The "WHY?" in your story.
And why it's important.
This post is mainly directed towards new writers. Here’s a mistake I made writing my first big novel and what you can do to avoid doing the same thing.
I don’t know about you, but I always start my novel ideas with character, then comes the concept. If the concept comes first, I try to find the right character to fit into that world. Unfortunately for me, when writing this novel (one that I am currently finishing and querying soon), I had a really cool concept, and that’s pretty much it. Which is fine to start out with. Your first draft is supposed to be a chaotic mess. But I know now there’s a lot more planning you need to do before writing a book (sorry pantsers, from a former pantser).
Upon talking to a few of my coaches, I realized there was no reason why my inciting incident was happening to my characters—no origin. Then, I had a few mental breakdowns because how was I going to add in so much backstory to an already finished story? The work felt overwhelming and hard.
I pantsered a little too close to the sun that I forgot the most important question: Why?
1 This is the main reason I no longer see myself being a pantser and choosing the plotter route in future projects, especially now that I know how to plan a novel (let me know if you guys would like a post on this!).
Of course it’s the WHY of it all.
When someone is telling you gossip—or spilling the tea if you prefer—you want to know exactly what happened and HOW and WHY. Because we’re curious beings and need all the lore. If you want to tell a story, you need to be spilling it all so that no one is left unsatisfied with the thought: what was that all about?
To make this easier, here’s a list of questions I ask myself now to figure out the why and/or how you can ask yourself to make sure your “why” is strong enough.
Why is this happening to my main character specifically?
Why do these specific obstacles exist—what are they really testing?
Why is this inciting incident the thing that kicks everything off?
Why is this the major A plot point and not a B or C plot? And how to these subplots support the main plot?
Why this particular setting/time period?
Why does the plot need to escalate in this particular way?
These are only a few that can help guide you to a whole new understanding of your story. If you find that you’re not able to answer some of these questions, perhaps it’s time to check them over in your next draft.
It’s not easy adding in these elements when you’ve already done a first draft—or even two or three. And it often feels like tedious work, but it’s so worth it.
You can prevent having to add these in later on by planning your story in advance. Make sure you have all the big questions answered and this way you can begin, confident and knowledgeable of your story—which will only make it better!
A plotter is a writer who meticulously plans their novel in advance, often creating detailed outlines or maps of the story's structure. Conversely, a pantser is a writer who prefers to "fly by the seat of their pants," meaning they write without a strict plan and allow the story to unfold organically as they write.
I used to plot but it ended up sounding like non-fiction. I’m an intuitive and panspermia fits me because it’s innate (see the Myers-Briggs typology).
Is there an in between because I feel like I am both? I plan out scenes but then as I write I surprise myself. Let's say I plot my stories but I never stick to the script 😅