PBRG is a process that’s meant to make broad elements of the story and prepare them ahead of time to keep it consistent. It’s meant to remove the amount of time in proofing and editing where I’m hunting through my stories looking for every instance of ‘lightyear’ so I can change it to ‘light year’. It’s not meant to completely replace writing in the creative process, because let’s face it. It can’t. I’m still, at my heart, very much a pantser.

What’s a Pantser again?

Many writers will fall somewhere on a spectrum of being a Planner or a Pantser. Planners prepare everything ahead of time: outlining their story, preparing all their characters, doing all that extra leg work a story needs done. For them, when they start writing they already know what’s going on, so they write to the plan.

Pantsers tend to be more disorganized. It’s not that they won’t have an outline, but it’ll be more of a guide rather than a required course of action. For them, inspiration comes in the moment, and entire plots can appear to them as they’re working.

I’m a pantser. A lot of my inspiration comes during the writing. It always has. Even as a game master in RPG’s, I rely on in the moment decisions within the constructed framework to build the story. As a writer, there’s so many aspects I can’t write until I’m in the scene, hitting the thousand and one minute details that writers have to deal with.

I can world build and plan and plot and game out all I want, but at the end of the day, the writing is where I’m most creative.

Where PBRG helps and falls short

I’ve found planners fascinating. Their outlines and can be so in depth as to be intimidating. There are times — usually when I’m at the end of the project and I’m coming through the text trying to iron out inconsistencies — that I wish I could do the same.

PBRG isn’t quite a planner’s outline. It is a tool I use to answer big questions before I get into heavy writings. It’s meant to ensure consistency and that I have some idea where a story is going. It’s not meant to replace my process, but to supplement it.

So far, I have found it incredibly helpful. I have prepared maps for multiple projects so I know names and travel times ready to go. There’s also character names. I can get really weird about making sure a character has the right name, so getting that done ahead of time is great. Unit names, ship types, laws and rules… many instances where PBRG helps me prepare important information ahead of time.

But it’s not writing, and it can’t take over my creative process. My writing is where I get into my character’s heads and see the events through their eyes. Where they become more than just a collection of notes, and where they get to influence the story. Planning in any capacity helps, but only to a point.

The Benefits of Writing

There are several benefits to keep writing during the PBRG process.

First, writing requires a different set of mental muscles. In world building I’m a historian; in writing I’m a storyteller. I approach the subjects differently and see things in a different light, usually the characters. What i hadn’t figured out as an author may suddenly snap into place when I’m trying to consider the problem from the character’s point of view.

Second, I cannot possibly outline and plan for every aspect of a scene. I may know what I want the scene to do (inform the reader or advance the story), but I cannot anticipate the minor things. I can plan the personalities of five friends, but until I’m writing their first conversation, I don’t get a sense of who they really ar.

And third, writing gives me a chance to challenge what I’ve been building. Sometimes, the world building looks nice but doesn’t hold up when you try to build the story around it. So it’s nice to realize that earlier in the project when the fixes are simple.

Example

A few weeks ago, I sat down to write the opening scene to a short story. The purpose of this scene was to introduce the character and the setting. Thanks to PBRG, I had the character’s names prepared, the organization of their fleet and the ships involved, and an outline for the story.

I wrote less than 800 words, but so many things occurred in those 800 words.

The admiral was no longer commanding a group of ships while defending a star system. Now, she was an admiral facing promotion and relegation to a desk job, never to command in space again. She wasn’t just fighting for duty; she had a chance to prove her value and perhaps gain a rare and coveted position. This made her bolder — and perhaps reckless.

I’d also realized that the outline for the battle was deeply flawed, not only tactically but thematically. There was no tension. Things moved as set pieces. As I had the staff officer brief the admiral, I realized how bad the plan was.

But writing the briefing exchange, I also figured out how to make it better. I would need to re-work the math I’d prepared, but there was now a time limit that made every choice matter. I still had a lot of the product from the PBRG process, but I’d refined it and was working on a better story.

Do I need another letter?

No. As amusing as it might be to try and shoehorn a W into the PBRG acronym, at this time I’m not planning to do so. In part because I think it defeats the purpose of the PBRG system. But also, because I won’t always know what I want to write, or need to write, or am inspired to write.

What I can do is just acknowledge that the two need to work together. PBRG provides the framework for the project, answering the big, long-term questions I need to know. Writing allows me to check the framework and build the facade. Back and forth. Until I have a finished project.

Then I get an editor to hit it with a wrecking ball, and we see how it stands.

Until next time, cheers!