Pansters and revisions.....

Dysnomia · May 26, 2019

While I'm not 100% a pantser, I do rely on not knowing much of the story to write my way through. I very much enjoy finding out how things happen as I go along, and that's part of what helps me enjoy this process so much. So, I usually just know the main beats of the story like most people, and just go. (plus, my stupid mind sees 'writing an outline' sort of like having 'written the novel' already, except that's obviously not the case)

Now here comes my problem when I'm in revisions...

The story's more or less all laid out, I know more or less what I want out of it, and while there are still plenty of parts where I'm unsure how things happen and spend considerable time in revision hell rewriting and rewriting to figure it out... Suddenly, I come to a point where I'm like--I know how this shit happens. In fact, I know how the entire story's going to play out. How my characters get from the A to B to C to D, how the story starts, how it all links together, how my story can even be summarized, and while yeah, I might trunk it all in the end, but for this draft--I know how everything works.

And since I'm in revisions, I figured I should write it all down just so I make sure I do have a story intact. Because that's what everyone has to do right? You have to write that query letter... or synopsis... eventually... and make sure you do have a story somewhere... So I do that, and then I go start writing this new draft...

And suddenly, I'm stumped. I hit a block, and I am 70%* sure this feeling's there because I know how the story plays out, leaving me nothing left to explore the way I had to for the first draft/in revisions, and this leaves me... Stuck.

[tl;dr] So I'm wondering, how do you pantsers do it?

When you've reached the point where you're like oh, this is the story! Except it's too early, and you still need to draft it out, a whole draft in fact, but nothing's coming out and that's maybe to be expected, because so far you relied on not knowing the details to write?

How do you get the next draft down then?

How?

* - (...the other 25%'s probably because my mind is doing that stupid thing again where it sees the outline as being the entire story being written already, and so it refuses to go on. As for the last 5%, I dunno what it is.)

Any advice is appreciated....

MaeZe · May 27, 2019

I'm in the final edits of a novel I've been working on for six years, so consider I am not speaking broadly. I went walking in the woods behind my house, my characters talking out loud working the story out as I walked.

Ari Meermans · May 27, 2019

Dysnomia said:
The story's more or less all laid out, I know more or less what I want out of it, and while there are still plenty of parts where I'm unsure how things happen and spend considerable time in revision hell rewriting and rewriting to figure it out... Suddenly, I come to a point where I'm like--I know how this shit happens. In fact, I know how the entire story's going to play out. How my characters get from the A to B to C to D, how the story starts, how it all links together, how my story can even be summarized, and while yeah, I might trunk it all in the end, but for this draft--I know how everything works.

And since I'm in revisions, I figured I should write it all down just so I make sure I do have a story intact. Because that's what everyone has to do right? You have to write that query letter... or synopsis... eventually... and make sure you do have a story somewhere... So I do that, and then I go start writing this new draft...

And suddenly, I'm stumped. I hit a block, and I am 70%* sure this feeling's there because I know how the story plays out, leaving me nothing left to explore the way I had to for the first draft/in revisions, and this leaves me... Stuck.

[tl;dr] So I'm wondering, how do you pantsers do it? When you've reached the point where you're like oh, this is the story! Except it's too early, and you still need to draft it out, a whole draft in fact, but nothing's coming out and that's maybe to be expected, because so far you relied on not knowing the details to write? How do you get the next draft down then? How?

I don't know how much help I can be since it appears our approaches to story differ. I am a 100% pantser and story is more than what happened and how it happened; it's also about why it happened and how my character(s) felt and dealt with it internally as well as externally. And I'm never blocked for much more than a day while writing—often distracted by daily life, but not blocked. Blocks occur when I'm casting about for a story idea; that's when I end up sending out a "casting call" for characters to tell me their stories and if one interests me enough, I start writing. If not, I keep looking for an interesting character with an interesting enough story.

So the story isn't done until those characters are alive on the page and I can feel their emotions with them.

My process looks something like this:

A character "comes" to me and says "let me tell you my story" and I start writing, carrying on a dialogue (so to speak) with the character all along the way, asking questions, etc.
I proof and revise as I go so there's little to do in that regard on the backend—some but not much.
The first full revision pass is all about the character(s) and the reader's emotions. Are they there, can I still feel them? If not, fix. (Donald Maass' The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface helps me identify where I can get that down right.)
The next and final pass is about action scenes and corresponding sequels or follow-ups. This is for pacing and to verify emotions and the effects of the action scenes on the character(s). (Huge help with this was and is my copy of Thanks, But This Isn't for Us: A (Sort of) Compassionate Guide to Why Your Writing is Being Rejected by Jessica Morrell.)

