📝Calling All Pantsers! How DO You Actually Finish a Novel?

[AuthorsDread]

Pantsers, assemble! This post is for you fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants novelists who shun detailed outlines and dive right into writing. We all know the freedom and exhilaration that can come from spontaneous storytelling. But at some point, that blazing momentum starts to fizzle. The dreaded sagging middle rears its head. Your plot holes mock you. And you're left wondering - how DO you finish a whole dang novel this way?

For those who have successfully pants-ed a book from start to finish, please share your wisdom! How do you keep up the pace and stay focused without an outline? Do you pants the beginning then switch gears? What strategies help you fill plot holes and tighten everything up in revisions? For fellow struggling pantsers, what obstacles tend to derail your progress? What tips and tricks have helped you complete a book, or come close?

Let's collectively pool our knowledge so more seat-of-the-pants writers can experience the satisfaction of typing "The End" instead of the sadly unfinished manuscripts gathering virtual dust in our documents. Please share your hard-won advice for finally finishing a pantsed novel, if you actually finish any...?

 

[dummycake]

I never finished a story, but I'll reply anyway!

Outlines are difficult for me, because I end up writing something at the heat of the moment that made more sense when I was writing than when I was planning.
IMO is better to have a vague outline, you'll never know if you get a better idea or another plotline, and everything is already set in stone and you're fucked.

 

[ElijahRyne]

When I pants something I just drop it when I can’t figure out how to continue it…

So maybe do a rushed final arc that wasn’t planned to tie up as many loose ends as you could think of before finishing the story and starting another.

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

Just take notes to prevent plot holes. Jot down only the important aspects you need to remember.

 

[C_A_D_M_U_S]

I have this curse that I never get past writing 10 chapters despite having everything planned out already I have a black belt in Partial Arts at this point 🫠 tho I am trying to break the curse right now (I am at my 9th chapter...just 2 more then I'll break the damn curse)

But, I am curious how the others complete their novels...

 

[Succubiome]

I haven't finished any stories yet, but I have gotten almost 60 chapters in on my longest story, and it's longer than standard novels?

My strategy is to try pretty hard to write 2k words per day-- although not necessarily in that story, particularly if I'm stuck on it or whatever.

Edit: Ooh wait! I've finished short stories! The other strategy is to write short stories!

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

I haven't finished any stories yet, but I have gotten almost 60 chapters in on my longest story, and it's longer than standard novels?

My strategy is to try pretty hard to write 2k words per day-- although not necessarily in that story, particularly if I'm stuck on it or whatever.

Edit: Ooh wait! I've finished short stories! The other strategy is to write short stories!

I thought of compiling a story from a bunch of short stories I wrote. I don't know how to incorporate them to make sense though.

 

[Succubiome]

I thought of compiling a story from a bunch of short stories I wrote. I don't know how to incorporate them to make sense though.

Hmm~

Is there a connecting theme?

 

[Jerynboe]

I haven’t finished yet but have an endpoint sort of planned. Of course, my story is a pure power fantasy fanfic where the MC is slowly ascending to virtual godhood, taking over the world, and assembling an all powerful army, so essentially my endpoint is “when Erich can punch an elder god to death and has subjugated or killed his rival, write an epilogue.” Everything else is working, ultimately, towards the goal of punching that elder god, he’s getting to the point where the number of legitimate threats to him is a very short list, and I am absolutely refusing to just make something else up to threaten him. I can deviate into weird side plots, as long as they are tying into progression. In fact, deviating into random side plots *as long as I could justify them as progression* has been part of why I’ve been able to maintain my own interest for 270 chapters. Is the end point likely to be somewhat unsatisfying? Eh, probably. But it has to end somewhere.
Oh yeah. And I second the bit about writing around 2000 words (or some other arbitrary but attainable number) every day.

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

Hmm~

Is there a connecting theme?

Nope. It would be pure chaos. Only a few of them have connecting themes.

 

[ElijahRyne]

I thought of compiling a story from a bunch of short stories I wrote. I don't know how to incorporate them to make sense though.

