Big time ‘pantser’ here. I can’t imagine writing any other way.
I’m also a ‘magpie’ or ‘bower bird’ writer, where my notebooks are crammed with snippets of images, or fragments of dialogue that I’ve collected over the years.
I then weave, quite deftly I’ll add, these nuggets into the narrative. (*Very* Jupiter in Virgo).
Which is another way of understanding how much my beyond-time-and-space unconscious oversees and already ‘knows’ the completed structure of the book--which is sort of mind-blowing--thus that term again: the spooky art.
What I’m repeating to myself (otherwise I’d be working on this on my deathbed) is FINAL DEADLINE: HALLOWEEN. (I need that tattooed on my forehead).
Great post, Susan. Thank you! And carry on with your MC’s vanishing acts, they ARE leading her somewhere.
Ah this comment has really put a smile on my face 😄 I have those very same notebooks.
Your thoughts remind me of something George Michael said in the Wham doc on Netflix, that when a song comes together, it's like it was always there and he's just uncovering it. Thanks Frederick!
I used to be a hardcore pantser...and I would scenes write out of order....and then sit in a corner, softly weeping. Somewhere along the way, I became a strange combination...I'll 'discover' for a bit, then stop and do a bit of plot-storming. I wish I could say it results in cleaner early drafts, but I'd be lying. The plot bunnies...oh, the plot bunnies.....*sigh*. I'm currently trying to detangle a mess I left for myself a few years ago. I get bored to tears with detailed outlines, but I do see the attraction of having one. :DS
Big time ‘pantser’ here. I can’t imagine writing any other way.
I’m also a ‘magpie’ or ‘bower bird’ writer, where my notebooks are crammed with snippets of images, or fragments of dialogue that I’ve collected over the years.
I then weave, quite deftly I’ll add, these nuggets into the narrative. (*Very* Jupiter in Virgo).
Which is another way of understanding how much my beyond-time-and-space unconscious oversees and already ‘knows’ the completed structure of the book--which is sort of mind-blowing--thus that term again: the spooky art.
What I’m repeating to myself (otherwise I’d be working on this on my deathbed) is FINAL DEADLINE: HALLOWEEN. (I need that tattooed on my forehead).
Great post, Susan. Thank you! And carry on with your MC’s vanishing acts, they ARE leading her somewhere.
Ah this comment has really put a smile on my face 😄 I have those very same notebooks.
Your thoughts remind me of something George Michael said in the Wham doc on Netflix, that when a song comes together, it's like it was always there and he's just uncovering it. Thanks Frederick!
Have you got Jupiter in Virgo too?!
I do!
I used to be a hardcore pantser...and I would scenes write out of order....and then sit in a corner, softly weeping. Somewhere along the way, I became a strange combination...I'll 'discover' for a bit, then stop and do a bit of plot-storming. I wish I could say it results in cleaner early drafts, but I'd be lying. The plot bunnies...oh, the plot bunnies.....*sigh*. I'm currently trying to detangle a mess I left for myself a few years ago. I get bored to tears with detailed outlines, but I do see the attraction of having one. :DS
💯 this! It's so tricky. Good luck with your detangling!