Wild Card…or Joker
I’d been doing very nicely, writing my 100 words a day (typically more than), and things were progressing relatively smoothly. But then I started to get a little worried–I do that. I wondered if I shouldn’t try something new instead of falling into the same old writing rhythm. Typically I just launch right in and let the story come to me, which naturally results in significant story changes, rewrites and do-overs. I thought–maybe–this time I could avoid some of that by a little pre-planning.
So I took a few days to collage and to think and to brainstorm and jot down notes and create a character spreadsheet and all that good stuff. And I think that helped. But I could only get so far. I think, inherently, I’m not really a planner, as far as writing goes, which is weird, because I am in almost every other aspect of my life. I think, in writing, that I’m sort of a wild card. I read essays and listen to presentations of authors’ techniques and how they make sure that A, B, and C are in every chapter and they’ve woven themes carefully throughout and named their characters based on their life stories. I don’t do that–any of that. I just write and get a HUGE kick out of it when things naturally just fall into place, as if I subconsciously knew what to do all along. And I sit through the writers’ presentations and think to myself, “I do that! Yay for me! Because I never realized I was doing it!” I guess I’m untrainable. But so far, it seems to be working for me.
Today, I will be flying by the seat of my writer’s pants. Again.
03/30/2010 at 2:56 pm
If I try to outline it inevitably never works. The closest I can come to pre-planning is going through it in my head by pacing back and forth in the house.
03/30/2010 at 8:25 pm
I'm not much of a planner writing-wise, but in my case, it doesn't work so well for me.
03/31/2010 at 1:00 pm
I'm with you.. I plan after I write.
But, I getting better.
03/31/2010 at 2:39 pm
I am the same kind of writer as you! More stuff comes to me along the way–I'm TERRIBLE at planning things out! In my last book, I didn't even know which guy my heroine would end up with until I was almost to the end!