Have you tried a connected universe, with in-between transition chapters perhaps from the view of a third party. Such as someone who has trapped said stories in pages in a giant library?

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

Have you tried a connected universe, with in-between transition chapters perhaps from the view of a third party. Such as someone who has trapped said stories in pages in a giant library?

That's a pretty good idea!

 

[Succubiome]

Nope. It would be pure chaos. Only a few of them have connecting themes.

Could pull a Chaucer, and have travellers around the campfire/at the spacebar/whatever, telling stories based on their worldviews/what they're trying to get others to believe/etc.

 

[doravg]

When the ending comes to you, you just know it.

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

Could pull a Chaucer, and have travellers around the campfire/at the spacebar/whatever, telling stories based on their worldviews/what they're trying to get others to believe/etc.

I thought of having a bar story like that once. The bartender would be like the observer as people come in and share their stories. My friend did exactly that, so I abandoned the idea.

 

[Sleds]

Pantsers, assemble! This post is for you fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants novelists who shun detailed outlines and dive right into writing. We all know the freedom and exhilaration that can come from spontaneous storytelling. But at some point, that blazing momentum starts to fizzle. The dreaded sagging middle rears its head. Your plot holes mock you. And you're left wondering - how DO you finish a whole dang novel this way?

For those who have successfully pants-ed a book from start to finish, please share your wisdom! How do you keep up the pace and stay focused without an outline? Do you pants the beginning then switch gears? What strategies help you fill plot holes and tighten everything up in revisions? For fellow struggling pantsers, what obstacles tend to derail your progress? What tips and tricks have helped you complete a book, or come close?

Let's collectively pool our knowledge so more seat-of-the-pants writers can experience the satisfaction of typing "The End" instead of the sadly unfinished manuscripts gathering virtual dust in our documents. Please share your hard-won advice for finally finishing a pantsed novel, if you actually finish any...?

I didn't end a story yet and I'm far from doing it since I'm just at the beginning of mine. But so far I've writed 100+ chapters with an outline not detailled, I just made it with principal plot I want to explore, the rest come when I write it or when I have an idea I juste write it in a file and see if it could fit and in which arc he could fit. When I started planning the outline of my story, I started from a prequel of what happen to my story to have something like a myth/legend story inside my story, and I've started planning from the end too and come back until the beginning, I somewhat failed with that since not all is planned but at least I know what END I want for my story.

 

[BlackKnightX]

Bold of you to assume I finish my novels.

 

[Paul_Tromba]

Keep with it. Even if you don't want to, write every day. Set a minimum word count for each day as a goal to reach. Post whatever you've written at the end of the day. Don't bother editing except for spelling and basic grammar. To prevent burnout, choose a specific scene that you want to write. Make it your goal to reach that scene and set up for it. Hype it up in your head. Once you reach it, pick another scene and repeat until eventually, you reach your end scene. Then take a break for a while to recharge. Go through and edit the story from the beginning. Make sure that you remove inconsistent or unnecessary parts. Change words to make sentences flow better. Add better details. Use a thesaurus. Send to an editor for cleaning it up. Take their advice and work on it. Send it back to editor. Work on it some more. Send it back to the editor or another editor for the another edit. Find official beta readers. Get their opinions. Depending on what they say, desire to keep it the same or send it back to an editor with what they said in mind. Commission an official cover or find a publisher. Publish. Advertise and market. Maybe profit.

 

[Domoviye]

I've finished stories and short novels while mostly pantsing.
The trick for me is to have goalposts.

When starting I'll either have a basic idea of what I want to accomplish, and the main characters, or I'll start with a total blank sheet.

Basic idea: I don't outline, it never works for me, and I get bored. Instead I'll have a basic plot with some features I want to show. It could be a theme like, 'be true to yourself', 'family matters', 'betrayal', etc. It could be a setting, a fantasy hive city in a living city that uses steam punk features and will focus on the sewers where the criminals and lowest of the low make a living. It could be the character, with a large backstory and they need to do something. Or a scene, like a climatic cat and mouse fight in a series of labyrinthine tunnels between several humans and an overpowered monster.
Vague enough to point me in the right direction, while still leaving me lots of room to play.
Then I come up with some goalposts.
1st goalpost: Bob the sewer cleaner finds something in the sewer that is really important.
2nd goalpost: Bob the sewer cleaner is running from government enforcers who want the really important thing, and is rescued by rebels.
3rd goalpost: rebels are betrayed, Bob and co. need to flee, keeping the important thing away from the government.
4th goalpost: Someone close to Bob dies.
5th goalpost: climatic fight, the important thing does something that breaks the governments hold on the city.