And, yes, I have far too many books on the craft of writing, but there ya go.

Margrave86 · May 27, 2019

I don't want to sound rude, but it sounds like you're trying to duck out of doing the hard work. Treating writing as some kind of numinous journey into the human soul is fine in small doses, but if you can't sit back, take an objective eye to your work, and think "This needs to be cut" or "I need a linking sentence here", I think you'll keep running into this problem.

Take the best dreamy nuggets you come up with, and focus on how to use the cold, logical mechanics of writing to make them shine. It's not easy, but hard work never is.

Harlequin · May 27, 2019

How I manage: I write developmental synopses as I go. I recommend PubCrawl's one page synopsis exercise as it will show you any logical gaps in your story up to that point.

BethS · May 27, 2019

Dysnomia said:
And suddenly, I'm stumped. I hit a block, and I am 70%* sure this feeling's there because I know how the story plays out, leaving me nothing left to explore the way I had to for the first draft/in revisions, and this leaves me... Stuck.

[tl;dr] So I'm wondering, how do you pantsers do it? When you've reached the point where you're like oh, this is the story! Except it's too early, and you still need to draft it out, a whole draft in fact, but nothing's coming out and that's maybe to be expected, because so far you relied on not knowing the details to write? How do you get the next draft down then? How?

* - (...the other 25%'s probably because my mind is doing that stupid thing again where it sees the outline as being the entire story being written already, and so it refuses to go on. As for the last 5%, I dunno what it is.)

This sounds a lot like me. When I know too much or think I know too much about how things are going to play out, I lose interest in actually writing it.

So what I do is tell myself (successful writing often involves various mind games) that it's really going to come out differently than I expected anyway, so I may as well write the next thing I know that happens, 'cause after that, who knows?

And it actually turns out to be true that it all turns out differently. Because my brain only wants to tell a story once.

I've sometimes wondered what I'll do if/when one day an editor asks for a synopsis of an unwritten novel. Because 1) I probably couldn't synopsize an unwritten story, and 2) even if I could, it would be guaranteed to be a story I'd never write.

Interesting dilemma.

Layla Nahar · May 27, 2019

BethS said:
(successful writing often involves various mind games)

QFT

I write my first version on paper. I call myself a 'look-back' writer. I write what is happening now as a logical outcome of what has happened so far. When it's done it's a proper story. Then begins the tedious process of making an e-doc. So, I'm writing the story again, even though I've already written it once. The only thing that is different is that I have an awareness that in some parts I have to write less, to cut back, in some parts I have to expand or go more in-depth. So there are parts that I'm basically just transcribing. So some parts of the process are a bit tedious. Sometimes we just have to suck things up?

guyjin37 · May 27, 2019

I feel you--your whole first paragraph is me exactly. When you're revising, do you completely rewrite? I just can't do that. It doesn't work for me to actually do the physical rewriting process on a story that I've already written.

I found that the best way to edit for me was to do more surgical edits to the existing manuscript. I'll reread until I find a part that needs a substantial revision and then make a bunch of white space. As a pantser, it helps to see that space and the freedom in entails, but I still know where it's going to end up. But somehow the excitement of getting to that endpoint (the next chapter, perhaps) with a blank slate helps the story usually find an organic way of getting there.

Occasionally this will also uncover problems with my stories, which can be a hassle since it might mean rewriting subsequent chapters. But I end up with something that feels much stronger and true to itself. The characters end up with better and more natural motivations.

Not sure if it'd work for you based on your current revision process, but could be worth exploring!

Dysnomia · May 28, 2019

BethS said:
When I know too much or think I know too much about how things are going to play out, I lose interest in actually writing it.

Arrrrgggghhh, yess!! This!! This is what I am too. You wrote it in way fewer words than I did about what precisely is the problem.

BethS said:
So what I do is tell myself (successful writing often involves various mind games) that it's really going to come out differently than I expected anyway, so I may as well write the next thing I know that happens, 'cause after that, who knows?

