What if I’m Neither A Plotter Nor A Pantser?
What if after I write the first line, the story turns its back on me and goes where it wants?
What if after I write the first line, the story turns its back on me and goes where it wants?
This is a strange thing I have noticed to be happening more frequently.
I used to be more of a plotter or planner than a pantser. I would start each new article with a quasi-outline and some semblance of direction. I would start with a skeleton, and then go back and fill in some muscle and some fat. I would add until I was happy.
Then, after lots and lots of stories, one of my subsequent skeletons jumped, added its own sinew, and ran off out of sight, not to come back until it was almost finished. And it was nothing like I had originally thought it would be.
As this new phenomenon began to occur more and more, I find myself playing with the process. Where I used to write a couple of thoughts about each new story idea in my writing book, now I just write the first line and set it free.
I am nowhere close to the point of being able to trust it to do all the driving, but a few months ago, I didn’t even know this autopilot existed.
Sometimes the process does hit a snag. Sometimes it gets a wheel off the road and we both just stop and look at the story. One or both of us may pronounce that the story has wrecked. Working together, we can get it back on the road and let it get back to speed.
More times than not it doesn't wreck again, but if it does, we confer again. It sounds quite goofy. Well, it is quite goofy. But if it works the way I think it is, my little autonomous friend may make my job a lot easier.
I may write a couple of first lines, and then go get some sleep.
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