Pantsing

I’m a pantser as an author. I don’t create detailed outlines about the plot before I start writing, or spend much time figuring out what kind of world I’m setting my books in. I do research when it’s needed and solve problems when they occur. My brain simply refuses to come up with anything interesting unless there’s something tangible for it to work on, so I just start writing and figure things out as I go.

I don’t go in completely blindly though. I need a premise and a good beginning, which might change later. I decide beforehand how long a book I’m going to write, how many chapters it’ll be, and how many words per chapter, all of which might change too. I know the ending I’m aiming at, usually a happily ever after or a crime solved. I know the basic structure—usually four or five short acts—and I aim at the end of the closest one at a time, where there is a twist of some kind. A random body might show up that’ll prompt me to a new direction. It’s worked more or less well for me for over thirty books.

However, as a series progress, some more planning tends to take place. The continuing backstory often influences the plot. I have a notion of which recurring characters will show up, the direction where the lives of main characters are heading, and what should happen in the lives of the minor characters. I don’t write things down beforehand, but somehow everything seems to fit. And surprises still happen.

Occasionally, the lack of planning results in the plot heading to a direction that won’t work. I then need to backtrack and rewrite, occasionally large patches even. In general, writing the way I write requires constant tweaking and rewriting. The first draft is also second, third and fifth.

And occasionally the story stalls completely. This happens almost every time, so I’ve learned to live with it. I’ll give it time, and the solution will come to me. Another rewrite might happen at this point.

Every now and then, however, I start a writing project without any plans whatsoever. Most often it’s because I’ve come up with an excellent opening line and I want to see where it leads. More often than not, it doesn’t lead to more than a couple of thousand words and an unfinished short story. But I have a side project in making that started as an opening line and which is now half a book with a clear idea of two more.

This weekend, an opening line prompted me to start a short story that practically writes itself. In fact, it’s going so well, that it can no longer be called a short story, and it’ll likely end up being a novelette. It’s nothing live I’ve written before—an isekai time loop story in a manner of Japanese light novels and mangas—which makes it so fun. I’ll very likely finish it too. Whether it’ll ever be published is another issue entirely, but at least I’ve tried something new—and gotten the opening line off my chest.

Character studies

I have a favourite web manhwa called Jinx, officially published on a platform called Lezhin. It’s a very NSFW Korean boylove (loosely applied) drama about a sweetest of sweet sub, Kim Dan, and the reddest of red flag dom, Joo Jaekyung. It’s approaching episode 50 and there’s still no romance to speak of, and unless Mr. Joo has a personality transplant, it’ll take another 50 before the happily ever after.

Joo Jaekyung and Kim Dan in Jinx by Mingwa

Webcomics are one of the few forms of fiction out there anymore where new episodes are delivered once a week—or in case of Jinx, every ten days—and the reader or viewer has to wait for their next fix instead of streaming everything when they wish. And not many of them happen globally at once. But Jinx is published simultaneously in Korean, English and Spanish, allowing the fans all over the world a chance to gather together to talk about the latest episode at the same time.

One could argue that streaming a whole series enables this too, but the conversations are often about the larger picture when talking about the whole series, and people stream whenever they wish, so they join the conversation in their own pace. Readers of Jinx are united in their agony of waiting, so they gather together to analyse every new episode for its minutest detail. And with a TV series, the attention seldom is on characters the way it is on Joo Jaekyung.

Mr. Joo is a bully, in and out of bed, and few are brave enough to call him on it. Kim Dan bears the brunt of it, but because he’s financially dependent on Mr. Joo, and because Mr. Joo has occasionally been nice to him, he does it willingly. Korean culture might come into play here as well, because Kim Dan mostly does it for his grandmother who is ill. And recently, he’s developed romantic feelings.

Joo Jaekyung in Jinx by Mingwa

Fandom is divided. There are those who hate Mr. Joo with passion. I don’t know why they return week after week, as it’s not a free comic. Then there are the apologists. Mr. Joo has to have a reason for his behaviour. Latest episode (ep. 49) hinted at him being bullied as a child, which sent the speculations on overdrive. And then there are those of us who are waiting for him to come to his senses, one way or another.

(As an aside, Joo Jaekyung, an MMA fighter, is never violent against Kim Dan. I think it would be game over for most of us, if he were.)

As a reader, I’m in for the ride. As a writer though, I read the commentary with fascination. It’s interesting to realise how differently people interpret the few panels of each episode. How some see goodness in smallest details, and are willing to forgive almost everything for love that surely must wait in the end. How for others, character change isn’t possible. Some put their hopes in events that must knock some sense into Mr. Joo, which others discard instantly.

Reading novels and their reviews, I’ve often wondered how people can interpret the same characters so differently. Here, the same happens in real time, and I still don’t quite understand it (though it does explain some real-life behaviour people show in their relationships). As a writer, however, it gives me a bit more confidence to write the characters the way I want. They’ll be interpreted the way I didn’t intend to anyway, for reasons I’m unable to fathom.

Mingwa, the author-artist of Jinx, seems to know this well. Or they simply make the most of the form of serialised comic that almost demands there’s a twist in every episode. So far, Joo Jaekyung hasn’t behaved quite as readers expect him to between one episode and next, and I doubt he ever will. The latest episode ended at a nailbiter that’ll surely result in Mr. Joo blowing his gasket in the next, and Kim Dan will be the target. But it might just as well go completely differently.

Final panel of ep. 49 of Jinx by Mingwa

I don’t quite have the confidence to make my characters behave so differently between one moment and the next. But it makes for an interesting reading, so maybe in the future, I’ll be able to losen up a bit with them. Something to look forward to.