That's true. There are way too many times things turned out differently upon writing it out and I should remind myself this will happen again. Except it's kinda sorta making scared that that shiny, finally workable synopsis I bled my fingers all over for might amount to nothing... Actually, it's making me very scared. All my nerves are screaming nooo, don't do it! That's the first real guideline you have! You tore all your hair out for this! You story will be much better if you just stick with this----- Ugh.

Have to remind myself a synopsis won't mean crap if I don't have the actual draft to back it up, though.

BethS said:
I've sometimes wondered what I'll do if/when one day an editor asks for a synopsis of an unwritten novel. Because 1) I probably couldn't synopsize an unwritten story, and 2) even if I could, it would be guaranteed to be a story I'd never write.

Interesting dilemma.

That. Is exactly what will happen to me too. :flag:

Layla Nahar said:
I write my first version on paper. I call myself a 'look-back' writer. I write what is happening now as a logical outcome of what has happened so far. When it's done it's a proper story. Then begins the tedious process of making an e-doc. So, I'm writing the story again, even though I've already written it once. The only thing that is different is that I have an awareness that in some parts I have to write less, to cut back, in some parts I have to expand or go more in-depth. So there are parts that I'm basically just transcribing. So some parts of the process are a bit tedious. Sometimes we just have to suck things up?

Oh! That's a good idea. I did try writing the new scenes by hand and yeah, things were able to come out easier that way (I guess partly because my mind sees it as having less pressure to be perfect?). Maybe for this draft, I will have to do it this way after all. I will give it a shot!!

And yeap, maybe a large part of this all is that I just need to suck things up. Oh well. More rounds of hell for that diamond it will be at the end....hopefully.

guyjin37 said:
I found that the best way to edit for me was to do more surgical edits to the existing manuscript.

I was really hoping I could do this. But then my previous draft was just one big mess so I was like, you've got to do a rewrite. I sure do hope I can get to this stage in future, though!!

Thank you all for your feedback! Much good advice here!

lizmonster · May 28, 2019

One of the first things I learned is that for me, at least, revising is a completely different thing than drafting.

In my case, the first draft is kind of like...Power Point slides? I write it through and end up with the major bullet points of the story. Some of them are more fleshed out than others, some are out of order, some are obviously unnecessary now that I've reached the end.

As a general rule I start revising by printing the whole thing out and making notes in line, including tossing whole chapters or bracketing scenes with helpful phrases like USE DIFFERENT CHARACTER HERE or UGH MAKE THIS BETTER. I also make notes on where I need to do research or pay attention to continuity.

Sometimes the early revisions are complete rewrites. I've done this more than once, even after writing 100K+ words, although usually there's a scene or two that sticks. Getting a book to for-real done has taken me between 6 and 15 drafts each time. First draft to finished takes me between 1 and 3 years.

But this is me. What works for someone else is completely different. I will say I found some inspiration in Holly Lisle's one-pass revision method - I've never done all of it, and never in a single pass, but she includes some focus exercises and revision suggestions that I've found work well.

TL;DR: Revision is not the same experience as drafting (for me). It's got a different feel and a different pace, and involves a whole different set of skills.

Cindyt · May 28, 2019

I've written two books, which are still in revision. I repeat drafts until I know the story elements are done, then I revise the grammar and such.

Carrie in PA · May 28, 2019

BethS said:
(successful writing often involves various mind games)

YESSSSSSSSS. Even though I know I'm BSing myself sometimes, it works. Those crazy brains, amirite??

lizmonster said:
One of the first things I learned is that for me, at least, revising is a completely different thing than drafting.

In my case, the first draft is kind of like...Power Point slides? I write it through and end up with the major bullet points of the story. Some of them are more fleshed out than others, some are out of order, some are obviously unnecessary now that I've reached the end.

As a general rule I start revising by printing the whole thing out and making notes in line, including tossing whole chapters or bracketing scenes with helpful phrases like USE DIFFERENT CHARACTER HERE or UGH MAKE THIS BETTER. I also make notes on where I need to do research or pay attention to continuity.

<snip>

TL;DR: Revision is not the same experience as drafting (for me). It's got a different feel and a different pace, and involves a whole different set of skills.

