Please welcome, friend and author Pierre C Arseneault...

...to the blog this week.  Hi Pierre, thanks very much for making time in your busy schedule to be here today.  So, Pierre, just how much do you think you should have plotted out to start writing?

PCA  The answer to this question will be different for everyone as it’s the same as asking if you’re a plotter or a pantser.  Although there is also the lesser known term plantser, which is a blend of the two, which I feel that I am for the most part. There have been times when I’ve started short stories knowing the beginning and the ending but I didn’t have a plan on how to write the middle.  This is why I often state that the middle is the most difficult part for me, although in short stories, you can just write until you feel satisfied.  It’s different when trying this with a novel as there is a word count to also worry about, making the middle an even bigger challenge in an effort to have a novel when finished.  This usually has me mildly obsessing over word count.  A short story called 'Filjan, Filjan' comes to mind.  I know the title is odd and you’ll just have to get a copy of Sleepless Nights and read it to know what it means.  But with that said, when I wrote this story, I had the beginning and the ending firmly in mind, but didn’t have any of the middle. None.  Not even the why it would end the way it did and why Andrew was the way he was.  I just started writing.
Another example is my novel Poplar Falls: the death of Charlie Baker.

I’m sitting at my computer and the urge to write is huge but I’ve no idea what to write.  The blank page to me, represents endless possibilities as it could be anything.  I just knew I wanted to write a novel and it wouldn’t be horror this time. Dark, sure but nothing horrific or scary.  On my bookshelf, facing me was a book which I had recently finished reading called 'Gerald’s Game' by Stephen King.  The image on the cover sparked an idea and I began writing.  I started with nothing but an opening combined with an urge to write and made it to about 15 thousand words before hitting a wall.  I was stuck.  I had no idea how I wanted to continue this story I had gotten so invested in.  I set it aside for a bit and when I came back to it, I made some changes and started over.  Again, I made it about 15 thousand words in and blocked again.

Frustrated, I whipped out a pack of post-its and notepads and started planning what should happen to each character and their storylines.  I compiled these notes, figured out what order they should be in and began writing again.  So now I had a book that I started pantsing and then plotted out the rest making this a plantser novel.  And after over 20 short stories and five novels (3 published so far), I can tell you that I’m still trying to figure out what works best for me.  I think the story idea will play a really big role in this for me.  My next horror novel called Maple Springs, which is set to come out in October 2022 was completely pantsed.  I tried to plot when I hit walls and wasn’t able to.  Instead I kept working on it and ended up pantsing it entirely.

As for my short story, The Path to Redemption in the Autumn Paths anthology, it started with the seed of a character with a secret path to school to avoid bullies and it evolved from there.

You can follow Pierre on his Website  Facebook  and on Twitter   

You can get his books on Amazon  and a copy of Autumn Paths Here

You can read  more about the anthology Here Here and Here  and on March, 15th another author with a story in the Autumn Paths anthology will be visiting the blog.  Come and join us then...