There’s the old writer argument about which is better–plot out a story in advance or just write and see what develops. Personally, I’ve found a mix works best for me, and here are the merits, and drawbacks, I’ve found in each method.

Plotting–this is where you figure out the actions and motivations and put things together. To me–an old-time jigsaw puzzle fan–there is an attraction here. It is fun to work out pieces, and for action stories or mysteries this is important. The drawback here is that the plot can become a shiny object that pushes characters into the background–it is too easy to end up with undeveloped stereo-types who are forced into actions and situations just to make the plot work.

Pantsing–this is the approach were nothing is planned and the story is allowed an organic growth. The fun side of this is that the story–and the characters–have room to surprise the author, and since the story comes from character they have more freedom for development and growth. Characters get the focus. There is a downside here, too, however. Just allowing a story can flow can lead to a dead-end or to a tangle that makes no sense. The writer has to control tension and pacing with a more instinctive approach–and sometimes what that means is fixing a lot of things with revision.

Why Pick? The mix I’ve found works best for me is to write about 50 to 100 pages–that gives me enough information about the characters to know if I have an actual story and if the characters are likeable and strong enough to hold up in the story. Then I go back and start to sort out things like conflicts, backgrounds, and main story points or turning points that may work. These are not set in stone. I found out early on that if I knew too much about my characters they turned wooden, but if I knew too little the story stalled out. The trick became to sort out just enough–and also to occasionally to have to write some background scenes that I needed but which weren’t needed in the story.

Some pantsing, or winging it, is both freeing for the story and allows for really nice twists to come from the characters. Some plotting allows more control of the story tension and pacing with the action. With this mix, I still have revisions–new ideas pop in that will need to be foreshadowed, and sometimes I will abandon a plot I though would work because there’s planning and then there is making the characters come to life, and that’s always the harder task.

Writing styles evolve as well–after doing this for some time I have more technical skills I can lean on, I have useful habits, and I know the habits I have to watch out for since they are not the helpful ones. It also helps to keep the writing interesting by trying new things–by mixing it up. At one time night-owl writing worked best for me, but these days I’m up before dawn with my coffee and ideas and the fresh day. But I’m still open to changing that up–and trying something new.

On October 12, 2023 I have a new novella coming out in an anthology, My Fair Regency. It was fun to write, and something a bit different, and writing short always has its challenges. In this case, I wanted to write a story that takes place over eight years. The first challenge in that was keeping track of the timeline, and what was happening in each year. The next was keeping track of the settings over those years and what the characters and secondary characters might be doing. These were technical issues, but they do matter in that you don’t really want the reader noticing this stuff.

The other thing is that I like stories that focus mostly on the characters, and this means the conflicts are often subtle and not earth-shattering–it’s the small things that can matter a lot. I also wanted it to be a somewhat light, fluffy story–in other words, a lot of talking and ‘piffle’ and yet it has to have enough substance to stand up (even a meringue needs that). This meant it needed the theme to weave into the scenes, and the characters needed things that mattered to them–and those wants had to both evolve slightly, yet had to remain over eight years. That was the core challenge–dealing with the growth and evolution of the characters, yet having them hold to some core guiding lights.

Now, I like a technical challenge–but I try to keep it to only one per book. I found out early on when I started writing that if I bit off too many challenges (and I often did), the characters and story tended to bog down in those issues. I ended up forcing characters into a plot due to the technical stuff. This includes trying to deal with viewpoint, scene arcs, dialogue, conflicts, theme, paragraph and sentence construction, descriptions, and even word choices. Technique needs to serve the story–meaning it has to serve the characters. If it takes over, it can take the life right out of a story–the story steps into being an intellectual exercise instead of an emotional experience. But how does one get technique out of the way?