What is the important thing? No idea. I'll figure it out as I write.
How big are the rebels? I'll work on it later.
Who are Bob and co.? I'll throw stuff at the board and see who seems interesting enough to add to Bob's group.
Who dies? Who has become the most important person to Bob, they're going to die.
Climatic fight? I want Bob to be bloodied, battered and half dead by the end. I can worry about the details when I get there.

As I write I'll give myself some more goalposts, and alter ones I've already written.
Maybe I like one side character so Bob starts a relationship with them. The first kiss will become a goalpost to aim for.
My muse decided that having a giant stone figure at the heart of the city is cool. It's a religious symbol and legend has it that it helped build the city. Cool the important thing is the key to turning it on and controlling it. The climactic fight will be Bob and the rebels trying to reach the statue figure out how to turn it on and using it to overthrow the evil dictatorship. New goalposts they need to learn they have the key. They need to rally the rebels and malcontents. And they need to fight the battle.

I get lots of freedom to pants things but I always have a target that is reachable and will keep me motivated.

Blank Page: I used to do this a lot. I also have a lot of old stories that never got finished.
With the blank page, I just start writing. As I go along I spot things I can use, interesting side characters, little setting details, the MC's personality, etc. I turn these into goalposts or plot.
So, I have Cindy she lives in a giant snail and goes from town to town selling herbs she picks up along the way.
She really loves her giant snail, and doesn't interact well with people.
Goalpost: She needs to lose the snail.
Goalpost: She needs to find someone who can get her to open up.

She is travelling around the edge of a kingdom, close to a jungle full of monsters and savages.
Plot: Soldiers confiscated her snail to help move supplies to an army that is working at pacifying the jungle.

One of the people Cindy interacted with near the start interests me. As she's following the soldiers trying to think of how she can get her snail back, she meets up with the person who wants to.... get their family member back after they were conscripted.
Goalpost: Find snail and family member.
Goalpost: Romantic moment between Cindy and Pat? Or very heart to heart platonic talk?

By coming up with goalposts and plot points as I go along, it again gives me direction and small goals to let me know I'm accomplishing things.

Without the goalposts, you won't know when you're done, and things just keep going on and on, with no end in sight. You can run out of steam when the ending seems SO far away. And you don't know what the main plot is, so you fumble from one thing to another without anything really tying it all together.

 

[AuthorsDread]

I have this curse that I never get past writing 10 chapters despite having everything planned out already I have a black belt in Partial Arts at this point 🫠 tho I am trying to break the curse right now (I am at my 9th chapter...just 2 more then I'll break the damn curse)

But, I am curious how the others complete their novels...

Black belt in Partial Art, I like that terminology.

Keep with it. Even if you don't want to, write every day. Set a minimum word count for each day as a goal to reach. Post whatever you've written at the end of the day. Don't bother editing except for spelling and basic grammar. To prevent burnout, choose a specific scene that you want to write. Make it your goal to reach that scene and set up for it. Hype it up in your head. Once you reach it, pick another scene and repeat until eventually, you reach your end scene. Then take a break for a while to recharge. Go through and edit the story from the beginning. Make sure that you remove inconsistent or unnecessary parts. Change words to make sentences flow better. Add better details. Use a thesaurus. Send to an editor for cleaning it up. Take their advice and work on it. Send it back to editor. Work on it some more. Send it back to the editor or another editor for the another edit. Find official beta readers. Get their opinions. Depending on what they say, desire to keep it the same or send it back to an editor with what they said in mind. Commission an official cover or find a publisher. Publish. Advertise and market. Maybe profit.

Sage advice!