Humans Don’t Have Horns and Crowns Don’t Make Queens are available in Paperback and eBook + KU.
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“A pantser is a term most commonly applied to fiction writers, especially novelists, who write their stories “by the seat of their pants.” The opposite would be a plotter, or someone who uses outlines to help plot out their novels. Many writers fall into one camp or the other, though it’s not uncommon for writers to try both methods from book to book.”
Robert Lee Brewer, Writer’s Digest
I wrote Humans Don’t Have Horns almost entirely as a Pantser writer. It worked well. Then I started book two, Crowns Don’t Make Queens, and discovered what happens when a fantasy writer leaves her future self absolutely no clues.
Some of the world-building I had created in Humans Don’t Have Horns limited what I could do next. Other things I wanted to develop had no groundwork.
This is why I feel fantasy is a particularly challenging genre for Pantsers.
When I finished Humans Don’t Have Horns, I didn’t even know why Lian’s hair was white or why she was mentioned in the prophecy. Those answers came much later, when I was already deep into writing Crowns Don’t Make Queens.
Now I’m writing book three of the Crown of Blood and Magic trilogy, and apparently I’m still a pantser at heart. My creative mind just can’t deal with plotting, despite the benefits in it.
I’m about 25,000 words into the first draft after deleting roughly half of what I’d written and changing quite a lot. My current approach is to draft the chapters roughly so I can see the whole story. It’s something like an extended outline, except I have to trick myself into writing it because my brain and actual outlines don’t get along.
This time, I have to know where the worldbuilding leads us. I also need to know the catharsis scene is cathartic. The more invested I become in a story as a reader, the more I need that final catharsis to earn everything that came before it. After three books, you deserve an ending that feels worth the journey.
I think I’ve found it. I hope you’ll feel that too when you read it.
The book’s shape is now in place through that climactic scene. I’m still working out the final chapters: where we get to see what happens afterward and where everyone ends up. I know what I want for the characters, so that part feels less daunting.
POV’s
Book three has new characters, some I’ve written only in the past few weeks. At the moment, though, there are no new POV’s, and I don’t plan to add any. But I learned enough not to swear by it.
I think I created so many POV’s because I’m a pantser. Monologues just appeared in my brain. But a story with so many POV’s brings its own challenges. I need all the threads in this tapestry to meet.
More thoughts
I’m still deciding how dark this book should go. Writing parts of this book have already taken me to some difficult places, and I’m asking myself how much of that journey I want to take you on. I love dark stories, but I’m trying to find the right balance for this one.
There is humor in it already, especially from one particular character. You know who I mean. More of those moments will come in later drafts. Right now I’m trying to make sure the story holds together before everyone gets their best lines.
Writing can be a lonely business, so I’d really love to hear from you. What are you hoping to see in book three? Which character, relationship, or unanswered question would you be devastated to reach the end without revisiting? Tell me what you need from this finale. I’m listening.
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