I think it’s possible to deal with technique in a couple of ways. The first is to become skilled with it–meaning write a lot. If you write enough, you stop having to worry about certain things. They become automatic skills. How you handle transitions, viewpoint, scene arcs, dialogue all becomes automatic functions that you can allow your writer’s instinct to deal with–you get that internal nudge when something isn’t quite right. The other way is to handle it with edits. Get the important stuff for the characters–their emotions, desires, personality–onto the page. Edits will allow you to check for rough bits, for things that don’t quite work. With edits comes the need for copy edits and proof readers to help out and point to mistakes and what’s missing–but don’t neglect a potential read from a beta reader who may find emotional moments that may be missing.

The other factor with a novella is that short is harder than long–there’s less room to go off on interesting tangents and amusing secondary characters. Every word has to count, and pacing is vital.

How did all this apply to my novella?

Well, you’ll notice there’s actually more than one technical challenge here, so I split them up. I left sorting out the timeline to the edits–I could more easily fix that during revisions. This allowed me to focus just on the characters while I was writing, and since I like to treat setting as a character that was included. I split up the other technical issues as well, but that is my habit–I have found I can write dialogue or I can write description, but I can’t do both at the same time. It is easier for me to write the dialogue, sharpen it, and then come back and put in any action or description I need to weave in subtext or contrast or use setting to amplify emotion or motifs. Or I can do the descriptions to set up a scene or create a mood, and then I’ll figure out the dialogue when the scene starts. Polish for all of this comes in another edit–and that’s where I have to use care to keep the mood the same and not edit out emotion.

Finally, about the fun bits here–the anthology uses the Regency England setting of different holidays and fairs, so my holiday was Guy Fawkes Night, with its bonfires and crackers (fireworks to those of us in the US), and the other holidays used some of the lesser known events, such as Cheese Rolling, along with the better known May Day and Twelfth Night. For Guy Fawkes, I did do a bit of research–it’s still a rather rowdy event in England–but even more fun was weaving in events across the years from 1805 to 1813. With a bookish heroine, I was able to dive into scientific events, publications, and use apt quotes to mirror what was going on in her life. The hero is a more active person, out wanting to go places and do things, and join up with army during the Napoleonic Wars–a dangerous ambition. They were a nice pair, but when it comes to bringing them together, Guy Fawkes Night served nicely for that–it is a night when the unexpected can happen.

Hopefully, that is what this anthology is all about–the unexpected delights of new stories and new authors.

ABOUT THE ANTHOLOGY–MY FAIR REGENCY

Celebrate Regency romance all year long with this collection of short stories set during holidays and festivals throughout the four seasons! Fans of sweet romance will enjoy stories set from May Day all the way to Twelfth Night, featuring some of your favorite tropes—enemies-to-lovers, second-chance romance, forbidden love, friends-to-lovers, and more! The collection includes:

May Day Mayhem by Ann Chaney—Intrigue, death, and love come to Horsham-Upon-the-Thames as the small English village anticipates their May Day celebration. Home Office agents the Duke of Doncaster and governess Helen Stokes join forces to uncover a missing list of French agents before an enemy discovers it. Mired in May Day preparations while chasing hoodlums and gentry, Helen and Doncaster try to fight their mutual attraction in a romantic farce worthy of Covent Garden.

My Favorite Mistake by Courtney McCaskill—Sixteen years ago, lady’s maid Fanny Price was swept off her feet by a handsome horse trainer named Nick Cradduck. The very next day, he shattered her heart. But now, at the Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake, who should Fanny encounter but the man she crossed all of England to avoid… A second-chance love story featuring Fanny, the scene-stealing lady’s maid from How to Train Your Viscount!

His Damsel by Charlotte Russell—During her annual visit to Bartholomew Fair, Eliza Cranstoun is mistaken for a lady in distress when in fact she was attempting to avenge the honor of her cousin. Now, she insists Anthony Ripley, her savior, help her bring down a lordly scoundrel. Amidst the scheming however, the independent Eliza and the confirmed bachelor Anthony, discover that love finds even those who choose not to seek it.

