Story is structure
Find out what prose writers can learn from screenplays with advice from novelist Russel D McLean
Act One: Setting the scene (or, why pantsing is inherently risky in storytelling)
Novelists often talk about being ‘plotters’ or ‘pantsers’ – ie those who write ‘by the seat of their pants with no forward planning. I have heard committed pantsers tell me that any form of planning beyond the most basic idea ‘disrupts the integrity of the writing’ and leads to a lack of spontaneity.
I recently took part in a course on screenwriting, designed to help those from other disciplines move across to the form, and some of these ideas became cemented in my head. Because screenwriting is always about compression of story, screenplays without structure can become unfocused and wieldy.
While books are different to screenplays – there is more space to play with, different techniques that can be used to convey your story and get closer to the inner psychology of your characters – screenwriters talk far more about how story works than novelists, allowing them to create structures that allow them to focus on the techniques of storytelling, and the quality of dialogue, action etc.
You might think that pantsing leads to uniqueness, but the chances are you’ll take a lot more time sorting your initial mistakes as you try to finesse your technique, and in the end, what you create will actually conform to a ‘formula’ of storytelling regardless.
So what can pantsing novelists learn from screenwriting structure? And can writing to a ‘formula’ really be freeing?