plotter, pantser...pitch deck maker? (the loft #3)
choose your character
helloooo, substack squadron. welcome back to the loft!
we are a mere 5 DAYS away from KILL THE LAX BRO’s big beautiful book birthday, and although there are a myriad of other things i could and should be doing (mailing postcards, confirming stock signings, making friendship bracelets) i had an objectively brilliant idea for an essay and wanted to jot it down.
quickly! some backstory!
a few days ago i was stuck at home with a nasty head cold, and like any sane person i decided to dose myself with herbal tea and start writing a new project from my bed. that’s right — brand spankin’ new. it has nothing to do with lax, or bros, and it forced me to go back to the very, very beginning of my writing process. back before even the blank page! which also made me realize i have a writing process — one that has very much changed since i first started writing — and one that i think is rather unique.
it is this realization that brings us to today’s lesson in creative writing: are you a plotter, pantser, or pitch deck maker?
full disclosure: i hadn’t even heard of the terms plotter and pantser until i started promoting my book online (aka: i became addicted to TikTok). so allow me to briefly break down the existing terminology before getting into my own:
what is a plotter?
someone who plots their stories in detail before they write ‘em. picture it: index cards, Miro, Scrivener, whiteboards. and if you know me IRL…you know why i hate whiteboards.
okay…and a panster?
the exact opposite! someone who ‘flies by the seat of their pants’ with their writing. no plotting, no direction, just vibes. if you’re lucky…
alright alright, i’m following…but what the heck is a pitch deck maker, and why are you SO excited to introduce a third option into the lexicon!?
because i just realized this is me! this is what i do! and i learned it from writing for TV!
some more backstory!
when i was an executive assistant, i was often tasked with building pitch decks. these visual packets were used for selling a variety of projects, some based on IP, others not, and i jumped at the responsibility because i knew i was better with InDesign than most (heck, if only because i knew what InDesign was). back then, i thought deck making might endear me to higher-ups, and i had no interest in using decks for my own writing. thankfully, one of my best friends from college is a graphic designer, and she eagerly taught me a thing or two about the program and how to use it. until it eventually (read: almost 10 years later) became second nature.
now, whenever i start a writing project, i build the pitch deck first. but…why?
regardless of whether or not i’m working on a book, comic, tv pilot, or other, building a deck helps me think visually. this has obvious advantages for projects designed to be seen on a screen, but it applies to books too!
it’s fun! especially when i’m too tired to write/think, or if i just want to procrastinate, i can troll Pinterest for hours looking for inspiration, research, comparable titles…! it’s fantastic!
it forces me to engage what i now call the “TV executive” side of my brain. i think about why someone would buy the pilot/watch the show/read the book, and then i start writing. i work can work backwards with the most marketable elements of my idea. this helps me distill and prioritize!
compared to the rest of the writing process (ie. drafting) it’s fast! it allows me to wrap my arms around the who, when, what, and why of the story in less than 5 pages of text and images.
every project that i’ve sold so far, including KILL THE LAX BRO, had a pitch deck that i submitted alongside whatever words i had written.
the more i think about my relationship with pitch decks and graphic design, the more i shouldn’t be so surprised. when i was really little, i remember using Microsoft Paint on the desktop computer in the grandmother’s basement to design book covers for stories that i wanted to write…without ever actually writing the book:
also, when i was in college, my screenwriting professor told us a story about a pitch and a bell. he knew someone, who knew someone, who always insisted on pitching their projects to TV executives over the phone. before the meeting, the writer would mail a box labeled DO NOT OPEN UNTIL OUR PITCH to the executive. then, when the writer finally got on the phone, the executive would open their box to find a bell. finally, the writer would tell the executive to ring the bell as soon as they wanted to buy the project, and, according to my professor, and his friend, of a friend, the executives were always soooooo excited to ring the bell, this writer never had to finish a pitch.
pitch decks are my bell. it’s my way of having something fun, colorful, distracting, and attention-grabbing, to pair with my writing. and if they are the first thing you sit down to make, you can save yourself significant time on the drafting side and find the bits in your story that you most want to focus on.
at least…that’s what works for me.
thank you for reading this edition of the loft! if you want me to ramble more about pitches and pitch decks, or maybe even see an example of one, please let me know by commenting on this post. also, you may have already seen the following image over on my Instagram, but if not, i made a little to-do list for how you can help support KILL THE LAX BRO in the countdown to pub day:
thanks again!
and, as always, more soon xo