So, on my last entry jennygordon asked a very good question:

I'm curious - since I'm thinking of taking a more pantser-ing (is that even a word?!) approach with my new book. Do you find that you end up wandering down blind alleys and needing to throw out lots of what you've written with a pantser approach? Do you find it frustrating or liberating? I can see arguments for both approaches, but I'm particularly thinking of winging my new one a bit more because I think I killed the excitement of the last by over-plotting it

I started to answer her in the comments, but it got long (like everything I do! hee) so here's my long-story-long response:

The quickest, easiest answer to that is "Oh, god, yes." I throw out a lot of words.

Wings & Fangs: Bewitched was 113,431 words when I completed the first draft. Draft 2 was 77,891. Draft 3 was 75,361. The (current) final draft is 74,438. I threw out nearly 39k.

But I don't find that a problem. So I don't know that I can answer the "frustrating or liberating" question. I honestly cannot comprehend pre-plotting a story* (please read the footnote-- I have caveats). I can have an idea, but without knowing the main character, I have no story. And I find out about my character by writing their story.

Also, I write a lot of things that I'm well aware would never make it into a book-- backstory, scenes from other characters' perspectives, etc. So I have no qualms writing words that won't be seen by more than me & possibly some of my beta readers.

For me, the most frustrating part when it comes to over-writing is that I'll have Important Information stuck in a whole section of "unnecessary"-- so trying to find a way to work that into a different scene can drive me crazy (just ask b or Jess or my crit group!). But I can also find it insanely fun, like figuring out a puzzle. And when it clicks together-- that's the best feeling in the world.

That said, the story I'm revising now is much too long and I know it. Trying to get it down to size has definitely been frustrating. But knowing I couldn't have written the initial story any other way (I did use a very loose form of outlining-- once I'd gotten about 20k into it), I don't mind as much.

IMO, I think everyone should try plotting and everyone should try pants-ing, just to see what works for them. For me, I have to write myself into a story to find who the characters are and what's important to them. One of my forms of outlining is writing major scenes out of order and connecting them. A lot of what connects them will be deleted. A lot of the major scenes will have to be changed based on what I wrote in the connecting scenes. But that's what gets a story from the first line to THE END for me, so that's what I do. For other people, they can write out a whole plot before they write a single scene. Try whatever you want-- anything and everything-- and then stick with what works best for you.

Anyone else want to chime in...?

*I very much stand by this-- I cannot say "I want to write a horse book!" and plot one out. HOWEVER if I've decided I'm writing something I would like to be a series, once I know where that first book is going, I have to know the basics of what will happen in the other books. I have a horror of writing a first-in-a-series book & not putting in something necessary for later books! Also, since the next story I want to write has a fairy tale base, I already have that structure to go on & am pre-plotting the major events based on that. BUT I met the character first, then decided on the structure.