ending of the story, as well as the protagonist/s and antagonist/s.
         Write these two sections of the work, opening and closing.
         Plan what comes next from the beginning, and what comes before the ending. Make any changes to what is already written due to these new sections (especially introducing secondary characters). Write these new sections.
         Repeat, planning what comes next, and what comes before, making relevant changes to what has already been written.
         Keep going until the two sections meet in the middle.

Some points:
Sections are not necessarily chapters. They might be part of a chapter, a few chapters, whatever works for the writer. The recommendation is that no more than 3 chapters be written in a section at a time.
The rewriting and adding section is important, because things will occur while adding new bits that will affect the ending or need clarification at the beginning.
Having the main characters (antag/protag) is important because these are not things that can be easily rewritten into a story.
The opening first written does not have to be the final opening, and the ending can have things added afterwards to tie up loose ends.
This technique involves a lot of rewriting, and because it is done from two ends, a complete rewrite is often done at the end. While some writers have an issue with the complete rewrite, for those not averse to that, this technique can help a plantser.
This technique keeps a definite end of the story in sight and keeps a story on track, even though the middle bits are only planned piecemeal.

Anyway, that's another technique that could help the plantser/plotser (definitions here:"20240120 Plotting and Pantsing" ).