My experience is similar, but unsurprisingly has some differences. My first draft is pretty light on detail. I'm one of those writers who rarely cuts words, even though conventional wisdom says you're "supposed to." I like the Power Point analogy. My first drafts hit the highlights. I, however, don't write out of order. Like, ever. It gives me all kinds of anxiety to even consider doing such a wild and reckless thing. What's next, white shoes after Labor Day???? *clutches pearls*

I also print out the first draft for my first round of revisions and also mark the whole thing up with notes, stickies, highlights, big red Xs, and smiley faces. I'm also making sure any relevant dates are correct (ex/ if Christmas is on a Friday, I make sure New Year's isn't a Tuesday).

Then I go back to the computer for the next round of revision. This is where I work in small sections. (It's one of those brain tricks - revising 80K words is overwhelming. Revising 10 pages is not.) This is where I'm adding setting, emotion, detail, etc.

I agree 100% that (for me) revising is a whole different ballgame than drafting. It definitely requires different skills, and a certain ruthlessness that isn't necessary (and is, in fact, a detriment) while drafting.

lizmonster · May 28, 2019

Carrie in PA said:
My experience is similar, but unsurprisingly has some differences. My first draft is pretty light on detail. I'm one of those writers who rarely cuts words, even though conventional wisdom says you're "supposed to." I like the Power Point analogy. My first drafts hit the highlights. I, however, don't write out of order. Like, ever. It gives me all kinds of anxiety to even consider doing such a wild and reckless thing. What's next, white shoes after Labor Day???? *clutches pearls*

Oh, I don't write out of order, either! I miss way too much nuance if I try to do that. But my first drafts are super long - like 180K for a book that ends up at 130K. Some of that happens because I occasionally decide something different is going to happen than what I was building up to, so I have to build up to the new thing. But you never know what good bits are in the stuff you're ultimately going to lose - character bits in particular often get repurposed. (I love my character bits.

)

Carrie in PA said:
It definitely requires different skills, and a certain ruthlessness that isn't necessary (and is, in fact, a detriment) while drafting.

This is such an important point. Drafting (especially for pantsers, I think) works best if you're completely free with your ideas. Drafting requires abandon.

BethS · May 28, 2019

lizmonster said:
Drafting (especially for pantsers, I think) works best if you're completely free with your ideas. Drafting requires abandon.

Oh yes. Scribbling on the walls. Running with scissors. Metaphorically speaking.

Laer Carroll · May 28, 2019

Every writer is different, as this thread shows. I've noticed over the years with AW that few people are at either far end of the spectrum between total planning and total improvisation. And there are lots of variations in how much and what kind of planning/improv people use.

BlackKnight1974 · May 29, 2019

lizmonster said:
One of the first things I learned is that for me, at least, revising is a completely different thing than drafting.

This

I'm 100% pantser. I start off knowing a bit about a couple of my key characters, a couple of crucial points of the plot and a (sort of) ending. After that, I just let it kind of write itself and develop as it goes. If I get stuck at any point, then I allow myself to go onto the next scene, but I try to make myself come back to it before I get too far ahead.

I would consider mine to be the "bad powerpoint approach". That is to say that my first draft is like the terrible powerpoint presentations you get (normally on technical subjects), where the presenter writes everything on the slide and then proceeds to read it out ("yeah, thanks for that, I can actually read"). As a result of my wandering (and waffling), I end up with a first draft that it is ridiculously overlong. I am then forced to ruthlessly wield the delete-key-scalpel, cutting out characters/scenes/adverbs/excessive description.

I'm currently on my third pass - and by crikey does it feel like it's taking forever!

TLDR: I tend to go on (and on) when drafting and am then forced to suffer for it when it comes to editing

anaemic_mind · May 29, 2019

BlackKnight1974 said:
This

I'm 100% pantser. I start off knowing a bit about a couple of my key characters, a couple of crucial points of the plot and a (sort of) ending. After that, I just let it kind of write itself and develop as it goes. If I get stuck at any point, then I allow myself to go onto the next scene, but I try to make myself come back to it before I get too far ahead.

I would consider mine to be the "bad powerpoint approach". That is to say that my first draft is like the terrible powerpoint presentations you get (normally on technical subjects), where the presenter writes everything on the slide and then proceeds to read it out ("yeah, thanks for that, I can actually read"). As a result of my wandering (and waffling), I end up with a first draft that it is ridiculously overlong. I am then forced to ruthlessly wield the delete-key-scalpel, cutting out characters/scenes/adverbs/excessive description.

I'm currently on my third pass - and by crikey does it feel like it's taking forever!