When I Fall In Love by Cora Lee—The Harvest Festival is a chance for reunions and love, but perhaps not for childhood friends Sylvie Devereaux and Kit Mathison. When Kit returns to renovate the home he inherited, Sylvie’s financial burdens prompt Kit to propose a marriage of convenience. But Sylvie has always wanted to marry for love, and they don’t love each other…do they?

Remember by Shannon Donnelly—Over the years, Beatrice Foxton keeps meeting up with Andrew Cliffs on Guy Fawkes Night, but these two friends are separated by her family’s expectations for her to marry a well-born lord and his family’s background in trade. And, yet, they can’t stay away from each other…

The Aeronaut’s Heart by Regina Scott—Josephine Aventure was on her way to earning a place in England’s Aeronautical Corps until the dashing smuggler she’d once loved showed up. Etienne Delaguard risked much to help England win the war against France. Over a Twelfth Night masquerade, can a gentleman of the sea win the heart of a lady of the air

I believe that both showing and telling (narrative) have their uses in any story. We often need to use both tools–for example, in the image at left, do you tell the reader about the waterfall or do you show the person feeling the spray of water? What serves the story best–that’s the real question.

Here are some tips to decided when to show more and what telling better can help with in a story.

SHOWING

• Showing means convening the character in action and words.
• Showing takes more words because the goal is to create a picture and feeling in the reader’s mind with only words.
• Showing requires good visualization by the writer.
• Showing is strongest when all five senses are used: smell, touch, taste, sight, hearing.
• To better show a character, give your characters mannerisms (physical and verbal habits) that reveal their inner person.
• Showing is the continual search for how to reveal what your character feels and how that character displays (or doesn’t display) those feelings.
• Use of deep viewpoint allows the reader to ‘discover’ your characters through showing that inner person.
• A character’s actions always speak louder to the reader than any thoughts or narrative about that character; actions reveal true character.

TELLING

• -Telling means conveying exact meaning to the reader; it is, literally, telling the story.
• -Telling compresses word count (useful in short stories and a synopsis).
• -Telling, in a synopsis, is the ultimate compression of your story.
• -Telling alerts the reader that the information, or the character, is relatively unimportant.
• -Telling can smooth transition in time, distance, or viewpoint.
• -Telling can establish a mood or setting when you do not wish to do this in any character’s viewpoint.
• Telling is the continual search for fresh ways to give your reader information.
• If dialogue is only about plot exposition, it is really telling a plot point to the reader.

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To know if you’re telling vs. showing, look for “clue” words that tip off you may be telling more than showing, such as was, were, are, to be. As in, The sun was hot.

Showing and telling do not have to be absolutes; mix show, use more show than tell, or use more tell than show; part of the choice is your style, and part is the effect you want to have on the reader.

-In general, most people respond to any motivating stimulus (something happening) with FEELING, ACTION, SPEECH, so that’s how you want to structure scenes, so that a character feels something, acts on that feeling, then says something.

-Words and sentences and paragraphs that do not add anything actually detract from what is there–the end result is to weaken the good stuff.

-Multiple edits are your friend; it’s not necessary to get everything into one pass.  Make one edit about dialogue, the next edit about punching the narrative (telling), the next edit about adding more showing details.

We all know great dialogue when we read it—and the best dialogue seems effortless. But good dialogue takes work, sometimes needing multiple edits and thinking it over and totally revising a scene. It also takes a few key ingredients. There are a few things that can help you punch your dialogue into shape—and that means editing out these problems.

1) Chit-chat. We get plenty of this in real life. The “Hi, how are you?” stuff is boring in fiction. You want dialogue that’s better than real life—that means bigger, too. You need to dramatize without going over the top to melodrama. You want the dialogue to be sharp—meaning you may need to really look at the words coming out of your characters’ mouths and take an edit just to punch the dialogue.

