Planster lol I like that! Yes, I am still very much a planster. I never fully know where my stories are going until I get there. Same as before, I have a general idea and most times I have a vague ending in mind, but how I actually get there is anyone's guess. I guess the closest I get to planning is just making sure I'm always at least one full chapter ahead of myself, just in case I don't like the direction I'm going, I'll have time to change something. I don't know why it works for me, especially in suspense, but it just does. I had no idea the serial killer was going to be the MINE killer until I was about three chapters in and decided to have that be one of the things the police didn't report on the news. It's also a little exciting to write that way, for instance, I currently do not have the slightest idea how I'm going to resolve this hostage situation I have Roman in now. LOL Like not one iota, I'm just going to let my characters get out of it themselves.
I like the term plantser too! LOL That makes sense and does sound similar to how you used to write. It's impressive that you don't seem to write yourself into corners and plot holes with your suspense stories - or, if you do, you figure out a way out of them, which I guess is what makes it exciting for you! I would probably just get writer's block and give up, which I have done with suspense stories in the past LOL. Suspense is not my forte, but the last one I completed was pretty intricately planned out ahead of time. I can't imagine doing it any other way nowadays.
I still skew toward the planning end of the spectrum, but I'd consider myself more of a plantser on my current novel too. Like you, I have an idea of where it's going and some plot points planned out, but I figure out how I'm getting from point to point as I go. I'm trying to be more character-driven and let my characters take the reins instead of forcing them to go in a certain direction. Usually they still end up going where I want them to go, but every once in a while, they surprise me. A few chapters ago, there was a spark of something between my main character, Kevin, and another character who was never meant to have anything more than a platonic relationship with him. I was like, "Whoa, where did that come from?" but I was kind of intrigued by it, so I just kept writing the scene the way it wanted to play out, which was not at all the way I had planned it. And now I find myself questioning whether it's something I want to pursue further, which would change my plan for the rest of the story, or whether I should keep the relationship purely platonic, which I respect. I usually don't change my mind on big plot points like this so late in a story, so this is new territory for me, and it's a little bit scary... but, like you said, also kind of exciting? Anyway, it was on my mind last night, and that's what sparked that question.
I don't really think all that much has changed for me. When I first started up, I had a hard time keeping a flow. I sometimes didn't feel like writing, but now I feel more comfortable with it again and like you, try to write a little every day. I have it scheduled into my daily routine, After I shower, I come in here and write for at least an hour. Even if part of that is coming on here and responding to you. I generally only check this forum during my writing time. Sometimes I have a double writing day, usually when I update because it takes me almost an hour to html everything, so I tend to come back in the afternoon to write write.
Oh, I guess the thing that has changed is my willingness to write female characters now. I kind of enjoy writing Gerri, even though she's not always attached to a partner, but before I never even considered it. I still have difficulty writing Shiv for some reason. I even had an original female character in my first story, which I agree with you, people don't tend to like. I seem to pop in at least a handful or original characters in everything I write now.
It's nice you've gotten into a daily writing routine! That has definitely helped me be more consistent. I'm the same way as you; I usually shower first, then make a cup of coffee and write before I get too distracted by anything else. If I wait until later in the day, it's usually harder to get started.
It's nice that you're more willing to write female characters now! That makes sense with the change in fandom, though. The BSB fandom doesn't have any female "characters" except for the guys' wives, and it feels weird to write about them in anything other than minor roles because they're not celebrities. I like creating original characters, but like you said, not everyone wants to read or write about them. I'm glad you have some good female characters to work with!
I guess a question I have for you and anyone else, now that the boys are older and really have established their family lives, do you tend to write them as they are now? Like this age? And if you do, do you incorporate their real families? Or do you find yourself writing them when they were still younger? I think I'd only ever be able to write old school BSB before the wives and kids.
I know you tend to give them an original female character over their real wives, but do you have them as middle-aged men? and do they have children? etc...
I've written both ways, but most of my recent stories have either taken place in roughly present day with the guys as middle-aged men or specific time periods in the past where most of them were still with their current partners. My current story takes place during the IAWLT era, so most of the guys have kids and are married, and Nick is soon to be engaged to Lauren. The only difference is that I killed Kristin in first story in the series, so Kevin is widowed and dating an original character. Mason exists, but Max does not. I don't write much about the other guys' wives or kids because the focus is on Kevin, but Mason gets a fair amount of story time. I don't usually like writing about their real kids, but I'm enjoying Kevin and Mason's father-son relationship in this story. Mason feels almost like an original character because I don't know much about the real Mason, so I just make up most of the details. He's only 5 in this story and was a baby in the first one, so I just try to make him act like a typical little boy that age.
That being said, I still try to find ways to avoid writing about their families as much as is possible/realistic. In 2020, I finished my ER crossover, which took place in 1995, so there are no wives/girlfriends and kids in that one. I also wrote a survival story that year called The Road to Bethlehem that was about the five of them quarantining in a cabin together to work on the Christmas album during the pandemic, which worked well for leaving their families out.
I still don't like denying the existence of their families or creating fictional families for them, unless it's an AU, so it's either include them as necessary, find creative ways to write around them, or set everything in the 90s. And as much as I love 90s BSB and dynamics of their relationships in those early days, I do enjoy writing them as adults. It's easier now than it was when I was a teenager, and they were in their twenties LOL. I figure forties and fifties can't be that different from late thirties.
I sound old lol