TLDR: I tend to go on (and on) when drafting and am then forced to suffer for it when it comes to editing

I am very new to writing but you have described me!

Last year I started with a single scene and a handful of characters and just started writing with no real idea where it was heading. Then I just kept writing for the rest of the year until I had a doorstop about a year in the life of my characters and pretty much everything that happened to them. Now mid way through editing/rewriting the second draft and an awful lot has ended up in the 'discarded scenes' file and whole lot more has ended up in the ?novel #2/3 files.

Getting there...but yes it feels like it's taking forever. I miss that joyous just writing and not caring about word count stage.

Dysnomia · May 31, 2019

lizmonster said:
Sometimes the early revisions are complete rewrites. I've done this more than once, even after writing 100K+ words, although usually there's a scene or two that sticks. Getting a book to for-real done has taken me between 6 and 15 drafts each time. First draft to finished takes me between 1 and 3 years.

This seems to be where I'm at now.... Rewriting and rewriting for that actual, workable first draft

I have a question though! Just to get more insight on how other writers do things... When you do the rewrites, are they all Power Point-light like your first draft is?

Or did I assume wrongly and you meant the first draft, at least, is usually workable enough to build up on... :gone:

anaemic_mind said:
I miss that joyous just writing and not caring

Me too

And yes, it's taking forever for me too... Ughhh....

Margrave86 · May 31, 2019

The trick is to underwrite your first draft. Focus on dialog, basic descriptions of narrative action, and telling emotions instead of showing. All you need is a blueprint of what the story is, not the actual story--you'll end up rewriting it all anyway, so make it easy on yourself. If you do come up with a neat snippet of prose, stick it into a comment beside your manuscript instead of rewriting the manuscript to accommodate it. Then, when you have a workable foundation, read through it and add more comments (speaking of, are you using comments in your word processor? because you should be) identifying the parts that need changing. "Add reference to plot twist here" or "remove this, doesn't fit character motivation" or "needs more atmospheric description" or "come up with a way to show this instead of telling it". If you start by looking at the big picture, then it's much easier to identify which fine details you'll actually need.

lizmonster · May 31, 2019

Dysnomia said:
This seems to be where I'm at now.... Rewriting and rewriting for that actual, workable first draft

I have a question though! Just to get more insight on how other writers do things... When you do the rewrites, are they all Power Point-light like your first draft is?

I suppose Power Point is not really a great analogy for what I do.

My first drafts tend to be very long, and often go into way too much detail - but they're what I use to figure out what the story is going to be. They're the whole story, but mushy and unwieldy, and they include bits that need far more information and bits that need to be completely removed.

Maybe a better analogy is that my first drafts are really, really detailed outlines that I've come up with through a lot of trial and error and are therefore less structured than a story requires.

How much work follows depends on how quickly I can identify which bits do and don't belong. I've gone down some ratholes hanging on to bits of story that I love but need to go - one book was on draft 4 or 5 (I think) before I realized the first ~40K was superfluous. After seven books - five completed - I'd like to say I'm getting more efficient, but that would be a lie.

It varies widely from book to book. The only common trait seems to be that my first drafts are always overlong and exploratory.

But yeah, there are long sequences in the final versions that are virtually unchanged from the first draft, just as there are sequences that I dashed out to round out the final draft.

TellMeAStory · May 31, 2019

...and MY first drafts are intended to be final products, but I get stuff wrong and have to go back...and back...and back.

Laer Carroll · Jun 15, 2019

As the comments show, everyone does it differently.

In my case I improvise everything. But I never have to rewrite, the way I used to do when starting out. Now through much practice I get it nearly perfectly right the first time through, needing only very minor rewriting. All those failures weren't failures. They were practice.

And now after all those years of tiny successes I'm actually making a living wage at writing - which I don't really need, having retired with three substantial pensions. The extra money lets me get some (often unneeded) luxuries. So hang in there people. It can happen to you too.

Girlsgottawrite · Jun 16, 2019

I totally feel you! I'm the type of person who underwrites my first draft. I race through to the end because that's how I figure out where it's going. Of course, that usually results in the need for huge changes in the original draft and a lot of material that needs to be added. Just like you, I find that early revision stage to be a bit overwhelming. Here's the process that seems to be working for me:

After I've finished my first draft I read back through it with the knowledge of my ending and highlight / comment where things need to be changed. I'll even add notes about the chapters that need to be added in sections.

Next, I start from the beginning again and read through editing as I go.

