Once, in days of yore, I was what we in the industry call a pantser. No, not in the childish prank sense, but rather in the “just dive in and write with no plan” sense. I still consider myself one to an extent, but not as much.
These days, I use a story treatment to figure out a story before I sit down to write it. A story treatment is not an outline (which I have tried using before and tends to derail me ferociously) but rather a piece of prose writing that tells the story in brief before you sit down to show it in the draft. I consider it draft 0.5 if you will. So, I pants my way through the treatment, rework it as much as necessary, and then write the draft.
But, even with a treatment in hand, things always change when drafting a story. As the great Terry Brooks says in “Sometimes the Magic Works,” nothing informs the telling of a story like the actual writing of it. Sometimes, your choice reveals itself to be weaker than you thought. Sometimes, you come up with a much better idea. Sometimes, the execution of something you prepared just surprises you.
A recent case in point: one of the new locations the party explores in my forthcoming final book in the Roc Rider trilogy. The fortress of Thunder Hold, a long abandoned roc rider stronghold, had a few defining features in the treatment. Most prominent among these was that it was next to impossible to find from the ground unless you knew what you were looking for. The only reliable way to locate it is from the air.
This I knew going in, but as I crafted the scene of discovering this location, new realities emerged on the page. It soon became apparent that time and overgrowth had eroded the coherent shape of the fortress, even from roc back, making it difficult to distinguish from the surrounding mountainside.
What’s a rider to do?
Rely on the superior senses of his mount, of course! A feature only a roc would gravitate towards at first blush ultimately reveals the holds’ location to Tanin et al. With that feature discovered, Tanin then discerns the remaining ruins.
While I don’t want to give too much away, considering the book is still forthcoming, I adore this scene’s imagery. It involves something practical and domestic for the comfort of the rocs and their riders, serving an essential military function for the riders as well. It further illustrates the need for rocs and riders to have a strong bond and trust each other’s senses.
And on a personal level, it represents the sense of discovery that makes my work so fun to produce. These delightful surprises are one of the many reasons I love the drafting phase of writing. I hope you’ll enjoy the scene as much as I do when the book is in your hands.
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