How do you plan?

[Phyrebrat]

I wonder what the OP is using as writing editor? I can’t recommend Scrivener enough! It has a 30 day free trial and if you like it, it’s v reasonably priced. Also syncs across all devices so you can write on phone, tablet, computer etc and it will all match up nicely.

The format is done for you when you compile your MS.

Also… the word counter is precise unlike Word etc., when it comes down to ellipses, hyphenation and dashes. Oh and numbers.

Also has a sort of auto-synopsis (if you’ve kept up with it as you write).

 

[paeng]

A friend wrote cheap romance novels, and she told us that she would draw a triangle on yellow pad, and from there create modifications of the same storylines.

 

[ColGray]

A friend wrote cheap romance novels, and she told us that she would draw a triangle on yellow pad, and from there create modifications of the same storylines.

That's a legit GREAT point: the degree of planning and tracking depends on the genre and expectations and type of story. Hallmark movies have a specific flow and set of tropes. If someone rolled in with a deeply complex, interconnected set of characters and plots the viewer is going to balk and punt. But Lacey Chabert is a small town innkeeper who enjoys scrapbooking who meets a down-on-his-luck architect-turned-lumberjack who's only back for his aunt's funeral? All day, every day.

 

[Dragonlady]

I wonder what the OP is using as writing editor? I can’t recommend Scrivener enough! It has a 30 day free trial and if you like it, it’s v reasonably priced. Also syncs across all devices so you can write on phone, tablet, computer etc and it will all match up nicely.

The format is done for you when you compile your MS.

Also… the word counter is precise unlike Word etc., when it comes down to ellipses, hyphenation and dashes. Oh and numbers.

Also has a sort of auto-synopsis (if you’ve kept up with it as you write).

i use scrivener, it is amazing for plannng. I downloaded a save the cat template to get started and love that it's hard to lose random notes, and easy to flit between outline, manuscript, character outlines and random notes

 

[sknox]

Here's another suggestion. Try abolishing the terms pantser and planner, along with all their cousins and cognates, entirely from your thought processes. It's a false dichotomy. There is only the work.

With that in mind, the question becomes: how do you work?

My reply to the question: erratically. I have written sketches, outlines, dialog fragments, worldbuilding background essays, and more and more. I figure as long as I keep writing, then ... well ... I'm a writer.

I did formerly fret over the many questions around methodology and tools. I have lately decided (but I regularly decide new things and undecide old ones) ... er, oh ... I have lately decided that most of my questions weren't really questions but were expressions of self-doubt. By writing actual stories, I gradually acquired a sense that no matter how hopeless the current project seems, I will eventually get the story told.

How I got there is different every time. Probably not different in a significant way. Certainly not different in a way that might prove instructional to another writer. Sometimes different in a way that might turn out to be inspirational, or even cautionary.

IOW, keep asking. Read all responses. Take whatever feels like it might be useful at the time, but don't expect it to be permanently or consistently useful. Really all you're after is some way to keep writing and get the story finished. After which, the how of it no longer much matters.