When I reach a part that needs to be completely re-hauled, I will move whatever sections I'm not using (sometimes the whole chapter) into my "extra" file, in case there are any little nuggets in there I'd like to cultivate later. Then I rewrite.

Here's the trick that seems to be really helping me write these new sections: I walk away.
I take a bath, go for a walk or a drive, or sit outside in the sun and run through the scene like a movie in my head. It tends to emerge more naturally (and enjoyably) for me this way, and then, when I sit to write, I have the scene already written in my head. It will still change as I write it, like BethS said, but it's working for me and makes the act of actually writing run more quickly and more smoothly.

gmbaker · Jun 16, 2019

The danger of pantsing is that you can end up creating a long and involved history that is not a story. If that is what you end up with, revising a history into a story can be tortuous. (I say this from bitter experience.)

Stories have shape. There are many different ways to conceive of that shape (and there may be more than one), but the one I have found most useful for me is this: At the heart of every story there is a point of decision. The protagonist has to choose between two values. This choice is hard, so the protagonist tries at avoid it. The first half of the book consists of establishing the two values and gradually forcing the protagonist into a situation where they must choose between them. The second half then consists of examining the consequences of the choice and demonstrating that the protagonist had genuinely made the choice and stuck with it (or, alternatively, wimped out on it.)

So, if you have pantsed a novel and you are sitting down to revise it, one approach would be to identify the moment of decision and then to ask of all the scenes that precede the decision whether or not their either establish the values at stake, or force the protagonist towards the point where they have to make the decision, and then whether everything that follows demonstrates that the choice was made and explores it consequences.

This is, of course, an oversimplification, but every tool is an oversimplification. This one works for me. Mostly.

It also changes how I approach a project now. Pretty early on I ask myself, what is the choice of values at the heart of this story, then start working towards it.

Bufty · Jun 18, 2019

Or you could look on it from the view that a story does not usually consist of normality. The sooner the normality of the character's life is interrupted and the character is set upon a path from which there is no turning back the better. What causes that interruption is called the first inciting incident and it should be reached as soon as possible. The 'incident' depends totally upon what kind of story is being written.

It often places the character in a predicament and therefore establishes a goal for the character - how to overcome whatever this predicament is or has caused, and everything that follows should be connected to the attaining of that goal.

Many other goals may arise during the journey but every sentence and paragraph and scene and chapter is driven by - and linked to - the content of the previous sentence, paragraph, scene or chapter.

The establishment of an initial goal also gives the reader a question to latch onto - will that goal be achieved? And it is the desire to find out if goals are achieved that keeps a reader turning pages, assuming of course the writing is of such a standard that the tale unfolds with flow and clarity. Set no goals and the reader has no reason to turn the page. Flow and clarity normally improve with reading, practice, and experience.

The pantser who has created goals (be they character/scene/chapter/story goals) but ends up with no story or a story going nowhere can usually track back to a point where the previously mentioned linkage is broken.

A pantser should always be in control even though the journey and ending may be unknown and a long way off, but if everything happens as a result of what has gone before and we listen to our characters the ending will eventually reveal itself - sometimes in a most unexpected and rewarding way.

gmbaker said:
The danger of pantsing is that you can end up creating a long and involved history that is not a story. If that is what you end up with, revising a history into a story can be tortuous. (I say this from bitter experience.)

Stories have shape. There are many different ways to conceive of that shape (and there may be more than one), but the one I have found most useful for me is this: At the heart of every story there is a point of decision. The protagonist has to choose between two values. This choice is hard, so the protagonist tries at avoid it. The first half of the book consists of establishing the two values and gradually forcing the protagonist into a situation where they must choose between them. The second half then consists of examining the consequences of the choice and demonstrating that the protagonist had genuinely made the choice and stuck with it (or, alternatively, wimped out on it.)

So, if you have pantsed a novel and you are sitting down to revise it, one approach would be to identify the moment of decision and then to ask of all the scenes that precede the decision whether or not their either establish the values at stake, or force the protagonist towards the point where they have to make the decision, and then whether everything that follows demonstrates that the choice was made and explores it consequences.

This is, of course, an oversimplification, but every tool is an oversimplification. This one works for me. Mostly.

It also changes how I approach a project now. Pretty early on I ask myself, what is the choice of values at the heart of this story, then start working towards it.

Pansters and revisions.....

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