Good interchange of ideas this week with my dear crit partner. Now this woman is one Horking Fine Writer, but that said--we write differently.
She outlines, plans, plots, and generally knows where she's headed with a story before she types "Chapter 1."
I, on the other hand, get the germ of an idea and charge off into Literary Glory with my pants around my ankles.
Both approaches are good. Both are right. Both lead to their own unique speed bumps and detours.
A case in point: my "Huh?" romance (thus named because it's a Christian medieval time-travel romance) is going along swimmingly, but that's not because I planned it to. It's because it is. Years ago I wrote this story and now I'm writing it a second time (from scratch) with a very different briefcase of skills to write it with (and yes, I know I ended with a preposition). It's probably the easiest thing I've ever written; it's virtually writing itself.
Why? Because it's a Horking Good Story, that's why--oh, never mind. Perhaps it's going well because I'm using the previously written version as an OUTLINE? Because I actually PLANNED something (though I thought it was a manuscript, not an outline, at the time)?
Don't get too worked up about this. I am a Seat of the Pants writer (SOTP in the jargon) and unrepentant. And since I don't have a print copy of that earlier version, the "outline" is all in my head.
But it's nice to know where a story's going, for once.
In other news...look for a book-release entry later this week.
3 comments:
mwah hah haaaaah!
We're gonna getcha.
Sooner or later, we Plotters and Planners and--dare we say it, SYNOPSIZERS--are gonna getcha!
(heh heh)
T1
Sorry, dear, but you ain't got me yet. Let me finish this "huh?" book and I'll let you know how close I get to a Planner after that.
I'm a bit of a SOTP writer too---although I do like to have most of the story worked out in my head before I sit down. I have to know where I'm going.
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