2) Poor Punctuation. Nothing will throw a reader out of a story faster than poor technique. Commas go inside quote marks and are used when the tag is part of the same sentence (action modifies the dialogue). He said, “I know how to use a comma.” And not: He said. “I know how to use a comma.” Put in a period when the action is its own sentence. He gave a sigh. “I wish more folks knew how to use commas.” And not: He gave a sigh, “I wish more folks knew how to use commas.” Cut the double punctuation, too!? It’s the mark of a writer who is still learning. And get a copy of Strunk & White’s Elements of Style so you know exactly how to write dialogue and internal dialogue so the reader gets into the story instead of being stopped by clumsy writing techniques.

3) Weird Paragraph Breaks. This is related to poor punctuation. Keep the action of a speaker with that person’s dialogue—use paragraph breaks when starting a new topic. In other words, you want your paragraphs to flow, as in:

        In a deliberate move, like slipping under a punch, Josh fixed his stare on Marion, wet his lips and asked, “Marion? As in librarian?”

            Marion’s mouth flattened and he lifted the Beretta higher. “Hey—gun here, Mr. Charming.”

            Josh didn’t look cowed by the threat, but that might have been due to the cool shades. “I thought you were interested in selling my skills, not shooting me.”

            “My line of work, it’s like a tightrope walker. You have to stay lean and flexible.”

            “That’s why you keep that name? You’re—?”

            “Nope. Not.”

            Marion didn’t look as if he’d say more, but Felix glanced at Josh. “He admires the late John Wayne, a man birthed with greatness and under such a name.”

4) Awkward Tags. Don’t trip a reader with awkward tags that clunk. Things like “he shouted miserably” and “she wailed” need cutting. This is a sure sign you’re trying to prop up weak dialogue with tags that hit the reader over the head. Make the dialogue stronger instead. Or give your characters stronger actions that contrast and highlight the dialogue. Show your characters expressing emotion through their words and their actions. Also, do remember that if you have three women in a conversation “she” is not going to be a clear pronoun, so use proper names. (Same goes for multiple of any gender.) If you only have two people speaking you need fewer tags, so you can use just action to better show what a character is feeling.

5) Obvious Clunkers. The worst offender here is dialogue that is there just for backstory or exposition. “Do you remember when we were ten and mom came after us with a butcher knife?” Why is this character saying this? Why bring up an obvious past? Is there a point to be made or are you (the author) looking to slip in backstory? Do you have the bad guy explaining her motivation in a monologue? Do you have the good guy explains the clever plot just to get it on the page (without any motivation for why he’s saying all this)? Are you forcing your characters to say things because the plot demands it? Instead of this, think about using dialogue to let your characters express emotion. Let your characters avoid answering questions, let them change topics, and let them meander. Let your characters be a little more real and not just be puppets pushed into saying things because the plot demands it.

6) Accents, Ye Olde English, and the Wrong Slang. While great dialogue has a flavor of an individual, too much of this can come across with as bad a taste as over-salted soup. One too many “mayhaps” can throw a reader right out of a story. Same goes for a cliché Scottish accent. When in doubt, go for telling the reader, “She had a lovely Scottish burr.” And leave it at that. Do your research for local dialect and slang but use it to just give a little flavor. A guy from Georgia will swear differently from a Jersey girl, and you want to nail this. You also want your slang to fit both the era and the person. A military man from 1940 will talk different than a lady from 1800. If you get that wrong, readers might not know what exactly is wrong, but they also might not believe your characters or your story. So look up words and phrases—etymology is your friend.

7) Overdone Internal Dialogue. Remember to give great lines to your characters to say and not just to think. Internal dialogue can be a wonderful thing. Writers like Mary Balogh are masters at it. But too much thinking can slow your story’s pace, particularly if a character thinks and thinks and thinks about the same thing. Know the type of story you’re writing and what works best for your characters and your story.