Rule L: never stop Learning about writing

Linda’s Rules of Writing

Knowledge is always waiting for us, if we’re willing to see it.

We’re onto the letter L in Linda’s Rules of Writing of the A to Z Challenge, and never stop Learning about writing.

I have a friend who’s an actor, mostly retired now since he’s 86 and got started in the 1950s.  But I was surprised to hear that he still takes acting classes, despite all his experience.  There’s always something new to learn.

It’s the same way with writing.  The more I learn, the more I realize how little I actually know. And I’m finding that I always learn something new. If I look for it.  It’s one of the reasons I’m starting to take free online college courses.

What have you learned about your writing recently?

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Caption: A to Z Challenge Logo

 

Outline? What Outline?

This post is inspired by Liv Rancourt’s A Plotter’s Process.  I’m a pantser, but I have tried outlining.

I ran into horrendous problems on Miasma.  They were so bad that I wasn’t sure if I could fix them.  But I thought trying outlines might help, and I was willing to change my writing process if it did.  So I went from outline to outline, searching for one that clicked with me.  Instead, it was a frustrating and unhelpful experience.  I could not make them work no matter how hard I tried!  The worst was an outline workshop that was “pantser friendly.”  There’s nothing worse than being the only one in class who doesn’t get the material.  I managed to battle my way through the lessons, but when I looked at them later, I had no idea how I did it.  What doing the workshop did teach me was that outlines clash with my creative process.

Please don’t tell me I’ll come over from pantsing eventually.  Or that I don’t get outlines, or aren’t doing them right.   Or my favorite, that I’m outlining and don’t know it.  And I’ve never understand this “Your first draft is your outline” business.  If a writer creates an outline and then writes the story he has a first draft.  If I skip the outline and write the story, all I end up with is an outline?!  That doesn’t make sense!

I’m not broken or deluding myself.  Pantsing is the only way I can write.

I start by taking an idea and writing a summary of it, over and over until I start to get a feel for the story.  It’s really just a launching point so I’m writing with story in mind and not a vague idea.  I’ll also work on a sentence describing the story.

Then I start writing, and I follow the flow of the writing.  If something occurs to me, I put it in, even if I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it.  I’ve often found some of the greatest ideas that shape the story by doing that.  I describe it as throwing paint at the wall to see what sticks.

With characters, I toss one into the story when I need one, and they happen.

What’s your writing process?  How do you work out what the story is?  Have you ever had anyone tell you your writing process was wrong?