Writing by the seat of your pants

Now that I think about it, anything "by the seat of your pants" sounds like a weird thing. It probably means the car cushion or something, historically. But its still a odd thing to say. Where, exactly, is the seat of my pants? Not the seat of me, or my butt, but of my pants.

Pictured: seat of your pants (Credit: Morguefile.com)

Anyway, I've come to a good realization. Not very startling. Just stumbled upon it this month. As I have been chipping ever so diligently (might I say, even obsessively) at the new series for BigWorldNetwork.com, I've been forced to think about what I learned from my last, not so stellar season/ series.

In general, I tend to write by the seat of my pants. I get a vague skeletal structure to work off of, a great cast of characters with tons of conflict to drive the story, and some sort of fantastical/mysterious element (I like fantasy and I think "mystery" is compelling) to keep it fun. Then I set out to write as my fingers so fall. Its not a bad practice, as so much as misguided. For a personal, novel length project, it can work. But for a weekly updated e-series, not so much. Which was my first mistake with Adeline.

Originally Titled "How Adventure Bit A Polite Society Lady in the Arse"

I had a silly idea, written down on 5 pages. Inspired by "Pirates in an Adventure with Scientists" no less. It was meant to be just goofy fun. I wasn't even going to do anything more with those 5 pages, besides let them sit on my computer to be forgotten. But then one fateful day, while reading one of the multitudes of webcomics I read, I stumbled across a banner for BigWorldNetwork. It looked like a webcomic, actually. In my never-ending quest for more webcomics to read, I clicked on it - to discover it was an e-series! Now, slightly curious, I clicked on the submissions tab and discovered they really didn't have much of a policy besides "submit here please."

Which I did. I took Adeline, an idea I wasn't too particularly attached to that had 5 pages of an intro episode, and sent it in with an introductory email. I figured, what the hell, right? If they like it, it could be a fun experience. If they dont like it, no harm done. Color me surprised when they liked it. The only problem was I didn't have anything planned, like, at ALL. I just had the intro to an odd-world, a reluctant heroine, and an idea about Pirates. Essentially, I wrote by the seat of my pants. And the story paid for it. Because I never was enamoured with the idea in the first place.

NOT my plot (Credit: Morguefile.com)

Oh sure, I boned out a plot, but it was flimsy and ill-fated at best. Each part fell into place after the current episode was written. Word of advice: DONT DO THIS! Its a BAD IDEA.

The second season was better in some places and worse in others. I didn't even have a vague theme to work with this time. At least the first season was Pirates! The second one I came up with in the middle of projects, furiously scribbling out my ideas on an expansive white board. I know everyone has their own method for brainstorming and inception, but I tend to do it in a linear fashion: as in, I write out every last thought, be it stupid or genius in sentence/ paragraph form. It works for me.

something like this, but with much more words

In the end, Season 2 suffered from a lack in character arcs, a flimsy story, and a rushed ending.

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This time around I fully intend to do this better. Again, not right, but improved. I'll learn from my last series and plan, actually plan. Thing is, this e-series spans (from the looks of things) a couple of seasons. It requires specific episodes to set up very specific plot points – while balancing multiple sub plots, characters, and Big Bads. I've been using two particular tv-series to model off of. Well, I use "model" liberally. I figure this style of writing is more the intersection of where novel meets tv-series. We'll see how this all pans out, but I have every intention of creating a sturdy skeleton to work off of before diving into the language and style of the story itself.